Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Washington's big red phone to the Kremlin is the stuff of Cold War fantasy

Direct communication between the superpowers was never established with a direct, dedicated phone line, it has emerged.

Oliver Duggan
Thursday 27 June 2013 11:14 BST
Comments
Peter Sellers, as President Merkin Muffley in Dr Stragelove, using the mythical red phone
Peter Sellers, as President Merkin Muffley in Dr Stragelove, using the mythical red phone (Rex Features)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

For decades it was an image that captured the imaginations of a generation; the height of Cold War tensions, Russian warships move towards Cuba at Premier Khrushchev’s ordering and President Kennedy reaches for the big red phone to demand the Soviet Union stop their advance or face catastrophic consequences.

But now it seems it was all a myth, or at least, the bit about the big red phone. According to the Smithsonian Museum, there was never a phone in the White House with a dedicated line to the Kremlin but rather a wire telegraph where messages could be typed out.

It was in fact during the Cuban Missile Crisis that the two global superpowers decided it was too dangerous to rely on message relays that could take up to half a day to reach their destination. They decided as a result to install direct communication, but the technology for a permanent phone line wasn’t yet available.

In a memo from June 1963, the two governments agreed that “for use in time of emergency the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” ought to “establish as soon as technically feasible a direct communications link between the two Governments.”

But instead of a phone, messages were to be sent to the Soviet Union along a 10,000-mile-long transatlantic cable from Washington to London, onward to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and finally to Moscow.

The first president to use the device was reportedly Lyndon Johnson, who was able to communicate with the Soviets during Israel’s Six Day War. Since then, the Smithsonian reports, the hotline has been updated with a satellite connection in 1971, a high-speed fax in the 1980s, and a fibre-optic link for email and conferencing in 2008. The red phone, on the other hand, was a Hollywood creation.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in