May 10

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Transcontinental railroad completed, 1869
American Revolution
Second Continental Congress assembles as Ticonderoga falls, 1775
Automotive
Government gives Chrysler $1.5 billion loan, 1980
Civil War
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson dies, 1863
Cold War
China releases Tiananmen Square prisoners, 1990
Crime
J. Edgar Hoover begins his legacy with the FBI, 1924
Disaster
Death on Mount Everest, 1996
General Interest
Jefferson Davis captured, 1865
Churchill becomes prime minister, 1940
Nelson Mandela inaugurated, 1994
Hollywood
Joan Crawford dies, 1977
Literary
The final volume of Tom Jones is published, 1749
Music
"Mother" Maybelle Carter is born, 1909
Old West
First transcontinental railroad is completed, 1869
Presidential
Hayes has first phone installed in White House, 1877
Sports
Bobby Orr leads Bruins to Stanley Cup title, 1970
Vietnam War
Operation Apache Snow is launched, 1969
Intense air war continues over North Vietnam, 1972
World War I
Treaty of Frankfurt am Main ends Franco-Prussian War, 1871
World War II
As Germany invades Holland and Belgium, Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain, 1940

Presidential

May 10, 1877:

Hayes has first phone installed in White House

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On this day in 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes has the White House's first telephone installed in the mansion s telegraph room. President Hayes embraced the new technology, though he rarely received phone calls. In fact, the Treasury Department possessed the only other direct phone line to the White House at that time. The White House phone number was "1." Phone service throughout the country was in its infancy in 1877. It was not until a year later that the first telephone exchange was set up in Connecticut and it would be 50 more years until President Herbert Hoover had the first telephone line installed at the president's desk in the Oval Office.

In more recent years, presidential phone recordings have given the public insight into the personalities and political maneuvers of the nation's leaders. On such tapes, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Harry Truman were frequently heard using profanity or openly criticizing political opponents without the constraints of being in the public eye or having to maintain a facade of presidential decorum. Most of the time those on the other end of the White House phone line had no knowledge they were being taped.

Since 1990, the National Archives and Records Administration has released to the public presidential phone recordings regarding subjects such as Kennedy's handling of the Cuban missile crisis; Johnson's increase in the number of U.S. troops sent to Vietnam; and Nixon's appointment of William Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court. American Radio Works® states Nixon left behind more taped phone recordings than any other president, a fact that led to his political undoing in 1973 when Watergate investigators subpoenaed tapes and transcripts of close to 3,700 hours of Nixon s phone recordings. Since Nixon's administration, declassified transcripts or sound recordings have become increasingly available to the public in print and online.

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This Week in History, May 10 - May 16

May 10, 1877
Hayes has first phone installed in White House
May 11, 1977
President Carter puts in a long day at the office
May 12, 1903
Teddy Roosevelt's trip to San Francisco is captured on film
May 13, 1958
Nixon attacked by angry Venezuelans
May 14, 1999
Clinton apologizes to Chinese leader for embassy bombing
May 15, 1800
President John Adams orders federal government to Washington, D.C.
May 15, 1942
Ronald Reagan applies for transfer to Army Air Force
May 16, 1868
Senate acquits Johnson of high crimes and misdemeanors

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