"THE PRESIDENT'S PHONE NUMBER WAS #1"

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/ 

   

 

1877 Telephone

"PRESIDENT HAYES WONDERED: WHO WOULD EVER WANT TO USE ONE?"

TELEPHONE INSTALLED IN THE WHITE HOUSE TELEGRAPH ROOM

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On May 10, 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes had a telephone installed in the Telegraph Room at the White House. 
The only connection the White House telephone had at the time was with the Treasury Department.  The new White House telephone number was the single digit #1.

Two years after telephone service was set up in the Nation's Capital there were only 190 subscribers.  President Hayes rarely used the telephone most likely because there were so few others who had one.

According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama was critical of President Hayes' indifference to the communications device.  Mr. Obama's criticism was based on a historically unconfirmed comment in which Mr. Hayes said that the telephone was "a great invention, but who would ever want to use one."

President Hayes did not actually use the telephone until late June 1877 when he spoke with the inventor Alexander Graham Bell.  Upon hearing Mr. Bell's voice over the line, Mr. Hayes said, "That is wonderful."

SOURCES

"Hayes has first phone installed in White House," May 10, www.history.com/

"Obama's whopper about Rutherford B. Hayes and the telephone," by Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, March 16, 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/

\

1877 Telephone

FIRST TELEPHONE IN THE OVAL

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2263

HOOVER BECOMES 1ST PRESIDENT TO HAVE A PHONE IN THE OVAL

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Eighty-eight years ago today, March 29, 1929,  a telephone was installed in the Oval Office for the first time.  President Herbert Hoover, who had been inaugurated earlier in the month, was the beneficiary of the installation.

It was President Rutherford B. Hayes, however, who had the very first telephone installed at the White House in 1878, but it was located in the foyer outside the President's office.  At the time, the office was located in the main part of the mansion.  The Oval Office was not built until after the turn of the century.

The first Oval Office telephone set, manufactured by Western Electric, was placed on President Hoover's desk, although it "took a while to get the line...working correctly."  Mr. Hoover's son was, for a time, unable to connect with his father from an outside line.

The telephone President Franklin D. Roosevelt used in the Oval Office was a Western Electric 202 which had no dial.  President Harry S Truman had a Western Electric 302 with a manual dial while President Dwight D. Eisenhower was presented with a manual Western Electric 500 set trimmed in gold on November 18, 1953.  

President John F. Kennedy was the first Chief Executive to use the ultra modern Western Electric Call Director telephone.  This manual dial desk set included rows of 18 buttons by which JFK could connect with 18 different individuals directly.  

SOURCES

"President's Telephones in the United States," Manufactured Discontinued, www.manufactureddiscontinued.com/

"This Day in History, March 29," www.history.com

www.hoover.archives.com/

Herbert Hoover's Oval Office Telephone

Hoover Presidential Library

West Branch, Iowa

Hoover Library Photo

           

FIRST WHITE HOUSE TELEPHONE

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1945

PRESIDENT HAYES GETS A TELEPHONE IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) President Rutherford B. Hayes had a telephone installed at the White House 139 years ago today, May 10, 1877.

The President, who said he liked the new technology, did not have the luxury of using it in his office.  Mr. Hayes had to walk to the Telegraph Room in the Executive Mansion where the communications instrument was set up.

The only connection the White House telephone had at the time, however, was with the Treasury Department.  The new White House telephone number was the single digit #1.

Two years after telephone service was set up in the Nation's Capital there were only 190 subscribers.  President Hayes rarely used the telephone most likely because there were so few others who had one.

According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama was critical of President Hayes' indifference to the communications device.  Mr. Obama's criticism was based on a historically unconfirmed comment in which Mr. Hayes reportedly said that the telephone was "a great invention, but who would ever want to use one."

President Hayes did not actually use the telephone until late June 1877 when he spoke with the inventor Professor Alexander Graham Bell.  Upon hearing Mr. Bell's voice over the line, Mr. Hayes said, "That is wonderful."

SOURCES

"Hayes has first phone installed in White House," May 10, www.history.com/

"Obama's whopper about Rutherford B. Hayes and the telephone," by Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post, March 16, 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/

\

1877 Telephone