Coventry, Churchill and The Secret State

[Otto]

I can only agree, when I started reading the novel I was shocked to learn
how Turing had been "treated" after the war:

"Alan Turing was arrested and came to trial on 31 March 1952, after the
police learned of his sexual relationship with a young Manchester man. He
made no serious denial or defence, instead telling everyone that he saw no
wrong with his actions. He was particularly concerned to be open about his
sexuality even in the hard and unsympathetic atmosphere of Manchester
engineering. Rather than go to prison he accepted, for the period of a year,
injections of oestrogen intended to neutralise his libido. (...) He was
found by his cleaner when she came in on 8 June 1954. He had died the day
before of cyanide poisoning, a half-eaten apple beside his bed. His mother
believed he had accidentally ingested cyanide from his fingers after an
amateur chemistry experiment, but it is more credible that he had
successfully contrived his death to allow her alone to believe this. The
coroner's verdict was suicide."
http://www.turing.org.uk/bio/part8.html

The Persecution of Alan Turing
"In 1952, Turing's home was burglarized by a friend of a man with whom he
was having an affair. Refusing to be intimidated, he reported the crime.
During the investigation, he did not hide his homosexuality from the police.
He was labeled a pervert and was charged with gross indecency. He agreed to
submit to hormone treatments rather than go to prison. He was injected with
the female hormone estrogen. It was believed that estrogen injections were
useful in curbing sexual urges.

The stress and humiliation of his treatment at the hands of the government
that he served loyally throughout his life led to his mental deterioration.
Alan Mathison Turing committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide
in 1954. He was 41 years old."
http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/turing.html

http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/bletchley/
http://www.project-x.org.uk/bletpark.html
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
http://www.ugrad.cs.jhu.edu/~russell/classes/enigma/
(Java-applet simulating an Enigma machine)
http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/

GXGK
(Otto encoded)

----- Original Message -----
From: Bandwraith at aol.com
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: Coventry, Churchill and The Secret State

A- and we should not forget the way Turing was treated after the war.
Convicted of being gay, he was subjected to a year of hormone
treatments, in order to "cure" him. This was a man who, as much
as anyone, had saved Britain and provided the basis for one of the
most powerful, if not the most powerful, technologies to be spawned
by WWII. His "loyalty" was even more central to the continued hegemony
by the ruling elite- which transcended Tory/Labor snits- than Oppenheimer
was to the elite in America.

The facts surrounding Turing's "suicide" are also the subject of some
apochryphal elaboration, although the truth is by no means certain.
An accident is possible, but the official "suicide" is unlikely. He was
a world class athelete, completely engaged in his cutting edge
research, and quite happy, despite attempts to control his sexual
desires.

It is ironic that the Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees (GLOBE)
chapter at the current NSA headquaters in America was founded
in honor of Alan Turing. How times change. But we should not
forget "the ability of the ruling element to co-opt dissent..."

respectfully