John Semer Farnsworth

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John Semer Farnsworth : biography

August 13, 1893 – November 10, 1952

A career in spying

Disgruntled and in need of money, he began spying for Japan, which had been attempting to recruit many Americans for espionage in the 1920s and 1930s. He passed his information to his handlers, Commander Yoshiyuki Ichimiya, assistant Naval attaché at the Japanese Embassy from October 1932 to December 1934 and Lt. Commander Arika Yamaki, who succeeded Itimiya until November 1935. Farnsworth later claimed that he was paid $100 a week plus expenses for his spying.

Despite his disgraceful exit from the Naval service, Farnsworth still had enough social grace to make him acceptable in the best Washington society. He got most of his information by contacting former associates to solicit documents, who were unaware of the true reason for his requests, saying that he needed the information for "magazine articles". He also picked up small bits of Navy information from wives of high-ranking officers and shrewdly pieced them together. Once, feigning drunkenness and pretending that he was a Commander, he boarded a destroyer at Annapolis, tricked an ensign into giving him maneuver data, rushed back to the Japanese Embassy, had them photostatted, and returned them the next day. It was actually easy for him to obtain this as Navy security at that time was relatively lax.

However, when Farnsworth stole a confidential Navy manual The Service of Information and Security, which contained plans for battle information and tactics that were gathered from field maneuvers and tested by high-ranking naval officers, alarm bells were raised, and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) was called upon to investigate its disappearance. It was learned later that he photostatted the manual and sold it to the Japanese on May 15, 1935.

During the investigation, ONI officers heard that Farnsworth had been flashing large sums of money around naval officers who knew him, despite the fact that he was believed to be destitute. Further investigation revealed that he borrowed code and signal books and had been asking questions about tactics, new ship designs, and weapons. Finally, the wife of high-ranking officer living in Annapolis complained to the ONI that Farnsworth was pushing her to allow him to read official documents. Thus, he was placed under joint surveillance by the ONI and the FBI.

Sentencing and appeal

On February 27, 1937, John Semer Farnsworth was sentenced to four to twelve years in prison for conspiring "to communicate and transmit to a foreign government—to wit Japan—writings, code books, photographs and plans relating to the national defense with the intent that they should be used to the injury of the United States". Details of the Farnsworth case appeared in Alan Hynd’s 1943 book, Betrayal From the East: The Inside Story of the Japanese Spies in America. Also in Captain Ellis M. Zacharias Secret Missions: The Story of an Intelligence Officer, 1946.

In January 1938, he appealed the judge’s decision in his petition for the writ of habeas corpus by arguing that the court erred in ruling that a petitioner could not be released "from unlawful imprisonment" by habeas corpus proceedings; further, that the court did not have jurisdiction in the first place and had no power to pronounce an indeterminate sentence. Despite his efforts, his appeal was rejected and his sentence upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

He served an eleven-year prison term. He died in Manhattan at age 59.

Naval career and court-martial

Farnsworth, who was born in Chicago, Illinois to Frederick Wilkinson Farnsworth and Anna M. Semer, was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1911 on the recommendation of then-Representative Nicholas Longworth. He became notorious for his bibulous escapades, earning him the nickname "Dodo" (among others). The Naval Academy yearbook described him as "daring and reckless", further stating that if Farnsworth lived in the days of the old navy, he "would have been famous for his desperate deeds and hairbreadth escapes". Nevertheless, he was also recognized for his sterling abilities as a future naval officer. Upon graduation four years later, he was assigned to the US Asiatic Fleet, mainly onboard destroyers. He returned to the United States in 1917 with the temporary rank of lieutenant. Afterwards he took flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1920. He received ratings on seaplanes and airships when he completed training in 1922. He then returned to Annapolis, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and finally a college in New York for his post-graduate studies. He eventually attained the rank of lieutenant commander.

After marrying a society woman, Farnsworth got heavily into debt, and borrowed money from an enlisted man, which he refused to repay. Because of this, Farnsworth, once considered to be one of the brightest young officers of the Navy, was brought to a court-martial in 1927. For conduct "tending to impair the morale of the service" and "scandalous conduct tending to the destruction of good morale", he was found guilty and was given a dishonorable discharge from the service on November 12, 1927.