Dial 1 for The White House Mr. Treasurer

In 1879 when the White House first got their telephone service, there was only one other place to call. That place was the Treasury Department. This I just discovered today... Err...last night at Target when I found a juvenile book on the White House. The book is titled, "Where is the White House? I recommend the book. It is up to date by tenure. President Obama is bowling in the WH 

White House telephone number 1877

Today I found out that President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House in May 1877. The telephone number? (1). That's it. One. No area code. No prefix. No letters. It would be one year before an exchange would come about in Connecticut. (History channel, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hayes-has-first-phone-installed-in-white-house) 

Fifty years later, President Herbert Hoover would be the man who would first put a telephone on the desk of the Oval Office.. (The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, 2007 ). He even put in a switchboard. Of course being first didn't come without problems. He knew he still had phone trouble when his son couldn't get through to him. Can you imagine that "exchange"? 

 

Hoover set up protocols to receive needed calls and avoid the critics.