Tony Long Email 06.20.07 | 2:00 AM
1963: A "hot line" is established between the White House and the
Kremlin. Now, the leaders of the two most powerful nations on earth can
communicate quickly in a crisis.
In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, which brought the United States
and Soviet Union to the brink of war, it was recognized on both sides
that the lag time in communication between President Kennedy and Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev had contributed to the escalating situation in
Cuba. They were obliged to talk with each other through intermediaries,
leading to delays and misunderstandings as events unfolded.
Determined to prevent this kind of situation from arising again, Kennedy
suggested the establishment of a "hot line" between Washington and
Moscow. The Russians, who referred to it as the "red telephone," readily
agreed.
The original hot line was, in fact, not a telephone but a
teletypewriter, typically found in telegraph offices of the time. There
were still intermediaries -- messages had to be translated, then typed
and transmitted by operators -- but at least the process had been
speeded up.
The hot line was used for the first time during the Six-Day War in 1967,
where the United States backed Israel while the Soviets supported the
Arab nations.
A direct line, employing two satellite systems and an undersea cable,
was finally established during the 1970s, when Leonid Brezhnev occupied
the Kremlin's top chair.
Even with the fall of the Soviet Union, the line remains in use to this day.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/dayintech_0620
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