The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 1: The 25 Million Dollar Kiss

Episode Date: February 24, 2016

A kiss from her helped win the war. But her real assets changed the world as we know it.

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This is the way I heard it. Headwig was beautiful and married to a man she didn't love. Fritz was an arms merchant and deeply possessive of his trophy wife. Consequently, headwig was a fly on the wall at more than a few interesting dinner party. At their home in Vienna, Hedwig listened quietly as important men discussed with her husband the evolving technologies that would change

the complexion of modern warfare. Fritz's guests were intelligent and influential. Some were physicists. Some were inventors. Many were Nazis. Headwig didn't care for Nazis. She didn't like them in her house or at her table, and she hated the fact that her husband was selling them weapons. At the next fancy dinner party, headwigs selected from her vast wardrobe the most glamorous evening gown she could find.

She adorned herself with every piece of expensive jewelry she owned. She smiled sweetly during the appetizer, listened attentively during the main course, and just before dessert went off to powder her nose. She never returned. The next morning, a stunning woman arrived in Paris by train, and after that it was was your basic Hollywood fairy tale. Hedwig Kaisler was discovered by Lewis B. Mayor, the movie mogul. A year later, she was living in Hollywood and starring opposite Clark Gable.

By then, she had a new name to go with her new address, Hedy Lamar, who, by 1941, was widely regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world. In fact, Hedy Lamar was so gorgeous, she was deemed too beautiful to speak. and was given very little dialogue on the big screen. Once, when asked to explain the secret to being glamorous, Hetty said, oh, that's easy. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid. But of course, Hetty wasn't stupid.

Far from it. She was an amateur inventor who spent most of her free time at home, hunched over her drafting table working on the next big idea. That idea came when the Germans began targeting cruise ships in the Atlantic. murdering hundreds of civilians. Hetty read that the Americans were unable to sink the German U-boats because the Germans were jamming the radio frequencies on the torpedoes. Hetty recalled a scientist at one of those dinner parties in Vienna,

talking to Fritz about the untapped potential of radio waves and modern warfare. Hetty wondered, what if a single radio signal could hop randomly from one frequency to another? How would the Nazis block that? Heddy's question was ingenious. She developed the idea, patented the technology, and offered it to the Navy free of charge. Unfortunately, the United States military had a hard time believing the most beautiful woman in the world had the solution to a problem that they themselves could not seem to solve. So the Navy did nothing with Hedy's idea.

In fact, Hedy was told if she really wanted to help the war effort, she should use those assets for which she was best known. Hetty was disappointed, but well aware of the assets in question and eager to contribute to help win the war. So to raise money for war bonds, she began selling kisses. In just one night, Hetty raised $7 million, standing there looking stupid. Over time, she raised $25 million. In today's money, that's over $200,000. $120 million.

If the story ended right there, it wouldn't be a bad headline. The most beautiful girl in the world fights off the Nazi threat with kisses. But Hetty's true contribution would not be known until long after her beauty began to fade. You see, the technology that Hetty had developed was finally tested during a very anxious week in 1962, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. And it worked. big time. Hetty received no acknowledgement and no consideration, nor did she ask for any. But let's be absolutely clear about the enormity of what it was she invented.

Hetty's patent led directly to the development of our modern-day communication satellite system. But her idea of radio hopping not only changed the face of national security, it's allowing me to share her story with you right now, because radio hopping is the essential ingredient of what you and I call Wi-Fi. So when you share this story from your mobile device, think fondly of the most beautiful woman in the world and remember those assets that matter most. Anyway, that's the way I heard it.