Today in History

Today in History

1929

Herbert Hoover Has Telephone Installed in Oval Office

On this day in 1929, President Herbert Hoover had 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.

Great strides have been made in communication from that time until this.