On this day in 1929, President Herbert Hoover has a phone installed at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House. It took a while to get the line to Hoover's desk working correctly and the president complained to aides when his son was unable to get through on the Oval Office phone from an outside line. Previously, Hoover had used a phone located in the foyer just outside the office. Telephones and a telephone switchboard had been in use at the White House since 1878, when President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first one installed, but no phone had ever been installed at the president's desk until Hoover's administration.
Also on This Day
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- U.S. withdraws from Vietnam, 1973
- American Revolution
- Putnam named commander of New York troops, 1776
- Automotive
- White House ousts GM chief, 2009
- Civil War
- Appomattox campaign begins, 1865
- Cold War
- Rosenbergs convicted of espionage, 1951
- Crime
- The Mad Bomber strikes in New York, 1951
- Disaster
- Earthquake and volcano do double damage in Mexico, 1982
- General Interest
- British victory at Kambula, 1879
- Mariner 10 visits Mercury, 1974
- Hollywood
- Miramax chiefs part ways with Disney, 2005
- Literary
- Writer Mary Wollstonecraft marries William Godwin, 1797
- Music
- Tom Jones is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, 2006
- Old West
- Congress authorizes survey of Cumberland Road, 1806
- Presidential
- John Tyler is born, 1790
- Herbert Hoover has telephone installed in Oval Office, 1929
- Sports
- Tar Heels win NCAA basketball championship, 1982
- Vietnam War
- Calley found guilty of My Lai murders, 1971
- Last U.S. troops depart South Vietnam, 1973
- World War I
- Swedish prime minister resigns over WWI policy, 1917
- World War II
- Patton takes Frankfurt, 1945
Mar 29, 1929:
Herbert Hoover has telephone installed in Oval Office
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This Week in History, Mar 29 - Apr 4
- Mar 29, 1790
- John Tyler is born
- Mar 29, 1929
- Herbert Hoover has telephone installed in Oval Office
- Mar 30, 1981
- Reagan is shot
- Mar 31, 1776
- Abigail Adams asks her husband to "remember the ladies"
- Apr 01, 1970
- Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette ads on TV and radio
- Apr 02, 1917
- Wilson asks for declaration of war
- Apr 03, 1945
- President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan
- Apr 04, 1841
- Harrison dies of pneumonia
- Apr 04, 1865
- Lincoln dreams about a presidential assassination
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