Grace M Hopper USN was a COBOL programming expert. And was responsible for the Defense Department's COBOL software.

[usaf-vet]

Here’s the short version of Grace M. Hopper And how it relates to Musk's suggestion to rewrite the Social Security Software system "in a month." This reckless “we’ll fix it in a month” suicide mission is the policy equivalent of pulling the pin on a hand grenade and gambling on how long you can hold it before it blows. If it moves forward, it won’t just eclipse the “Signalgate” debacle—it will detonate the very foundation of the Social Security system. The damage will be irreversible, and millions of Americans who rely on those monthly checks will be the ones caught in the blast. This isn’t a drill. It’s a disaster-in-waiting, and if those in power can’t see that, they have no business holding the pin—or the power

The Indispensable Grace Hopper: COBOL, Congress, and Code That Lasted Decades

Introduction to Grace Hopper
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (1906–1992) was a pioneering American computer scientist, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, and the creator of the first compiler. Known affectionately as "Amazing Grace," she revolutionized computing and helped birth modern programming languages.
* Earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Yale in 1934
* Joined the Navy Reserve in 1943, assigned to work on the Harvard Mark I computer
* Invented the first compiler (A-0 system), paving the way for modern programming languages
* Played a central role in the development of COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)
Her dedication to making computers understandable and usable by humans rather than just mathematicians changed the face of computer science.

The Rise—and the Chaos—of COBOL
By the 1960s, COBOL had become the go-to programming language for government and business applications. It was used in:
* Payroll systems
* Military logistics
* Procurement
* Personnel databases
* Federal accounting and Social Security
But COBOL's widespread adoption also led to chaos:
* Contractors each had their own versions
* Agencies couldn’t share code or data
* Maintenance was expensive and risky
The Department of Defense found itself unable to efficiently manage systems that were critical to national operations.

Retirement and the Congressional Recall
Hopper first retired from the Navy in 1966 at the rank of Commander, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 60.
But her COBOL expertise was irreplaceable. When federal systems began buckling under the weight of inconsistent codebases, the military made a bold move:
In 1967, Congress passed special legislation to recall Grace Hopper to active duty—just 7 months after her retirement.
This unprecedented move underscored her strategic value. It wasn’t just symbolic. The military and government genuinely needed her brain to untangle the mess.

Her Impact Upon Return
Grace Hopper immediately set to work:
* Standardized COBOL across all military branches and agencies
* Forced contractors to follow language specifications
* Designed tools for code validation and conversion
* Championed the development of portable code to avoid future chaos
* Educated thousands of personnel on proper programming practices
She was recalled again in the 1970s, pushing retirement age limits once more—because no one could match her effectiveness.

Final Retirement and Recognition
In 1986, at the age of 79, Hopper finally retired for good. By then, she was the oldest serving active-duty officer in the U.S. Navy, holding the rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half).
She continued to consult with Digital Equipment Corporation until her death in 1992. Her funeral at Arlington National Cemetery honored her contributions to both the military and computer science.
Her legacy lives on in:
* The USS Hopper (DDG-70), a guided missile destroyer named in her honor
* The annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
* The Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded posthumously in 2016

Relevance Today—Social Security and COBOL
Even today, many critical systems still run on COBOL—including Social Security, IRS infrastructure, and state unemployment systems. These codebases:
* Are decades old
* Are difficult to maintain without specialized expertise
* Are highly interdependent with legacy mainframes
Recent high-profile technologists like Elon Musk have floated the idea of rewriting these systems in modern languages within a few months—a notion widely criticized as naive.
Hopper would likely raise an eyebrow and respond with her trademark mix of wit and precision: “Debugging is twice as hard as writing the program in the first place.”
Attempting a total rewrite without understanding the depth and complexity of the system is not just risky—it borders on delusional. Hopper’s emphasis on standardization, stability, and long-term maintainability is more relevant than ever.

Conclusion—Amazing Grace’s Enduring Lessons
Grace Hopper showed us that:
* Code must be understandable to humans, not just machines.
* Standardization is the only path to sustainable systems.
* One person—if bold, brilliant, and tireless—can reshape both a military and a technological world.
In a time when technologists dream of speed and disruption, Hopper reminds us that durability, clarity, and humility are just as vital.
“The most dangerous phrase in the language is: ‘We've always done it this way.’” – Grace Hopper

[MayReasonRule]

1. That's The Point Though. They WANT To Destroy It. That's The Goal.

[SheltieLover]

3. That is the goal for everything they are doing. To please pootin!

[SheltieLover]

2. Ty for sharing this!

Yeah, right, fleaon & his teeny boppers can rewrite in months, hu?

How about fleaon keeps his hands in his own affairs & out of our govt!!!

[brush]

4. God help us if musk and his teen/20-somethng hackers get their hands...

Last edited Fri Mar 28, 2025, 09:05 PM - Edit history (2)

Social Security software. Things look bad now, just wait.

[SheltieLover]

7. Oh gawd...

I just can't even...

[erronis]

11. Too late. Already happened.

[Phoenix61]

5. Rewrite the code in months says the guy who thought

gluing a truck together was a good idea. What could go wrong?

[cbabe]

6. Haven't they disappeared her yet?

[yellow dahlia]

8. Thanks for sharing.

[CloudWatcher]

9. The goal of replacing all that cobol code is a good goal

The idea that they can do it in months instead of in years is criminal fraud.

Almost nobody learns cobol anymore, I'd say it's a dead language except there's so much zombie code running still.

[soldierant]

15. And I suspect that Admiral Grace would be delighted.

The whole point of COBOL was to make coding more like natoral speech. She would welcome what made that so much closer as to make hers obsolete.

[Mustellus]

10. Met her.. neat neat neat lady.....

The military bureaucracy had a multi-year process for buying computers, back when a computer required its own building, AC, and a staff of a hundred or so. Then PC's came out, and Admiral Grace Hopper couldn't get one... with out the multi-year bureaucratic process. So she sent in 100 requests for one PC each.
The bureaucracy responded by saying how much they would need to expand to handle all this increased workload.

But, she did finally break that bottleneck. Sometimes it doesn't take an Elmo Musk to cut out waste.

[sdfernando]

12. I had the great pleasure of meeting her once

She gave the commencement address at the small technical college I graduated from. Small in stature but an immense intellect! Her description of a nanosecond was enlightening and engaging.

[AllaN01Bear]

13. if it aint broke dont fix it.

[dalton99a]

18. +1

[Cheezoholic]

14. Love her story and philosophy. I've worked with these script kiddie types and man o man can they throw a monkey wrench

The first thing I'd wonder about attacking such a large database as SS is what has to interface with it? I've participated in upgrading server OS and hardware of some of the largest hospital conglomerates in the US. One that covered 23 hospitals out West took 3 years of planning before the upgrade began. A lot of that time was re-writing and testing the actual interfaces for systems that integrated with the hospitals main servers and databases. Another in and around NYC took 2 years. Another with Ohio's largest hospital system, 3 years. That was just upgrading from an older version of Windows Server and upgrading linked databases and new hardware. Tackling something as large as the SS database, system and the systems that integrate with it in 3 months? Yeah, that sounds like little know it all script kiddies that never left mom and dads basement.

[Owl]

16. Fascinating information. Thanks for sharing!

[usaf-vet]

17. You bet. Cobol was a reliable OS, but most, if not all, programmers are retired or gone considering 1960 was the peak.

Read any of the stories in links like this, and you will see the planning stages for these Cobol. What??? Take months, if not years. That is why anyone with half a brain follows the old adage: IF IT ISN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT.
A former SS administrator said they sent out 73 million checks per month. In 2023, approximately 5.8 million individuals were newly awarded Social Security benefits, averaging about 483,000 new beneficiaries per month. This figure encompasses all new beneficiaries, including retirees, disabled workers, and survivors. THIS IS NOT A ONE OR TWO MONTH FIX. It is definitely not changing the oil and rotate the tires kind of fix. Someone must stop them before they start because there will be no turning back. If they FU#K it up.

See this video for the interview with Senator Whitehouse & Martin O’Malley former SS Administrator.

https://www.youtube.com/live/Ek_6sJQkAkw Scroll to the 3:00 minute mark for the start of the interview

[Owl]

20. Just watched a presentation by Grace Hopper on YouTube.

So intelligent and inspiring!

[hurl]

19. As an old, retired IT guy

I always loved COBOL. It is very English-like, as per its intent. It was already outdated when I began my career, but it stood the test of time, and I spent a good portion of my career working with it. Good times. And Grace Hopper is a national treasure.

[Skittles]

21. if the right has its way

Ms. Hopper will be removed from history as a "DEI hire".