FIRST TELEPHONE INSTALLED AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On May 10, 1877 the first telephone was installed at the White House here in the Nation's Capital. Alexander Graham Bell had been granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office on January 30, 1877 for his "electromagnetic telephone."
President Rutherford B. Hayes liked the new technology although it did have some drawbacks. Since the White House telephone was installed in the Telegraph Room, the President had to walk there from his office in order to receive or make calls.
Also, there was only one other phone available for the White House to connect with and that was located across Executive Avenue at the Treasury Department.
There was no problem, however, in the President forgetting his telephone number...it was #1. Herbert Hoover was the first POTUS to have a telephone installed in the Oval Office.
During the Kennedy administration, the President had a green Bell "call-director" telephone on his desk in the Oval Office. It enabled him to connect with his people at the touch of a single button. His aides had a button on their phones labeled "POTUS" which connected them directly to Evelyn Lincoln, JFK's personal secretary.
SOURCES
"Hayes orders first presidential telephone, May 10, 1877," by Andrew Glass, May 10, 2017, Politico, www.politico.com/
"Rutherford B. Hayes has first phone installed in White House, May 10, 1877," www.history.com/
