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Liu Shan

Liu Shan (, 207–271), courtesy name Gongsi, was the second and last emperor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. As he ascended the throne at the age of 16, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of the Chancellor Zhuge Liang and Imperial Secretariat Li Yan. His reign of 40 years was the longest of all emperors in the Three Kingdoms era. During Liu Shan's reign, many campaigns were led against the rival state of Cao Wei, primarily by Zhuge Liang and his successor Jiang Wei, but to little avail, due to their drastic mismatch in terms of population and geographic extent. Liu Shan eventually surrendered to Wei in 263 after Deng Ai led a surprise attack on the Shu capital Chengdu. He was quickly relocated to the Wei capital at Luoyang, and enfeoffed as "Duke Anle". There he enjoyed his last years peacefully before dying in 271, most probably of natural causes.

Widely known to later generations by his infant name "Adou" (阿斗), Liu Shan was commonly perceived as an incapable ruler. He was also accused of indulging in pleasures while neglecting state affairs, allowing corrupt officials to take power. Some modern scholars have taken a more positive view towards Liu Shan's capability, as Liu Shan's long reign in Shu Han was free of bloody court coups unlike its rivals. Nevertheless, the name "Adou" is today still commonly used in Chinese as an epithet for someone so incompetent at a task that no amount of assistance will help them succeed.

The main source of historical information about Liu Shan and his contemporaries is Records of the Three Kingdoms. Its author Chen Shou noted in his postface that Zhuge Liang did not employ scribes at Liu Shan's court, contrary to tradition. This custom would never be established in Shu Han, so details of Liu Shan's rule are hazy in comparison to the richness of information available for Shu's rival states of Wei and Wu. Much of his reign is recorded in spare, terse synopsis.

Early life
Liu Shan was the eldest son of the warlord Liu Bei and was born to Liu Bei's concubine Lady Gan. In 208, Liu Bei's rival Cao Cao, who had by then occupied most of northern China, launched a campaign on Jing Province. During his retreat south, Liu Bei was caught up by an elite cavalry force led by Cao Cao at the Battle of Changban, and forced to leave behind Lady Gan and Liu Shan to resume his escape. Liu Bei's general Zhao Yun stayed behind to protect the family members of Liu Bei. Holding the infant Liu Shan in his arms, Zhao Yun led the mother and child to safety.

An alternative story of Liu Shan's early life was given in Yu Huan's Weilüe. It was said that Liu Shan, then already several years old, was separated from Liu Bei when the latter was attacked by Cao Cao in Xiaopei in 200. He somehow landed in Hanzhong and was sold by slave traders. Only when Liu Bei declared himself emperor in 221 was Liu Shan reunited with his father. Pei Songzhi included this account in his Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms but refused to give it any credence.

After Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu Han in 221, Liu Shan was formally made the crown prince. In the following year, Liu Bei left the capital Chengdu on a campaign against Sun Quan, who had sent his general Lü Meng to invade and seize Jing Province from Liu Bei in 219. Liu Bei was defeated at the Battle of Xiaoting and, having retreated to the city of Baidicheng, eventually died in 223. Before his death, Liu Bei entrusted the young Liu Shan to the care of his chancellor Zhuge Liang. Liu Bei made an ambiguous deathbed statement to Zhuge Liang about the possibility of Liu Shan's fitness to rule. The statement meant at minimum that Zhuge Liang was empowered to replace Liu Shan if the crown prince proved incapable, and may have indicated permission for Zhuge Liang to take the throne himself.

Zhuge Liang's regency
While Zhuge Liang was alive, Liu Shan treated him as a father figure, allowing Zhuge to handle all state affairs. Zhuge Liang recommended many trusted officials, including Fei Yi, Dong Yun, Guo Youzhi and Xiang Chong into key positions. Under Zhuge Liang's advice, Liu Shan entered into an alliance with the state of Eastern Wu, helping both states to survive against the much larger state of Cao Wei. During Zhuge Liang's regency, the government was largely efficient and not corrupt, allowing the relatively small state of Shu to prepare itself for military campaigns.

In 223, Liu Shan married Zhang Fei's daughter, Empress Zhang.

In the aftermath of Liu Bei's death, the southern Nanman tribes had peeled away from Shu dominion. In 225, Zhuge Liang headed south and was able to, by both military victories and persuasion, reintegrate the southern region into the empire. For the rest of Zhuge Liang's regency, the southern Nanman people would be key contributors to Shu's campaigns against Wei.

Starting in 227, Zhuge Liang launched his five Northern Expeditions against Wei. All but one were modest military failures, with the Shu forces exhausting their provisions before they were able to inflict significant damage on Wei. On one expedition in 231, Zhuge Liang faced a political crisis. Unable to supply the troops sufficiently, Zhuge Liang's co-regent Li Yan forged an edict by Liu Shan, ordering Zhuge Liang to retreat. When Zhuge Liang discovered this, he recommended that Li Yan be removed from his office and put under house arrest, and Liu Shan accepted the recommendation.

In 234, while Zhuge Liang was on his final campaign against Wei, he grew seriously ill. Hearing about Zhuge's illness, Liu Shan sent his secretary Li Fu (李福) to the front line to visit Zhuge Liang and request instructions on important state matters. Among other things, Zhuge Liang recommended that Jiang Wan succeed him, and that Fei Yi succeed Jiang Wan. Zhuge Liang refused to answer Li Fu's next question — who should succeed Fei Yi. Zhuge Liang died soon thereafter. Liu Shan followed these recommendations, installing Jiang Wan as the new regent.

Jiang Wan's regency
From that point on, Shu was generally in a defensive posture and no longer posed a threat to Wei. According to histories of the Wu court, Shu's defensive posture was interpreted by many Wu officials as a sign that Shu was abandoning the alliance and had entered into a treaty with Wei; but Wu's emperor Sun Quan correctly identified it as merely a sign of weakness, not an abandonment of the alliance.

In 237, Empress Zhang died. That year, Liu Shan took her younger sister as a consort, and in 238 created her empress. Her title remained the same as her sister, Empress Zhang.

In 243, Jiang Wan grew ill and transferred most of his authority to Fei Yi and Fei's assistant Dong Yun. In 244, when Wei's regent Cao Shuang attacked Hanzhong, it was Fei Yi who led the troops against Cao Shuang and dealt Wei a major defeat in the Battle of Xingshi. Jiang Wan, however, remained influential until his death in 245. Soon after Jiang Wan's death, Dong Yun also died — allowing the eunuch Huang Hao, a favourite of Liu Shan's, whose power Dong Yun had curbed, to start aggrandising his power. Huang Hao was viewed as corrupt and highly manipulative in domestic matters, and the governmental efficiency that was achieved during Zhuge Liang's and Jiang Wan's regencies began to deteriorate.

Fei Yi's regency
After Jiang Wan and Dong Yun's deaths, Liu Shan named Jiang Wei as Fei Yi's assistant, but both were largely involved only in military matters, as Liu Shan gradually became more self-assertive in non-military matters. It was also around this time that he became more interested in touring the countryside and increasing the use of luxury items, both of which added stress on the treasury, albeit not cripplingly so. Jiang Wei was interested in resuming Zhuge Liang's policies of attacking Wei aggressively, a strategy that Fei Yi partially agreed with — as he allowed Jiang Wei to make raids on Wei's borders, but never gave him a large number of troops, reasoning that Shu was in no position for a major military confrontation with Wei.

In 253, Fei Yi was assassinated by the general Guo Xun (郭循), a former Wei general who had been forced to surrender but who secretly maintained his loyalty to Wei. Fei Yi's death left Jiang Wei as the de facto regent, but with a power vacuum in domestic affairs, as Jiang Wei continued to be on the borders, conducting campaigns against Wei. Huang Hao's influence increased greatly as a result.

Jiang Wei's semi-regency
After Fei Yi's death, Jiang Wei assumed command of Shu's troops and began a number of campaigns against Wei—but while they were troubling to the Wei regents Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, the attacks largely inflicted no real damage against Wei, as Jiang Wei's campaigns were plagued by one problem that had plagued Zhuge Liang's—the lack of adequate food supply—and largely had to be terminated after a short duration. These campaigns instead had a detrimental effect on Shu, whose government no longer had the efficiency that it had during Zhuge Liang's and Jiang Wan's regencies, and therefore was unable to cope with the drain of resources that Jiang Wei's campaigns were having.

In 253, Jiang Wei made a coordinated attack on Wei, along with Wu's regent Zhuge Ke, but was eventually forced to withdraw after his troops ran out of food supplies — allowing Sima Shi to concentrate against Zhuge Ke, dealing Wu forces a devastating defeat that eventually caused so much resentment that Zhuge Ke was assassinated. This was the last of the coordinated attacks by Shu and Wu on Wei in the duration of the Shu-Wu alliance.

In 255, on one of Jiang Wei's campaigns, he dealt Wei forces a major defeat in the Battle of Didao, nearly capturing the important Wei border city Didao, but in 256, as he tried to again confront the Wei forces, he was instead dealt a defeat by Deng Ai, and this was a fairly devastating loss that left Jiang Wei with a weakened standing with the people. Many officials now openly questioned Jiang Wei's strategy, but Liu Shan took no actions to stop Jiang. Further, in 259, under Jiang Wei's suggestion, Liu Shan approved a plan where the main troops were withdrawn from major border cities to try to induce a Wei attack, with troops positioned in such a way as to intend a trapping of the Wei troops — a strategy that would be used several years later, in 263, when Wei did attack, but which would prove to be a failure.

By 261, Huang Hao's power appeared paramount. Among the key domestic officials, only Dong Jue and Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan were able to maintain their posts without flattering Huang Hao. In 262, Huang Hao would in fact try to remove Jiang Wei and replace him with his friend Yan Yu (閻宇). Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei advised Liu Shan to execute Huang Hao, but the emperor denied the request, saying that the eunuch was but a servant who ran errands. Fearing retaliation, Jiang Wei left Chengdu to garrison troops at Tazhong (沓中; northwest of present-day Zhugqu County, Gansu).

According to the Wu ambassador Xue Xu, who visited Shu in 261 at the order of the Wu emperor Sun Xiu, the status that Shu was in at this point was:

 * The ruler is incompetent and does not know his errors; his subordinates do the bare minimum to avoid punishment. When I entered their court, I heard no proper speech; when I toured their countryside, the people looked sallow from hunger. Your servant has heard that swallows and sparrows may nests atop a great hall, mother and child both content, believing themselves safe. Yet should the rafters suddenly ignite, the birds remain happy, unaware of the disaster about to befall them. The situation is analogous.

Fall of Shu
In 262, aggravated by Jiang Wei's constant attacks, Wei's regent Sima Zhao planned to carry out a major campaign to terminate the Shu threat once and for all. Upon hearing rumours of this plan, Jiang Wei submitted a request to Liu Shan, warning him about the mustering of Wei troops under the generals Deng Ai, Zhuge Xu, and Zhong Hui near the border. However, Huang Hao persuaded Liu Shan with fortunetelling to take no action on Jiang Wei's requests for war preparations.

In 263, Sima Zhao launched his attacks, led by Deng Ai, Zhuge Xu, and Zhong Hui. Liu Shan followed Jiang Wei's previous plans and ordered the border troops to withdraw and prepare to trap Wei forces, rather than to confront them directly. The plan, however, had a fatal flaw — it assumed that Wei forces would siege the border cities, which, instead, Deng Ai and Zhong Hui ignored, and they advanced instead on Yang'an Pass (陽安關; in present-day Hanzhong, Shaanxi), capturing it. Jiang Wei was able to meet their troops and initially repel them, but Deng Ai led his army through a treacherous mountain pass and deep into Shu territory. There he launched a surprise attack on Jiangyou (江油; in present-day Mianyang, Sichuan). After defeating Zhuge Zhan there, Deng Ai had virtually no Shu troops left between his army and the Shu capital Chengdu. Faced with the prospect of defending Chengdu against Deng Ai's troops with no defences, Liu Shan took the advice of Secretary Qiao Zhou and promptly surrendered. This surrender was criticised by many: Chen Shou alone had sympathetic words, in a laconic coda to the biography of Qiao Zhou, his own former mentor. It would be until the Qing dynasty that other nuanced or positive assessments were made.

In March 264, Zhong Hui would carry out an attempt to seize power — which Jiang Wei, who had surrendered to Zhong Hui, tried to take advantage of to revive Shu. He advised Zhong Hui to falsely accuse Deng Ai of treason and arrest him, and, with their combined troops, rebel against Sima Zhao. Zhong Hui did so, and Jiang Wei planned to next kill Zhong Hui and his followers, and then redeclare Shu's independence under emperor Liu Shan, and had in fact written to Liu Shan to inform him of those plans. However, Zhong Hui's troops rebelled against him, and both Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui were killed in battle. Liu Shan himself was not harmed in the disturbance, although his crown prince Liu Xuan was killed in the confusion.

Life after the fall of Shu
In early 264, Liu Shan with Empress Zhang and his entire family was relocated to the Wei capital Luoyang. On 11 April 264, he was enfeoffed as Duke of Anle (安樂公) while his sons and grandsons became marquises. This practice was referred to as Erwang-sanke (二王三恪).

The Chronicle of Han and Jin by Xi Zuochi records an incident which has become the most famous tale to be associated with Liu Shan: One day, the Wei regent Sima Zhao invited Liu Shan and his followers to a feast, during which Sima Zhao arranged to have entertainers perform traditional Shu music and dance. The former Shu officials present were all saddened, but Liu Shan was visibly unmoved. When asked by Sima Zhao if he missed his former state, Liu Shan replied: "I am too happy here to think about Shu. (此間樂不思蜀)"

This phrase has become a Chinese idiom— lèbùsīshǔ (樂不思蜀), figuratively meaning "joyful and does not think of home / the past". The phrase has a negative connotation with regards to the person's character.

Former Shu official Xi Zheng then advised Liu Shan that the appropriate response was to lament how far he had been removed from his family tombs. Liu Shan followed the advice when he was asked the same question later, however Sima Zhao quickly guessed that he had been coached in his answer, and Liu Shan admitted as much. This was noted by Sima Zhao as a sign that Liu Shan was an incompetent fool; some later historians believed that it showed Liu Shan's wisdom in intentionally displaying a lack of ambition so that Sima Zhao would not view him as a threat.

Liu Shan died in 271 in Luoyang, and was given the posthumous name "Duke Si of Anle" (安樂思公; "the deep-thinking duke of peace and happiness"). This landless sinecure lasted several generations during Wei's successor state, the Jin dynasty, before being extinguished in the turmoils caused by the Wu Hu. Liu Yuan, the founder of Han Zhao, one of the states in the Sixteen Kingdoms, claimed to be a legitimate successor of the Han Dynasty. In that capacity, he bestowed Liu Shan the posthumous name "Emperor Xiaohuai" (孝懷皇帝; "the filial and kind emperor").

Contemporary

Liu Shan had a very negative reputation among his contemporaries. He was seen as an incompetent ruler, more interested in satisfying his desires than looking after his country and was held responsible for appointing corrupt officials to position of power.

Both Xue Xu and Lu Kai, officials from the allied State of Eastern Wu described him as a mediocre ruler with Xue Xu further remarking that when he travelled to Shu for his mission as emissary in 261, he saw corruption among the officials and hunger among the people. Lu Kai noted that the natural defences of Sichuan along with a strong army were enough to protect his State yet Liu Shan allowed disorder and corruption in his court, failed to recognize honest officials from dishonest more interested in luxury which is how his State and subordinates became prisoners from another.

This statement about the impressive natural defenses of the region is repeated by Li Te, when he led his clan back to Yi Province. While passing through Jian'ge Pass (劍閣關, in modern Guangyuan, Sichuan), he exclaimed that with such an impressive barrier, only a lesser man like Liu Shan could have been submitted by someone else.

As previously stated, Sima Zhao thought of Liu Shan's attitude as pleasure seeker, saying that even someone as talented as Zhuge Liang couldn't assist and safeguard him forever so even less Jiang Wei. Jia Chong answered to Sima Zhao that this was the same behaviour that allowed them to conquer Shu Han. A resounding anecdote when comparing with the events preceding the Wei invasion. When he was Emperor, Liu Shan repeatedly wanted to expand his harem however Dong Yun prevented him from doing so. Liu Shan was too afraid to act against him and for this disliked him. After Dong Yun's death, with the flattery of Chen Zhi and influence of Huang Hao, Liu Shan's hatred for Dong Yun grew each day. After Chen Zhi's death in 258, Huang Hao was controlling the politics of the State and none among the people of Shu did not miss Dong Yun.

Li Mi, a former official of Shu gave a mixed appraisal praising him for the employment of Zhuge Liang which allowed him to stabilize his power but also criticizing him for the employment of Huang Hao which allowed the later corruption of his court. Sun Sheng evaluated Liu Shan as a mediocre and ignorant ruler and denounced him for surrendering so quickly during the Conquest of Shu by Wei in 263 rather than use the local rugged terrain along with other armies in his government to resist the invaders. Pei Songzhi qualified him (along with Fei Yi) as an average individual who had no weight on the existence of his State.

Chang Qu, who wrote extensively about the history of the Sichuan region in the Chronicles of Huayang (Huayang Guo Zhi), greatly praised Zhuge Liang but lamented that his lord, Liu Shan wasn't the kind of man that could unite a country. In the volume 7 of the Huayang Guo Zhi, he ends Liu Shan's biography with Wang Chong's eulogy toward his former State of Shu Han where Wang Chong comments that Liu Shan was a mediocre ruler without ambition toward the world and was in part responsible for the decline of his State.

Chen Shou, who wrote Liu Shan's biography in the Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), in his appraisal commends Liu Shan when he appointed Zhuge Liang for following reason but condemns him for the employment of Huang Hao as being ignorant. He noted that when something is without substance, it reflects what's around. And this expression fits Liu Shan perfectly.

Modern
However, modern historians have taken a revisionist view, challenging the common portrayal of Liu Shan seeing him in a far more positive light.

Among them, Yi Zhongtian argued that even competent emperors like Emperor Wu of Han had evil courtiers beside him; Liu Shan is not the only case. Moreover, surrounding Liu Shan were not only evil courtiers, but also many competent and talented officers like Jiang Wan, Fei Yi and Dong Yun. Secondly, Liu Shan surrendering without much fighting is blameworthy, but the fall of Shu Han was actually due to many reasons. Thirdly, for the case of Zhao Yun, Zhao's official position during his life was actually lower than Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao and Huang Zhong. Hence, Liu Shan's awarding of posthumous Marquis titles to the latter four but not timely to Zhao Yun was understandable. Finally, Liu Shan's behavior in front of Sima Zhao was purposeful: he pretended to be stupid and despicable so that Sima Zhao would ignore him and spare his family, and Liu Shan was successful. Being able to fool the distrustful Sima Zhao meant Liu Shan was actually not a fool.

Moreover, there were notable signs of Liu Shan's competence during his reign. He cleverly retook direct control of state affairs after the death of Zhuge Liang and appointed Jiang Wan and Fei Yi so that the two could keep each other in check. In 238, Cao Wei made war with Gongsun Yuan and many people in Shu Han believed it was a good chance for northern expansion. However, Liu Shan carefully instructed Fei Yi to attack only in combination with Eastern Wu, and only when Cao Wei was unprepared. Several historical commentators thus compare Liu Shan's caution favorably with that of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's costly and ineffective campaigns. Finally, Liu Shan's surrender in 262-263 has been viewed with sympathy as an inevitable choice by commentators in both historical records and contemporary times, due to the vast difference in population and military capability between the two states, as well as the tendency of victors to massacre the citizens of enemy states that had refused to surrender. In particular, Liu Shan's surrender is often compared favorably with that of Gongsun Yuan, a regional warlord who attempted to retake power by allying with Eastern Wu, which eventually resulted in the extermination of his clan, and a bloody massacre of his population base at Liaodong. In contrast, Liu Shan's surrender led to a peaceful transfer of power to the Wei kingdom, with most of the population unharmed, except during the week of unrest caused by Jiang Wei's plotting.

Family

 * Empress Jing'ai, of the Zhang clan (敬哀皇后 張氏; d. 237)
 * Empress Zhang, of the Zhang clan (張皇后 張氏; 237–264)
 * Noble Lady Wang, of the Wang clan (王貴人 王氏)
 * Crown Prince Liu Xuan (劉璿), first son
 * Li Zhaoyi, of the Li clan (李昭儀 李氏)
 * Unknown:
 * Liu Yao, Prince of Anding (安定王劉瑤; d. 311), second son
 * Liu Cong, Prince of Xihe (西河王劉琮; d. 262), third son
 * Liu Zan (劉瓚; d. 311), fourth son
 * Liu Chen, Prince of Beidi (北地王劉諶; d. 263), fifth son
 * Liu Xun, Prince of Xinxing (新興王劉恂; d. 311), sixth son; later succeeded the peerage of Duke of Anle
 * Liu Qian (劉虔; d. 311), seventh son

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Liu Shan appears as a character in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, which romanticises the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period. In the novel, Liu Shan is generally portrayed as an incapable ruler who was easily swayed by words, especially those from the eunuch Huang Hao, whom he favoured.

In modern works
Liu Shan is a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series, first available in the seventh instalment, as well as in Warriors Orochi 3, also by Koei.

title: Liu Shan


text:
Talk:555 (telephone number)

Klondike 5
Can someone explain this? I'm assuming KL5 is a reference to the letters on the number 5, but where does "klondike" come from? Klondike 5 redirects here, so it should be explained on this page. 68.68.88.36 (talk) 17:45, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Just a convenient name which came to be adopted for the fictitious numbers. With the 2L-5N scheme, the 55x prefixes had little use simply because it was hard to come up with any usable names to match any of the possible two-letter permutations - JJ, JK, JL, KJ, KK, KL, LJ, LK, LL.  Only the KL combination stands much chance of being usable (at least with English-based names), but even then was limited.  KLamath comes to mind, but not too many others.  KLondike just happened to be one of the few names which fit.  91.125.207.231 (talk) 16:52, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

article trashed
the article's first section, the summary, looks horrid...

I'm thinking that this page should be merged into 555, then made into a redirect. I think the dashes will just make this page harder to find. Hardly anyone (to be generous) writes phone numbers with dashes between the digits. You might write 555-1234, or (555) 123-4567, or 555.1234, or whatever, but not 5-5-5 1-2-3-4 etc. -Rholton (aka Anthropos) 05:23, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Convention appears to be to use pure numbers to refer to dates eg 911 is the year Nine-hundred and eleven AD; this then has a link to Number 911 which notes the usage as the North American emergency number linking to 9-1-1. It isn't pretty but is the convention. Maybe 555 (telephone) would be better. MrWeeble 23:22, 22 May 2004 (UTC)

 * According to folklore, "9-1-1" is written that way because too many people read it as "nine-eleven" and then, under stress, got stuck looking for the "eleven" button. —Tamfang 16:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Requested move
5-5-5 → 555 telephone number – the original title is bad, but the move must be done by admin because I already started a duplicate article at the logical destination (because I didn't find the original article. because the original title is bad...). — Chinasaur 03:13, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Support moving the page. Jonathunder 17:27, 2005 Apr 15 (UTC)
 * Oppose. The move would not make it easier to find the page. Most people would search for "555" / "number 555" (which link/redirect to a disambiguation page) and "555 phone number" / "555 telephone number" (both redirect to 5-5-5). No need to redirect from "555 number" as well, cause a disambiguation page appears right on the page 1 of search results (but the NNN number pattern is a potential candidate for bot-created redirects to NNN (number)). DmitryKo 19:09, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * That Chinasaur created a new article under a different name demonstrates that the page is not easily found. Writing 5-5-5 with dashes between the numbers is probably the least intuitive of the alternatives named. Jonathunder 01:18, 2005 Apr 16 (UTC)
 * The argument to rename has more to do with the title being unintuitive and unnatural than with the page being hard to find. Any page becomes easy to find once the proper links and redirects are made, even if the redirects are from a more intuitive name to a less.  --Chinasaur 07:30, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * Support My apologies - it seem so simple that I did the move without thinking first. I moved it back, but anyone can now move it forward again. --Henrygb 00:05, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I have performed this move. - UtherSRG 12:18, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)

Question
whats the purpose of numbers? The article seems to imply that the most commonly used fictional number, namely, 555-5555, is actually available for use. Is this true? Also, does the (555) area code exist anywhere? Fieari 07:14, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

 * According to Dan, 555 is not an area code in the US or Canada. http://www.danstheman.com/Jenny.htm--Atlastawake 18:29, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

entity unclear
The first words under the Fictitious Phone Numbers section are "The phone company began encouraging..." Who is the "phone company? The old AT&T monopoly? Sammo 21:15, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

IP address
The question as to whether that IP range is really similar or not prompted a bit of research by me, and it happens it is indeed: Private Internets

Ain't that a hang of a thing. Search 4  Lancer  02:33, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Actual numbers

 * Others, such as the producers of HBO's Sex and the City have acquired actual telephone numbers solely for the purpose of using them in the movie or on TV.

What happens when someone calls them? Do they hear recorded promotional messages about the shows? Seahen 19:47, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

 * The number shown on Fox's 24 is a fan insider line. It has been answered on-set in between takes by crew members. --68.35.127.124 (talk) 00:07, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Reserved for what

 * In fact, only 555-0100 through 555-0199 are now specifically reserved for fictional use; the other numbers have been reserved for actual assignment, with the notable exception of the 800 area code where only 800-555-0199 is reserved. The entire 555 exchange is reserved in all overlay North American toll-free area codes (844, 855, 866, 877, 888)

In one case, the numbers are reserved for fictional use. In another, they are reserved for actual assignment. In the two remaining cases they are reserved. Reserved for what?? 76.188.146.163 (talk) 19:16, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

"Fictitious domain names" should be a separate entry
Certainly it's a related concept, but internet addresses are not the same thing as phone numbers.

Also, maybe some Aqua Teen Hunger Force fan could recall all the names of fictitious websites mentioned on that show and add to the list (and find out if any of them actually exist); I think there's probably about half a dozen of them.

B7T 09:19, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Senor Cartgage
The list of fictitious numbers includes a very long one for "Señor Mortgage." His name is Senor Cardgage (no tilde on Senor), and the number is for Senor Cardgage Mort-gage. Also, the link (cite) is wrong. It should be http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Senor_Cardgage_Mort-gage, not http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Senor_Mortgage. Will fix. 71.154.213.191 22:16, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Let's delete all the examples
I'm ready to delete the list of examples, which is now at 45 (if I counted correctly), all of which are incredibly unenlightening. Fake 555 exchanges have been used on a zillion shows and movies - that's the whole point, after all - and the list could extend almost indefinitely. I see no reason to keep any of them. Any thoughts? - DavidWBrooks 16:07, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
 * The lack of response has been deafening. I may kill them all in another day or two if nobody objects. - DavidWBrooks 11:29, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
 * OK, I've removed them. See if anybody reacts. - DavidWBrooks 14:43, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Brute! Fiend! To callously wipe out a whole tribe of harmless — er, what were they again? —Tamfang 02:41, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I actually moved onto the discussion page specifically to suggest that such a list be created. How disappointing to be shot down before I even began. 62.172.143.199 19:44, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

167-1402
The article says that some movies use fictional phone numbers beginning with 1, for example 167-1402. What is the source for this? I find it difficult to believe. I will delete that sentence unless someone can cite a reliable source.--Mathew5000 10:35, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Just curious but why do you find it hard to believe? I-baLL 18:30, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Because I’ve seen lots of movies and don’t recall ever hearing someone use a seven-digit phone number beginning with the digit 1. --Mathew5000 12:31, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I've seen it, but I don't remember where. It was some sort of action or spy movie and someone viewed a list of phone numbers on a computer screen, and they were all like that.  It might have been Fair Game (1995 film), which I certainly don't expect to ever see again.  --208.76.104.133 (talk) 07:11, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

 * Ditto. I couldn't give a movie or TV show title, but have certainly seen a few examples.  97.84.107.236 (talk) 21:20, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Sneakers
Sneakers (film) is an example of a film using a non-555 number. . At the end of the film, one of the characters asks an attractive NSA agent for her phone number, and she gives a real number with a 415 area code. A rumour circulated that this was the San Francisco office of the IRS (which the filmmakers wanted to disrupt), but that is untrue; it was actually the office number of somebody working at Universal Pictures (the film's production company). --Mathew5000 10:46, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

PEnnsylvania 6-5000
This seems like as good a place as any to try and settle something I've wondered about for years - back in the 30s, were the phone companies deluged with calls to Pennsylvania 65000?--82.36.128.184 02:13, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Technically, you mean PEnnsylvania 6-5000. 216.179.123.109 (talk) 15:48, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

 * PEnnsylvania 6-5000 was then, and still is today (although perhaps not for much longer), the number of the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York. The hotel is next to Pennsylvania Station (and before that, to the original Pennsylvania Station), and must have considered the song to be free advertising.  Today, of course, the hotel's number is dialed with the area code 212.

 * In those days different cities did not all use the same telephone exchange names for the same two digits -- 73 might be named PEnnsylvania in one city, PErshing in another, REpublic in a third, SEaside in a fourth. (Presumably either New York used PEnnsylvania because of the train station, or else maybe they used another name and the hotel people realized PEnnsylvania was equivalent and used it instead in their advertising.)  If people heard an exchange name they did not recognize, they would likely realize it must be in another city and would not try to just dial the number.  And if they asked the operator for it, they would have to name the city; and if they knew it was New York, they'd get the hotel. --208.76.104.133 (talk) 07:17, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
 * "Presumably either New York used PEnnsylvania because of the train station, or else maybe they used another name and the hotel people realized PEnnsylvania was equivalent and used it instead in their advertising." - PEnnsylvania 6 was an official central office prefix in New York.  Prior to circa 1930, New York was one of the few American cities to use 3L-4N numbering, and thus PEnnsylvania 6-5000 had started out as PENnsylvania 5000.  97.84.107.236 (talk) 04:56, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

555-2368
Is there a citation for 555-2368 being a commonly-used "fake" number, as stated in the opening spiel? The only places I can think of are the movie Ghostbusters and some TV show I can't remember, but it may have been Kojak (I think I heard it in a Trivial Pursuit question). Also, would anyone like me to stick in a framegrab of the number when it's shown in Ghostbusters, to give the article a bit of colour (and some basis for the regular use of the number)? Dave-ros 17:43, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
 * It was Jim Rockford's number in The Rockford Files years before it was used in Ghostbusters. NossB (talk) 17:14, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

 * http://home.earthlink.net/~mthyen/2000.html lists 11 uses for that specific number.--Father Goose (talk) 18:19, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Where I live, it used to be the number shown on any phone in phone company (Bell Canada) advertisements or illustrations. --208.76.104.133 (talk) 07:11, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

 * 555-LIST lists only 11 for this number, but has 24 for 555-0199 so I've removed the mention from the lead. -- Jeandré, 2011-01-15t11:36z

 * The 555-2368 number was extensively in Bell System advertising throughout both Canada and the United States. Where an area code was required, they also often displayed the fictitious area code 311.  91.125.207.231 (talk) 16:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Worldwide View
Why exactly is there a "worldwide view" tag on an article that is obviously about something North American? Of course it isn't going to represent a worldwide view -- it's an article about a fictional, North American telephone number. Shouldn't the tag be removed, considering that, you know, there most likely isn't any actual way to conform it to a "worldwide view"? --Serph 20:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
 * The 555 prefix does represent a world wide view of America, actually. I'm Australian, and untill I saw this page today, I actually thought all phone numbers in the US started with "555". Of course, this is incredibly naive of me, and I obviously never actually thought this through, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with this misconception.--Murgie 02:41, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Beechwood 4-5789
How about the song Beechwood 4-5789 "you can call me up and have a date, any old time," A minor hit in 1962, written by Marvin Gaye, and performed by the Marvelettes.151.204.233.138 13:00, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Fictional tie-in website
The Geocomtex website has a 555 "toll free number". T.Neo (talk) 13:31, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Push, Nevada
As long as we're listing examples, I think the TV show, "Push Nevada," deserves some mention. It was an interactive mystery series, in which the phone numbers used in the show were owned by the producers of the show. Astute viewers would call the number and get clues to solve the mystery.

Ultimately, the final call led to a viewer winning a million dollars. 207.59.211.146 (talk) 15:40, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Remove
I removed a ton of irrelevant or non-notable material from this article. Please note that not every 555- listing ever in a mediaoutlet is not significant, this is an encyclopedia. Removed material that didn't have anything to do with the 555 listing (Example scrubs), that stuff relates to how the media uses phone numbers not 555. Also removed foreign listings of the 555- prefix as the restrictions on the number (as far as I can tell) relate to North America. This article still needs a lot of cleanup to bring all the remaining pieces of the puzzle together. I realize this was a lot of info to remove, but I hope you agree with me in thinking that the article is much better and less cumbersome for it.D-rew (talk) 20:41, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

The 555 numbers can be activated in a number of carriers (See www.telecom555.com) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.234.198.44 (talk) 02:16, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

New article fictitious telephone number
I just created fictitious telephone number and moved the stuff from this article that wasn't 555-specific there. That article covers fictitious phone numbers internationally. Well, so far the US and UK ;-) Working on more material ... - David Gerard (talk) 22:46, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

What is "Nations' Tell"?
In the "Real uses" section, one part reads "1-800-555-1234, a commonly used fictional number, is Nations' Tell in the Pacific Northwest..." I've never heard of Nations' Tell - what is it? I tried a Google and nothing sensible came up. 86.167.120.113 (talk) 19:06, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

updating references...
ABC recently redid their website, invalidating the "Laughter and Litigation" link. I've tracked down the new official page for that episode of the program "Law Report", but it doesn't include a transcript like the original version did (and archive.org doesn't seem to have a copy of the original page).

On the other hand, the Comic Book Legends column at Comic Book Resources explored this issue in 2009, and included a copy of the relevant transcript... taken from the then-current "Law Report" site.

So which of these should we use as our source? DS (talk) 14:19, 15 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Cancel that -- the transcript is visible if you click the 'show' link. DS (talk) 00:39, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Far Side
I have changed the bit on The Far Side, as I believe it is erroneous. It's difficult to be sure, because every web site out there now paraphrases Wikipedia's version, but I don't believe there was any cartoon about prank-calling Satan. I believe this is the actual cartoon. If anyone can show otherwise, please do. 67.142.167.22 (talk) 20:04, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
 * There definitely was. I saw it myself (although it's difficult to find based on a text descriptor, and on Larson's explicit wishes that his strips not be online), but more to the point the Australian news program talked about it being Satan and prank calls. That was the entire point of the defamation lawsuit. Larson did panels with 555 phone numbers multiple times; that was the only one that connected a phone number to Satan. DS (talk) 01:07, 1 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Ah, and here it is - "Graffiti in Hell" is the caption, and in case this URL becomes invalid, the panel's publication date was April 20 1994. In addition to the "warm and tender guy" graffito, there are also butterflies, flowers, a duck, and "you call this hot?". I am therefore restoring the full description of the panel; thank you for having tried to fix the article. DS (talk) 01:16, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

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Other National Film and Television Industries
It strikes me that any nation-state with a film and television industry would have prefixes

analogous to North America's 555. Undoubtedly worth an article! kencf0618 (talk) 14:14, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

"555 (telephone number" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=555_(telephone_number&redirect=no 555 (telephone number] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 01:01, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:555 (telephone number)


text:
Coat of arms of Ivory Coast

The coat of arms of Ivory Coast in its current form was adopted in 1964. The focal point of the emblem is the head of an elephant. The elephant is symbolically important to the nation, since it is the largest animal found in Ivory Coast as well as being the source of ivory for which the nation is named. The rising sun is a traditional symbol of a new beginning. Below the elephant head is a banner containing the name of the nation.

Official 1964 decree
The decree n° 64-237 of 26 June 1964, modifying the decree n° 60-78 of 8 February 1960 establishing the coat of arms of the Republic of Ivory Coast, defines in its second article the coat of arms as follows : "On an escutcheon Vert an elephant's head, the shield surmounted by an issuant eclipsed sun Or radiating of nine part Or. At dexter and sinister two trees Or and the Argent inscription « République de Côte d'Ivoire » on Or strip.".

Therefore, this decree states that the coat of arms of Côte d'Ivoire is composed of six elements:
 * The elephant's head;
 * The golden rising sun;
 * The two golden palm trees;
 * The green escutcheon (at the creation of the coat of arms of February 8, 1960, the escutcheon was Azure);
 * The golden strip;
 * The Argent "République de Côte d'Ivoire" inscription on the strip.

The Coat of arms of the Republic act :
 * As a means of identification for the Republic and its institutions. For this purpose, it must be placed on all official documents in the middle top or in the upper right corner, as a stamp;
 * As a means of education, a call for unity and solidarity against all adversity. Historically, the designers of the coat of arms were inspired by natural elements symbolizing the main political parties during the colonial period, the elephant representing the PDCI and the trees the former progressive party.

Evolutions from 1960 to today
The coat of arms of the Republic of Ivory Coast has evolved between 1960 and today. As defined by governmental decree, only the arms of 1964 should be used, except in the context of a non-official historical subject. The use of arms other than those of 1964, reaffirmed in 2011 and still in force, is considered incorrect.

title: Coat of arms of Ivory Coast


text:
Talk:Encryption

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articles should be merged, too similar
Encryption and Cipher are currently too similar. They should be merged, or Cipher should be specialized to the customary (though vague) subset of private-key encryption.

disagree, and problems w/ diagram
Tromer, Your observation is a common misunderstanding. Encryption can be done in several ways, only one of which uses a cypher. As for 'cipher' being customarily a subset of private-key encryption, that is true only if by private key one means symmetric key cypher. At least that's the sense I take from your comment. The spelling is (cy v ci) is irrelevant as to meaning, but excites comment (see Talk:Cryptography for some history on WP). As the diagram notes, cyphers come in symmetric and asymmetric flavors, and symmetric cyphers are sometimes (confusingly) called private key cyphers. Asymmetric key cyphers are sometimes (wrongly) taken to be all public key/private key cyphers. Not all are, as there exist some in which there are no public keys.

As for the diagram, I will note that the placement of rotor machine is probably incorrect. Rotor machines (as the Hebern machine, Enigma machine, SIGABA, Typex, and even the non-rotor Japanese stepping switch machines) are fundamentally substitution cyphers, albeit polyalphabetic ones. The diagram should reflect this. ww 15:12, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I'm going to make a text version of the diagram here, so it's easier for me (and presumably others) to edit:

 * Ciphers
 * Classical
 * Substitution
 * Rotor machines
 * Transposition
 * Modern
 * Public Key (shouldn't this be "assymetric key" ?)
 * Private Key (shouldn't this be "symmetric key" ?)
 * Stream
 * Block

Do "Stream" and "Block" really only apply to "Private Key" ciphers ?

 * Steam and block: in usage, yes. "Public key" and "private key" are, essentially, synonymous with "assymetric" and "symmetric key".— Matt 09:18, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Taxonomy approach
See also Image talk:Cipher-taxonomy.png. There is a problem with making a taxonomy of ciphers. There are (at least) two ways of approaching it, and each is somewhat unsatisfactory. The first is a more "abstract" classification, dividing the ciphers strictly according to how they function. The problem with this approach is that you then make distinctions that are never made in practice: the distinction between substitution and transposition is only really used in the context of classical ciphers; the distinction between symmetric and asymmetric ciphers is only really used in the context of modern cryptography, and so on.

The alternative approach, employed here, is to divide ciphers into sections according to how they are divided in practice. The problem with the "usage-reflecting" style is that, e.g., a classical substitution cipher isn't labelled as a symmetric key cipher, which might be desirable, but I think it's more important to reflect usage. — Matt 09:18, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)
 * I think that classical ciphers would fit well enough under symmetric encryption in a symmetric vs. asymmetric layout. Jobarts-Talk 07:46, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Encryption: hash functions?
I moved this recent addition here temporarily: Cryptographic hashes, also known as one-way hashes or message digests, are used to encrypt data so that it cannot ever be decrypted, but it can be recognized because the same data always produces the same output. Other unique features of this form of encryption include that no matter the size of the input, the size of the output is always the same (the size of the output varies from algorithm to algorithm), and that no keys are used. Popular algorithms include MD5 and SHA. See the Cryptographic hash function entry for more information. I'm not sure this is the right place to diversify into a discussion of crypto hash functions -- secure hashing isn't usually described as "encryption", although it's certainly part of cryptography and symmetric key cryptography. — Matt 13:14, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I think this should be moved to the "Message verification" subsection. Greatpopcorn (talk) 03:02, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Cryptographic hash functions
While cryptographic hash functions are certainly not a cipher, they are a vital part of encryption technology. Someone unfamiliar with the plumbing of encryption will just type "encryption" into Wikipedia and hope to get an overview of the subject with links to the details. This seems like a reasonable approach to making the Encryption and Cipher entries different so they work best for users. Encryption is a more general term.

It is logical that the Encryption entry should have brief descriptions of symmetric and asymmetric ciphers, hash functions and encryption-strength pRNGs in order to best serve users who may be unfamiliar with the categories or taxonomy related to the subject.

Vancegloster 21:27, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * OK, I can see what you're getting at here; you're saying that "encryption" is sometimes used to mean "encryption technology", which is essentially the field of "cryptography". Currently, we have an overview of the field in Cryptography, which deals (hopefully) with everything, including the entire gamut of PRNGs, digital signatures, hash functions, secret sharing schemes, authentication protocols, MACs and so on. This article, which deals with ciphers, is termed Encryption — in my experience, most cryptographers use "encryption" to refer to the action of ciphers, so it's a good title. You've pointed out, though, that sometimes people are looking for an overview of the entire field when they search for "encryption". Your suggestion is to move the cipher stuff into an article called Cipher, and have Encryption survey all the cryptography mechanisms. The problem with this is that most of Cryptography and Encryption would then be duplicating each other to a large extent. I'd propose an alternative: to this page, add a "disambiguation" header saying something like:
 * This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. For an overview of cryptographic technology related to encryption, see cryptography.
 * Do you think that would suffice? — Matt 22:14, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

This does seem reasonable. Vancegloster 23:54, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Text added by anon user
This text was added by an anonymous user. I'm not at all sure what it is supposed to be saying, so I've moved it here:

 * practical example of not too deciphered news

--Fastfission 02:18, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * Fastfission, you did the first half of the job. I did the other half: I deleted all that gibberish by some German joker, who can't even write decent English. Just in case anyone wants to look at it, it's down there in this page's history. --AVM (talk) 16:08, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Ciphers versus codes
Besides of a bit confusing diagram in the "Types of cipher" section, I think that in the "Ciphers versus codes" section distingushing between codes and ciphers based on amount of data processed (words x letters) is a misunderstanding.

As I always understood it, codes are not directly related with security (meaning security against intruders, etc.), but rather they are used to transfer data in a defined form and/or to secure data against transfer errors. For example [error correcting codes like the Hamming code or ASCII code and many others.

Therefore i disagree with the sentence: "Some systems used both codes and ciphers in one system, using superencipherment to increase the security."

Of course I mean the "technical discussions" usage of the words.

Finally, I found out that in cryptography article the definition of code x cipher is the same. But I still disagree :).

What are your opinions? PeP
 * I agree that the diagram is confusing, so I've removed it for now. Codes were indeed used in cryptography for secrecy, and not (well, not primarily) for error checking or as a standard like ASCII. — Matt Crypto 21:05, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

Encryption (album)
I apologise, I don't know how to use the coding that has been used at the top of the article to talk about other uses of the word. I just thought that it may be worth adding a note about the album Encryption by Pro-jekt. J Milburn 16:29, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Anyone? J Milburn 09:46, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

where's sourcecode?
i'm not a mathetician, hell i failed all my math classes, but i consider myself to be a programmer but i've learn some math just by programing.. (weird huh?) is there any non math equations that show encryption techniques, the links like this  didn't help much, i rather have newbie friendly sourcecode.. to examine and apply. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.15.191.81 (talk) 02:31, 4 January 2007 (UTC).

 * Try --agr 02:19, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

 * Haven't you ever considered learning some English? --AVM (talk) 16:10, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Trim see also
I trimmed the see also section. I think it should be kept to major topics in encryption, and not become a laundry list of articles that touch on encryption. In particular I removed the recently added Zodiac Killer link, but I did add the the unsolved codes and ciphers category to the Zodiac Killer article. --agr 02:19, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

History of the word 'cipher'
To quote pages 80-81 of Zero, The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by Charles Seife:

Italian merchants loved the Arabic numbers. They allowed the bankers to get rid of their counting boards. However, while businessmen saw their usefulness, the local governments hated them. In 1299, Florence banned Arabic numerals. The ostensible reason was that the numbers were easily changed and falsified. (A 0 could be turned into a 6 with a simple flourish of a pen, for instance.) But the advantages of zero and other Arabic numerals were not so easily dispensed with; Italian merchants continued to use them, and even used them to send encrypted messages - which is how the word 'cipher' came to mean "secret code."

Of course, you must keep in mind that Zero-into-6 was at the core of the issue, and that the old name for Zero was cipher.

ryanakca 14:57, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Spliting this article
Most of this article is about term "cipher", not about term "encryption". I see that this article was created by merger of those two articles, so this situation is understandable. I propose 2 possible solutions:
 * 1) move this article to Cipher
 * 2) split this article to Cipher and Encryption by moving everything except the introduction to Cipher and leaving only the intro section here. That would make Encryption a stub, but would solve our problem. --Dijxtra (talk) 21:31, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I would suggest we move out the Etymology of cipher section only. A cipher is an algorithm for encryption — essentially, it's the same topic. — Matt Crypto 22:13, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's the same topic, but two different terms. It's a bit confusing this way: article which is about cipher is named "encryption". I think we gain a lot on clarity if we move the stuff about the cipher to new article called "Cipher". I don't see why we can't have a small article "Encryption" which would say something like "encryption is the act of using a cipher", and then a big "Cipher" article which deals with term cipher. Wouldn't that be terminologically correct? --Dijxtra (talk) 08:41, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
 * As there were no stern opposes, I proceeded with split. Now I will revamp the articles to make 2 meaningful entities. --Dijxtra (talk) 11:45, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmmm. I agree that this article could do with cleaning up, but I don't think two separate articles on the same topic is the best way to go. After all, how do you decide what goes in cipher and what goes in encryption if they're covering the same thing? I suggest we merge them back; I don't particularly mind if the article is called "cipher" or "encryption", but I think we should really cover it in one place. — Matt Crypto  20:38, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

 * In most current usage, I believe, "encryption" is a broader term than "cipher" and includes techniques such as code books and secret algorithms that do not have a key. Arguably it could extend to analog scramblers and mechanical devices. So I think the split is a good idea, but the encryption article needs to written more broadly. It should mention classical ciphers, rotor machines, codes,  and give a brief intro to public key crypto.  --agr (talk) 21:28, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Ibrahim Al-kadi references
Somebody keeps removing the works by Ibrahim Al-kadi. Please explain why. Binksternet (talk) 13:30, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Would you mind explaining why you think these references should be in the article. 85.2.112.20 (talk) 15:17, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I haven't read them; I have no idea what's in them. I am simply reacting to their removal without sufficient explanation. Their being obscure isn't good enough reason for removal. Binksternet (talk) 16:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Ok, thanks for the clarification. 85.2.112.20 (talk) 17:11, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I think it's fair to ask why they are present in this article. They do look like random citations -- why not any of the other hundreds of journal and conference papers about crypto? Are they being used as a source for any specific point in this article? There's certainly nothing in this article specifically about Arabic cryptology. We have more specialised articles (e.g. History of cryptography). — Matt Crypto 17:12, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Good points. Binksternet (talk) 15:12, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

hisecure.net
Why would someone remove a site that is related to encryption from external links? www.hisecure.net —Preceding unsigned comment added by Metamorph123 (talk • contribs) 04:36, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Because it looks like spam and/or isn't particularly notable? Nuwewsco (talk) 07:41, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Blog external link
Please explain why a blog link should be included at External links. Binksternet (talk) 15:07, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

 * Because it has useful information about the topic. Please give your suggestion after reading the article. --Player82 (talk) 15:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

 * I see an article about printer data encryption; one that doesn't attribute its author. Without an author, we have no sense of expertise or reliability, per WP:RS. I see a small amount of text information that, if brought here, could amplify this article. Having useful information is a trait of a good reference, having too much useful information, too much detail, is a trait of a good external link. Binksternet (talk) 16:26, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Not quite on the subject
I have been told a WWII encryption was based on an old phone book. i.e. essentially use once pad easy to get by both parties. I was also told it was broken.

Anyone know how?Aaaronsmith (talk) 19:57, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

 * This is a book cipher. If you have a reliable reference that book ciphers were used during WWII, it might be worth adding them to the article on book ciphers. 92.106.113.28 (talk) 07:27, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. It is a book cipher. I can see how statistical analysis (a lot of it) might reveal the pattern in a book cipher that is based on a novel (something the Soviets loved to do). However, the numbers running down the columns in a phone book are essentially random. Does anyone know how that particular one was solved?Aaaronsmith (talk) 05:31, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Merge disk encryption ?
I think the Disk encryption page should be merged here Bikepunk2 (talk) 17:06, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I disagree. Encryption is different from Whole Disk encryption. This page explains encryption in general, whereas Disk encryption explains methods of whole disks being encrypted. For example, Pretty Good Privacy discusses encryption of a specific type. It still falls under the category encryption, but not whole disk. However, I think a In Wikipedia, Encryption may refer to the Full disk encryption. tag should be put up. -- MithrandirAgain  (Talk!) 02:42, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

I also disagree Rfellows. As pointed out by others, these topics require sufficient space to explain. Perhaps earlier, when both were shorter it would have made sense. Now, Disk encryption is actually longer and more complete than this article. 11:26 04 October 2010 (UTC)

Password protection
undid improper edit 21:42, 25 May 2010 TedColes (talk | contribs) (6,222 bytes) (Undid revision 364137170 by 67.51.122.18 (talk) Incorrect use). Tedcoles is deleting text that seems quite critical to understanding what this term means. It is widely accepted that password protection is a form of encryption. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.162.45.112 (talk)

 * Do others agree with this anonymous assertion that password protection is a form of encryption? Finding the password would lead to the raw information, i.e. plaintext not ciphertext, so in my book the information is not encrypted.--TedColes (talk) 09:17, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

 * No, password protection is not encryption. Breaking the password is like breaking the lock off of a bicycle—one can immediately ride the bicycle. Encryption is nowhere near that easy. Binksternet (talk) 15:45, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, password protection is widely accepted as a form of encryption. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.51.122.18 (talk) 15:45, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

product-specific POV
The last paragraph shows a product/implementation specific point of view.

It should be removed, but I think the note about where things should be encrypted could remain. So I'm changing it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by IsmaelLuceno (talk • contribs) 11:20, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Its not been changed and I too think it should be removed. I added the POV tag to warn users away from the statement. 97.83.152.148 (talk) 17:45, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Short
I removed the table of contents from this article because I felt it was distracting and served no purpose (there's no subsections!). Please add subsections! 68.173.113.106 (talk) 03:16, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

RfC concerning the Lavabit email service
There is a request for comments (RfC) that may be of interest. The RfC is at

Talk:Lavabit

At issue is whether we should delete or keep the following text in the Lavabit article:

 * Before the Snowden incident, Lavabit had complied with previous search warrants. For example, on June 10, 2013, a search warrant was executed against Lavabit user Joey006@lavabit.com for alleged possession of child pornography.

Your input on this question would be very much welcome. --Guy Macon (talk) 05:07, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Added references
I've found articles for the needed citations. I will be removing the additional citations needed tag. BadSprad (talk) 14:22, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

You didn't mention
you have to dedicate many digit-sizes to noise, otherwise Eve the eavesdropper might find some patterns.
 * 1) each piece of information has a list of possible encryptions, Alice and Bob (sender and receiver) know that list, a randomizer picks a random synonymous encryption (that causes encryptions to be large, but are manageable)
 * 2) the size of the encryption output is variable, each information has lists of synonymous encryptions of many sizes of digits, each size-list must contain as many as possible synonymous encryptions
 * 3) * the reader of the message, must have a secondary key, to know the order of the digital fragmentation packages
 * 4) ** ⚠ many packages of certain digital sizes do not encrypt anything, just pure noise,
 * 1) typical and statistically common phrases are coded as one piece of information, they're not fragmented into separate letters
 * 2) (this is problematic, it's not used because it reveals statistics about your letters, also can lead to permanent informational loss) some consciously made spelling mistakes might help you hide better you message but the orthographic mistakes must be selected by a computer because humans are bad randomizers
 * (there is a myth that monkeys are good randomizers, a pure myth, monkeys neurotically press a range of buttons in a chaotic but not random way, read chaos, animals are bad randomizers and they can never type the Bible even after eternal infinities, because are restricted by their "envelope of chaos" function, their attractor. Monkeys cannot type the Bible, even after eternal infinities, because they are restricted by their chaotic attractor which by no means is random.

That requires huge lists from sender and receiver, also the messages are huge.

It has been used by the US, China and Russia (combined usually with 3 or more other encryptions) but you must have a clear line or preferably a cable (fiber optics). It's bad for space because it's slow, and if you make your lists smaller, then it's faster but anyone can decrypt your message. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2149:8227:A300:9444:E682:3FB:B7E3 (talk) 18:27, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

 * you have to shuffle your lists, you need huge keys, it works (you don't write them by hand but then someone may steal the key, some people use several keys, and different security units handle them, they aren't allowed to communicate with each other, only with the commander. If one security group delivers the key to the enemy, the other keys are safe, so our encryption entropy. Even the commander isn't supposed to know all the details, only the generic management. (secrets leak outside the system, people don't play all day long with technology... some have sex with unknown people..... encryption won't help then) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:2149:847A:1E00:9444:E682:3FB:B7E3 (talk) 20:08, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

Shaky References
Reference 2, "History of Cryptography" is from Binance Academy, with no further sources at the reference source. Not sure where binance gets their info from, but this source is essentially just "dude trust me".

While I don't really doubt the truth of this claim, can we get a better source for early encryption and cryptographic history other than a binance article?

Zeph.tech (talk) 06:59, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Encryption


text:
John Sharp Williams

John Sharp Williams (July 30, 1854 – September 27, 1932) was a prominent American politician in the Democratic Party from the 1890s through the 1920s, and served as the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1908.

Early life
Williams was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in Yazoo County, Mississippi, after he was orphaned during the American Civil War. After graduating from the Kentucky Military Institute in 1870, he studied at the University of the South before transferring to the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, where he was Phi Beta Kappa but did not complete all his science courses for his bachelor's degree. He spent two years in Europe at the University of Heidelberg and what is now the University of Burgundy before returning to the University of Virginia to receive his law degree in 1876. After a brief return to Memphis (where he married Elizabeth Dial Webb in 1877), Williams returned to Yazoo County, where from 1878 to 1893 he ran the family plantation and kept a law practice.

Political career
Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1893, Williams soon became a leader of the Democratic minority, renowned for his speaking skill and wit. Like most other Southern Democrats of the day, he was a proponent of coining silver and an opponent of high tariffs. In 1906, when Great Britain launched HMS Dreadnought, Congressman Williams introduced a bill to change the name of USS Michigan to USS Skeered O' Nothin' as a challenge to the prestigious English.

During his time as ranking Democrat in the Republican-controlled House, Williams was given the privilege of choosing the Democrats assigned to committees by the House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon (by the rules of the House, Cannon was entitled to make all appointments himself), giving him tremendous power within the minority party. In gratitude, Williams was known to omit Democrats whom Cannon found particularly objectionable from committee assignments. Recognizing his status vis-à-vis Cannon, Williams jokingly described his relative political impotence in the Cannon-dominated Committee on Rules, "I am invited to the seances but I am never consulted about the spiritualistic appearances."

By beating one of Mississippi's leading racebaiters, James K. Vardaman, Williams moved to the United States Senate in 1911 after an early election on 21 January 1908. He became one of Woodrow Wilson's strongest supporters, from Wilson's nomination for the Presidency in 1912 to the losing battle to ratify American participation in the League of Nations in 1920. During his time as a senator, he also served as a chairman of the Committee to Establish a University of the United States.

He made a notorious denunciation of the black race when he declared on December 20, 1898: "You could ship-wreck 10,000 illiterate white Americans on a desert island, and in three weeks they would have a fairly good government, conceived and administered upon fairly democratic lines. You could ship-wreck 10,000 negroes, every one of whom was a graduate of Harvard University, and in less than three years, they would have retrograded governmentally; half of the men would have been killed, and the other half would have two wives apiece."

After retiring from the Senate in 1923, Williams returned to his family plantation, where he spent the last decade of his life, dying in late 1932.

title: John Sharp Williams


text:
Mel Mermelstein

Melvin Mermelstein (born Moric Mermelstein; September 25, 1926 – January 28, 2022) was a Czechoslovak-born American Holocaust survivor and autobiographer. A Jew, he was the sole survivor of his family's extermination at Auschwitz concentration camp.

He is best known for his litigation with the Institute for Historical Review over evidence of gas chambers in German concentration camps during World War II. The legal dispute was resolved in Mermelstein's favor, without the court giving an opinion on the merits of the dispute, since it ruled that the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz is a legally indisputable fact.

Life and career
Mermelstein was born in Örösveg, the son of Fani, a homemaker, and Herman-Bernad Mermelstein, a winemaker. Before World War II broke out, Mermelstein lived in Munkacs, then part of Czechoslovakia (occupied by Hungary in 1938). On May 19, 1944, he was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Mermelstein spent a little less than one year at Auschwitz, then in January 1945 he was sent on a death march with 3,200 other prisoners to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. From there he was sent on a train without food or water to Buchenwald concentration camp, where he arrived with typhus weighing only 68 pounds. He spent two months at Buchenwald until he was liberated by U.S. troops on April 11, 1945. His parents, two sisters, and a brother were murdered in the camps. Before his father's death, Mermelstein had promised his father he would tell everyone what the Nazis were doing.

The Institute for Historical Review
In 1980, the Institute for Historical Review (IHR) promised a $50,000 reward to anyone who could prove that Jews were gassed at Auschwitz.

Mermelstein wrote a letter to the editors of the Los Angeles Times and others, including The Jerusalem Post. The Institute for Historical Review wrote back, offering him $50,000 for proof that Jews were, in fact, gassed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Mermelstein, in turn, submitted a notarized account of his internment at Auschwitz and how in 1944 he witnessed Nazi guards ushering his mother and two sisters and others towards (as he learned later) gas chamber number five.

The IHR refused to pay the reward, stating that Mermelstein's notarized account was "not sufficient proof". Represented by public interest attorney William John Cox, Mermelstein subsequently sued the IHR in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for breach of contract, anticipatory repudiation, libel, injurious denial of established fact, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and declaratory relief (see case no. C 356 542). On October 9, 1981, both parties in the Mermelstein case filed motions for summary judgment in consideration of which Judge Thomas T. Johnson of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County took "judicial notice of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland during the summer of 1944", judicial notice meaning that the court treated the gas chambers as common knowledge, and therefore did not require evidence that the gas chambers existed. On August 5, 1985, Judge Robert A. Wenke entered a judgment based upon the Stipulation for Entry of Judgment agreed upon by the parties on July 22, 1985. The judgment required IHR and other defendants to pay $90,000 to Mermelstein and to issue a letter of apology to "Mr. Mel Mermelstein, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald, and all other survivors of Auschwitz" for "pain, anguish and suffering" caused to them.

In a pre-trial determination, Judge Thomas T. Johnson declared:

"This court does take judicial notice of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland during the summer of 1944. It is not reasonably subject to dispute. And it is capable of immediate and accurate determination by resort to sources of reasonably indisputable accuracy. It is simply a fact."

In California, the Evidence Code permits the Court to take judicial notice of "facts and propositions of generalized knowledge that are so universally known that they cannot reasonably be the subject of dispute".

In 1986, the IHR, along with its founder Willis Carto, sued Mermelstein for allegedly libeling them during an interview with a New York City radio station, but dropped the lawsuit in 1988. Mermelstein also sued the IHR in 1988 for an article in the IHR Newsletter that examined what it considered to be flaws and inconsistencies in his 1981 lawsuit testimony.

In 1988, Mermelstein (who was a member of the International Auschwitz Committee) included photo-enlarged copies of IHR's checks to him totaling $90,000 along with their apology letter in the exhibit "From Ashes to Life" at the Mills House Art Gallery in Garden Grove, California. The exhibit also included other Holocaust documentation from Mermelstein's collection, including photos of his family and of other emaciated camp victims and survivors.

Mermelstein was portrayed by Leonard Nimoy and Cox was played by Dabney Coleman in a 1991 TV film, Never Forget, about the 1981 lawsuit. He wrote of the court battle in his autobiography, titled By Bread Alone.

"About these so-called deniers of The Holocaust, and who they really are, see my letter to the editors dated August 1980 in my book By Bread Alone, The Story of A-4685."

- Mel Mermelstein

Death
Mermelstein died from complications of COVID-19 at home in Long Beach, California, on January 28, 2022. He was 95.

Works

 * By bread alone (1981) Auschwitz Study Foundation. ISBN 0-9606534-0-6.

title: Mel Mermelstein


text:
Coat of arms of Cuba

The Cuban coat of arms is the official heraldic symbol of Cuba. It consists of a shield, in front of a fasces crowned by the Phrygian cap, all supported by an oak branch on one side and a laurel wreath on the other. The coat of arms was created by Miguel Teurbe Tolón in 1849. The current version is not exactly the same as the original, since some elements related to annexationist ideas were removed. The design specifications of the shield were established by decree by the first president of Cuba, Tomás Estrada Palma, on 21 April 1906.

Official description
Cuban law describes the coat of arms as follows:

''The coat of arms is a symbol of the nation that is formed by two arches of equal circles, cut turning concavities to each other, as in an ogival shield. It's split at two thirds of its height, where a horizontal line divides it. It consists of three spaces or fields: the top represents a sea, on its sides, right and left, opposite to each other, two capes or points of land, between which, closing the strait they form, extending from left to right, a key with a thick stem, its ward down, and for its background a rising sun with its rays extending throughout the sky of the landscape. In the lower space or field to its left lie five bends, placed alternately, of the same width, of the colors dark blue and white, blue one being the highest, and all slighted from left to right. In the lower space or field to its right, the figure of a landscape representing a valley, in its center rises a royal palm tree, with the bud of its middle leaf being the highest, standing upright, for its background two mountains and clear skies. The shield is supported by a bundle of sticks, its lower end tied with a red string crossed in saltire, protruding from below the point of the shield. Above, protruding from the central part of the shield, is located a bundle of sticks tied together by a red circular string. The crown of the bundle of sticks is covered by a Phrygian cap of the red color turned right, and is sustained on one of the sticks slightly protruding. In the central part of the cap is a white five-pointed star, one of the points up. Not surpassing the rightmost and leftmost points of the arches of the shield, two branches, with their respective fruit, bordering it, one of laurel to the right, and one of holly oak to the left, facing it and crossed in the lower end of the shield, behind the bundle of sticks.''

title: Coat of arms of Cuba


text:
U.S. Route 52

U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows a northwest–southeast route, and is signed north–south or east–west depending on the local orientation of the route. The highway's northwestern terminus is in Portal, North Dakota at the Canada–United States border, where it continues as Saskatchewan Highway 39. Its southeastern terminus is in Charleston, South Carolina, at Number 2 Meeting Street and White Point Garden along the Charleston Harbor.

Route description

 * ND
 * 361 mi
 * MN
 * 377 mi
 * IA
 * 164 mi
 * IL
 * 216 mi
 * IN
 * 198 mi
 * OH
 * 190 mi
 * WV/KY
 * 186 mi
 * VA
 * 85 mi
 * NC
 * 150 mi
 * SC
 * 161 mi
 * Total
 * 2,072 mi
 * }
 * 85 mi
 * NC
 * 150 mi
 * SC
 * 161 mi
 * Total
 * 2,072 mi
 * }
 * Total
 * 2,072 mi
 * }

North Dakota
In North Dakota, US 52 continues from Highway 39 from the Canada–United States border at North Portal, Saskatchewan, and Portal, North Dakota, to the Red River in Fargo, a distance of 361 mi. US 52 is co-signed with US 2 near Minot, where it also intersects with US 83. US 52 is also co-signed with US 281 for 44 mi between Jamestown and Carrington. US 52 is concurrent with Interstate 94 (I-94) between Jamestown and the Minnesota state line, co-signed between Jamestown and Fargo; however, all of the interchanges for the Fargo–West Fargo portion of the route are unsigned.

Minnesota
In the state of Minnesota, US 52 enters the state with I-94 at Moorhead and follows I-94 southeasterly all the way to the Twin Cities. The portion of the highway which overlaps I-94 is unsigned. From downtown St. Paul, US 52 continues on its own southeast over the Lafayette Bridge in St. Paul, continuing as an expressway to Rochester and the Iowa state line. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has a long-term goal of making US 52 a freeway with limited-access interchanges between St. Paul and I-90 south of Rochester. South from I-94 in St. Paul there is a freeway segment to just south of Concord Boulevard in Inver Grove Heights. The portion of the highway between Inver Grove Heights and Pine Island is built to expressway standards. Another freeway segment begins from Pine Island, through Rochester reaching its largest single capacity in Minnesota through Rochester as a six- to eight-lane freeway, toward I-90 where it converts to a rural two-lane highway. The highway then proceeds to the Iowa state line.

Iowa
US 52 enters Iowa north of the unincorporated community of Burr Oak. It passes by Luther College on the west side of Decorah. At Calmar the road turns to a southwest–northeast orientation. It joins with US 18 just to the west of Postville. The two highways overlap until a point east of the unincorporated community of Froelich. US 52 roughly parallels the Mississippi River for the rest of its path through Iowa to Dyersville, where it intersects and joins US 20 and turns eastward towards Dubuque.

West of Dubuque, US 52 merges south onto the Southwest Arterial, a four-lane expressway directing traffic around the southern edge of the city. US 52 heads southeast to a junction with US 61 and US 151. All three routes travel northbound (even US 52, which is signed as southbound) as an expressway, until US 52 departs in Key West to remain close to the Mississippi River. After passing through a hilly and scenic region, including the small river city of Bellevue, the highway turns to an east–west orientation near Sabula at the junction of Iowa Highway 64 and the northern terminus of US 67. In Sabula, the highway becomes a wrong-way road; northbound traffic travels south, and vice versa, from Sabula to the Dale Gardner Veterans Memorial Bridge, where US 52 crosses over the Mississippi River into Illinois.

North of Dubuque, US 52 was formerly routed onto a narrow and winding road, concurrently with Iowa Highway 3. While scenic, the road has been the scene of numerous accidents over the years owing to this nature. Between 1964 and 1967, this segment of the route was designated Alternate US 52 and US 52 was rerouted south from Luxemburg to Dyersville along Iowa Highway 136, and east from Dyersville to Dubuque along US 20; however in 1967, US 52 was restored to the Iowa Highway 3 alignment. After the completion of the Southwest Arterial in 2020, a similar change took place as US 52 was once again removed from the Iowa Highway 3 alignment and again routed from Luxemburg to Dyersville to Dubuque, then onto the Southwest Arterial, to US 61/US 151, finally reaching its former routing at Key West.

The majority of US 52 in Iowa is located within the unglaciated Driftless Area.

Illinois
In Illinois, US 52 runs southeast from the Dale Gardner Veterans Memorial Bridge at the terminus of Iowa Highway 64 and Illinois Route 64 in Savanna, passing through the cities of Dixon, Amboy and Mendota. US 52 then turns due south and then east, crossing I-39 near Troy Grove. It continues east, passing through Shorewood and then through the southern portion of Joliet, where it is a major thoroughfare in the city of Joliet (Jefferson Street), avoiding the city of Chicago proper. It joins with US 45 through Kankakee, thereafter running concurrently with US 24, east of Watseka to the Indiana state line.

Indiana
In Indiana, US 52 runs in a northwest–southeast direction. It passes through Lafayette and Indianapolis. Northwest of Indianapolis, US 52 runs along the same general area as, and is considered an alternative route to, I-65. In the Indianapolis area, it is overlapped with I-865 and I-465. East of Indianapolis, it is considered an alternative to I-74 before joining it near the Ohio border.

When US 52 went through Downtown Indianapolis, it went onto Brookville Road, then turned left onto English Avenue. It then joined US 421 when it turned onto Southeastern Avenue. US 52/US 421 joined US 40 when it turned onto Washington Street. It then split into Washington Street (westbound) and Maryland Street (eastbound). US 52 then turned onto West Street (from West Street, it turned onto Maryland Street). US 52 turned on 16th Street, where it would overlap US 136. It then turned onto Lafayette Road, which became Indianapolis Road when reaching Zionsville. When I-65 was completed through Downtown Indianapolis, US 52 got on I-65 from the Lafayette Road interchange, and traveled on I-65 the rest of the way. In 1970, the route was re-routed onto the south belt of I-465 from Brookville Road to I-65. It was re-routed again on its current route around Indianapolis in either 2000 or 2001.

Ohio
US 52 enters Ohio concurrently with I-74 in northwestern Hamilton County. US 52 then merges with I-75 from I-74's terminus and exits onto Hopple Street in Cincinnati. It runs along Central Parkway and Central Avenue through downtown and then skirts the Cincinnati riverfront along Mehring Way past Paul Brown Stadium, Great American Ball Park, and Heritage Bank Center (formerly U.S. Bank Arena), onto Pete Rose Way and Riverside Drive. From Cincinnati eastward, US 52 generally follows the Ohio River. There is a brief concurrency with I-275 near California, a neighborhood on the far eastern edge of the city of Cincinnati. Towns along its path include New Richmond, Aberdeen, Ripley and Manchester. The section between I-275 and New Richmond was modernized in the 1960s; parts of the old route run parallel to the newer highway. Around Portsmouth and Ironton US 52 has several freeway or expressway sections. In Portsmouth, US 52 intersects US 23. At Chesapeake, US 52 crosses the Ohio River into Huntington, West Virginia.

The sections of US 52 that follow the Ohio River are known as the Ohio River Scenic Byway, which is part of the National Scenic Byway Project. The section between State Route 125 (SR 125) and SR 73 (near Portsmouth) is also designated as Scenic Scioto Heritage Trail. This portion of US 52, along the Ohio between Cincinnati and Huntington, is the only part where it falls in geographical sequence, south of US 50 and north of US 60.

US 52 passes by the birthplace of President Ulysses S. Grant in Point Pleasant.

West Virginia and Kentucky
US 52 serves western and southern portions of West Virginia, running from Huntington to Bluefield. The highway is undergoing a major expansion project which began in 2007 and at current funding levels is likely to take many years to finish.

During its run through West Virginia, US 52 twice enters Kentucky briefly, along the Williamson, West Virginia, bypass, in order to prevent the blasting of several hillsides in West Virginia. These stretches were completed in 1996 as part of the Corridor G (U.S. Route 119) project. The speed limit in West Virginia is 65 mi/h, but drops to 55 mi/h along the Kentucky portions, as Kentucky law states that any non-freeway (as is US 52) must not have a higher speed limit. In each instance, however, US 52 re-enters West Virginia.

Virginia
US 52 enters Virginia from West Virginia, and in Virginia closely follows I-77. It enters southwestern Virginia near Bluefield and passes through Wytheville and Hillsville before leaving the state south of Cana.

North Carolina

US 52 enters North Carolina just northwest of Mount Airy. It passes Pilot Mountain, one of the most distinctive natural features in North Carolina. Through the Piedmont Triad region, US 52 is mostly a controlled-access freeway. The route joins I-85 Business into Lexington and overlaps I-85 around Salisbury. The segment of US 52 from I-40 in Winston-Salem to Lexington has been upgraded to Interstate Highway standards; I-285 is co-signed along this segment. The segment from northern Winston-Salem to just south of Mount Airy is expected to form part of the I-74 corridor through North Carolina.

South of the Triad area, after splitting from I-85 in Salisbury, US 52 is typically a two-lane route linking some of the state's smaller cities and towns. Albemarle is the largest municipality along this segment of US 52 to the South Carolina state line.

South Carolina
US 52 enters South Carolina northeast of Cheraw. From Darlington southward it is a multilane highway and freeway, passing through Florence, Lake City, Kingstree, Moncks Corner and North Charleston before US 52's terminus at the intersection of Meeting and Line Streets in Charleston.

History
Historically, US 52 was routed along University Avenue between Minneapolis and St. Paul. In the 1980s and 1990s, the highway was gradually shifted onto its present route along Interstate 94. However, there was a gap in the definition of the highway for a few years until 1995. Since then, it has been routed along the interstate between the Twin Cities, although as of 2007, there was still a sign on University Avenue entering Hennepin County telling motorists to follow County Highways 36 and 37 to reach US 52—which kept them on University, then on 4th St. for historic westbound US 52. Historic westbound US 52 then crossed the Central Avenue bridge (current Minnesota State Highway 65) and turned onto the current routing of County Highway 81 northwest to Osseo. It then followed the current route of U.S. Highway 169 north to Anoka.

In Rochester, Minnesota, US 52 was recently expanded to six lanes. Long-term plans have US 52 from St. Paul to Interstate 90 becoming a freeway, and some have suggested that when the conversion is complete, the freeway should become a spur route for Interstate 90 (I-X90). Currently, Interstate 90 has no spur routes in Minnesota.

On April 10, 2015, a rockslide dropped a boulder the size of a house onto the westbound lanes of US 52 in Lawrence County just east of the bridge over the Ohio River to Ashland, Kentucky, leading to closures and detours while two days of cleanup took place.

U.S. Route 121 (1926)
Established in 1926, US 121 traversed from Lexington, North Carolina, to Max Meadows, Virginia, estimated to be 107 mi. In North Carolina it overlapped with NC 66; in Virginia it was overlapped with SR 15. In 1934, US 52 was extended southeast into Virginia and North Carolina, and replaced all of US 121.

Ohio
Long-term plans call for I-74 to be expanded eastward along the current US 52 corridor from its current eastern terminus of I-75 in Cincinnati to US 23, which has been proposed to be upgraded to Interstate Highway standards and be signed as I-73 in Portsmouth. Lack of sufficient funding has hindered construction upgrades for both freeways in Ohio.

Major intersections

 * North Dakota
 * at the Canada–United States border in Portal
 * northwest of Burlington. The highways travel concurrently to southeast of Minot.
 * in Minot
 * in Carrington. The highways travel concurrently to Jamestown.
 * in Jamestown. The highways travel concurrently to Saint Paul, Minnesota.
 * in West Fargo
 * in Fargo

 * Minnesota
 * in Moorhead
 * in Fergus Falls Township. The highways travel concurrently to the Buse–Dane Prairie township line.
 * in Sauk Centre
 * in Maple Grove. I-694/US 52 travels concurrently to Brooklyn Center.
 * on the Maple Grove–Brooklyn Park city line
 * in Minneapolis. US 12/US 52 travels concurrently to Saint Paul.
 * in Minneapolis. The highways travel concurrently, but on separate lanes, through the city.
 * in Saint Paul. The highways travel concurrently, but on separate lanes, through the city.
 * in Saint Paul. US 10/US 52 travels concurrently through the city.
 * in Inver Grove Heights
 * in Rochester. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Rochester. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Marion Township

 * Iowa
 * in Post Township. The highways travel concurrently to Giard Township.
 * in Dyersville The highways travel concurrently to the Southwest Arterial in Dubuque.
 * near Dubuque. The highways travel concurrently south of the city.
 * in Union Township

 * Illinois
 * on the Amboy–Franklin Grove township line
 * in Mendota
 * on the Troy Grove–Ophir township line
 * in Shorewood
 * in Joliet. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Joliet
 * in Peotone Township. The highways travel concurrently to Ashkum Township.
 * in Kankakee
 * in Concord Township. The highways travel concurrently to Kentland, Indiana.

 * Indiana
 * in Kentland. US 41/US 52 travels concurrently to Richland Township.
 * in Montmorenci. The highways travel concurrently to Wabash Township.
 * in Center Township. The highways travel concurrently to Eagle Township.
 * in Eagle Township. I-865/US 52 travels concurrently through the township.
 * in Eagle Township. I-465/US 52 travels concurrently to Indianapolis.
 * in Indianapolis. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Carmel. The highways travel concurrently to Indianapolis.
 * in Indianapolis
 * in Lawrence. The highways travel concurrently to Indianapolis.
 * in Indianapolis
 * in Indianapolis. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Indianapolis
 * in Harrison Township. The highways travel concurrently to Cincinnati, Ohio.

 * Ohio
 * in Whitewater Township. The highways travel concurrently to Taylor Creek.
 * in Cincinnati. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Cincinnati
 * in Cincinnati. I-75/US 52 travels concurrently through the city.
 * in Cincinnati. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Cincinnati. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Cincinnati. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Cincinnati
 * in Cincinnati. US 27/US 52 travels concurrently through the city.
 * in Cincinnati. The highways travel concurrently to Anderson Township.
 * in Ripley. US 52/US 62 travels concurrently to Aberdeen. US 52/US 68 travels concurrently to Huntington Township.
 * in Portsmouth
 * in Sciotodale

 * West Virginia
 * in Huntington
 * in Huntington. The highways travel concurrently to Kenova.
 * northeast of Nolan. The highways travel concurrently to Williamson.

 * Kentucky
 * No major intersections

 * West Virginia
 * in Bluefield. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Bluefield. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in Bluefield. The highways travel concurrently to north-northwest of Rocky Gap, Virginia.

 * Virginia
 * in Rocky Gap
 * west of Bland
 * in Wytheville. I-81/US 52 travel concurrently to Fort Chiswell.
 * in Wytheville. The highways travel concurrently to Fort Chiswell.
 * in Wytheville. The highways travel concurrently to Fort Chiswell.
 * in Hillsville
 * in Hillsville

 * North Carolina
 * in Mount Airy
 * southeast of Mount Airy
 * in Winston-Salem
 * in Winston-Salem.
 * in Winston-Salem
 * in Winston-Salem. I-285/US 52 travel concurrently to Lexington.
 * in Lexington
 * in Lexington. The highways travel concurrently to northeast of Spencer.
 * in Lexington. I-85/US 52 travel concurrently to Salisbury.
 * in Wadesboro. The highways travel concurrently through the city.

 * South Carolina
 * in Cheraw. The highways travel concurrently to south-southwest of Cheraw.
 * in Society Hill. US 15/US 52 travels concurrently to southwest of Society Hill. US 52/US 401 travels concurrently to Darlington.
 * northwest of Florence
 * in Florence
 * in Florence. The highways travel concurrently to Effingham.
 * north of Lake City
 * east of Greeleyville
 * in Goose Creek
 * in North Charleston. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
 * in North Charleston
 * in North Charleston
 * in Charleston
 * in Charleston
 * Line Street/Meeting Street in Charleston

Related routes

 * U.S. Route 152

Special and suffixed routes

 * U.S. Route 52 Spur in Charleston, South Carolina

title: U.S. Route 52