Show telephone traces white house history president hayes had first phone in executive mansion by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator washington recently the president turned down a very flossy television set because he already had one it was installed in the white house last january in time for mr truman to see the installation of the new republican congress however I 1 imagine this innovation caused nowhere near the flurry 1 mong among 1 the white house Housel staff that ensued on that day in 1878 when the first telephone instrument was put in that was in the administration of rutherford B hayes of ohio the president and that was the year in which the democrats who already had control of the house acquired control in the senate as well however the opposition when it became the majority made blunder after blunder mr hayes continued his administration with a quiet if perhaps somewhat monotonous dignity until he was succeeded by another republican president garfield I 1 I 1 doubt it if the even tenor of mr hayes existence was frequently disturbed by uie the ringing of ithe the telephone bell or much of 0 anything else for that matter very few residences or places ot of business possessed phones then furthermore the telephone was by no means accepted as a means of communication for presidents or baukhage Bank hage their entourages in those days in any case the white house managed to limp along on one phone until the end of president Clev elands administration by the time president mckinley entered the white house all government offices had phones and they were accepted as everyday every day necessities but they were not an important element in the handling of white house business when teddy roosevelt came to in despite his strenuous activities and what was considered then a somewhat revolutionary outlook he made very little use of the telephone himself then along came franklin roosevelt and the new deal a part ot of which was a five position branch exchange with more than off cial extensions and 20 outside trunk connections to handle the calls white house calling became a byword by word then also came the first woman telephone operator and probably the most efficient of either sex that the white house ever had or will have in many a day louise hachmeister hackie is probably favorably known to more famous users of the telephone than any other operator in history her genius in being able to locate people anywhere in the world has been the subject of many a story louis howe who introduced her to the president while she was working at friends of roosevelt headquarters called her the worlds greatest telephone detective because he said she need a number to get her man once she located cornelius vanderbilt jr with no other clue than that he was motoring east cast from california I 1 dont know how many long distance calls a day she put in at the peak of 0 the war but I 1 do know that the number of long distance calls out of 0 washington jumped from approximately a day in 1939 to well over in 1945 today they have dropped back to a little over it Is fair to assume that the white house calls have followed the same curve under the nimble numble fingered direction of hackie even by 1935 it took five operators in shifts to handle the white house calls at that time miss was the first and only woman to operate a white house switchboard president truman uses the telephone a good deal he has so many friends on capitol hill that 4 LOUISE hachmeister te need a number his voice is almost as familiar over those branch lines as it was when he was a senator himself I 1 dont know how much tun he gets out of the television set his bowling alley is pretty dusty and the dirt often fly on his horseshoe pitching court or whatever the technical name ol of that arena is As to the video it cant be half the novelty to him that the old fashioned telephone instrument was to president hayes russian enigma illustrated boris krelof has gone home he was a member of the staff of tass official soviet news agency stationed tor for some three years in washington so tar far as I 1 have been able to learn his american contacts which were many both official and personal made not a single ideological impact upon him or his way of thinking he upheld the russian cause he talked more freely than most russians in a semiofficial semi official or official capacity do but also so tar far as I 1 can learn he never offered the slightest compromise of viewpoint never accepted any argument or explanation of 0 democratic american style methods of thought or action and yet and here is the thing that baffled most ot of us he was well liked he was good company and il if we could have hav e found the tiniest peg on which to hang an idea he would have inspired us to write about russia with a heart as a russian woman interpreter Is rei ported to have begged of sam welles times correspondent in blo moscow scow we wonder about boris we would have liked so much to sit down and talk frankly and freely with mm him about the common problems and the still more common misunderstandings between our countries was he able to appear so genial and friendly and charming because he held such high rank at home that he afraid to consort as tar far as personal matters went as a trusting friend was he so deeply indoctrinated in the ideology of marxism lenin ism stalinism that he was filled with pity rather than the typical suspicion which seems to permeate most russian american relations one slight clue we have though it may be a false one once at a rather intimate gathering gat heiing krilovs lovs hostess finally grew a little impatient and said something like this listen here boris were friends surely you can be frank with us and explain why your government before she could finish he guessed what was coming he held up his hand band please he be said with a disarming smile that took the tang out of his words we are having such a pleasant time but you force me to say this I 1 cannot explain ex epplin plin what you wish because you people are just too stupid to understand communism it if that sentiment is a sincere and typical expression of how the men who run russia feel eel the road ahead is a rocky one kipling once put into verse the problem he be felt elt the foreigner faced in trying to understand the american what he said might be applied to russia inopportune shrill accented the acrid asiatic mirth that leaves him careless mid his dead the scandal of the elder earth how hou shall he be clear himself bow reach your bar or weighed defense prefer a brother hedged with alien speech and lacking all interpreter |