Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Roger Clark Swann Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: White House Phone Trivia (Was: Touchtone History) Message-ID: <9674@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 13 Jul 90 00:08:58 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: Boeing Aerospace & Electronics, Seattle WA Lines: 32 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 479, Message 2 of 14 In article <9482@accuvax.nwu.edu>, roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: > ........................ A touch-tone phone was clearly visible in > President Kennedy's oval office in numerious bits of footage shot at > the time. The year was 1963 and the students were trying to register > for the summer session, so I would put the date at about May or June > 1963. The phone that Kennedy used most of the time was a multi-line > key set with a rotary dial (looked like about 25 lines) and a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > speakerphone attachment. Sitting on the table behind his chair were > about 3 or 4 single line desk sets, one touch-tone, the rest rotary. > Was touch-tone in general use in May 1963, or did the President just > have a pre-release model? I think those same phones are still there :-) Well, almost... I was looking through a {Newsweek} (I think) a couple of weeks back and spotted a photo of President Bush in the Oval Office talking with someone and there on the desk in clear view was an TT version of the unit described above. One of the those big tanks that I used to think looked so neat, cool, etc. Wow! What an improvement in over 25 years! The burning question that Telecom readers want answered is: Why doesn't the President's office have a nice little Merlin (R) or neat IDSN set ??? Roger Swann | uucp: uw-beaver!ssc-vax!clark @ | The Boeing Company |