June 20 - The Moscow-Washington Hotline is Agreed

This Day in History: 20 June 2020

 

20 June 1963

 

57 years ago, today, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to establish a 'hot line' communication system. This was a small step in reducing tensions between the two nations. The need for full-time communication between the superpowers became clear during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when the United States discovered Soviet missile sites in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy initiated a naval blockade around Cuba to block the delivery of the missiles, but the nuclear conflict was only avoided when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to not install the weapons in Cuba. The United States promised in exchange to not threaten the sovereignty of Cuba.

 

The hot-line agreed between the two nations would be a 24-hour communication link between Washington, D.C. President Kennedy declared that the hot-line was needed as "this age of fast-moving events requires quick, dependable communication in time of emergency". The agreement was therefore the first step to reduce the risk of war occurring by accident, and the system was put into place a few months after the agreement was signed. Although in popular culture it is commonly referred to as the 'red telephone', the hotline was never a telephone line, nor were any red phones involved. The first implementation utilised Teletype equipment, which shifted to fax machines in 1986. Since 2008, the hotline has been transformed into a secure computer link where messages are exchanged by a secure form of email.

 

Want to find out more about the Moscow-Washington hotline? Click here for more information, or here to see how the hotline is still relevant today.