Presidential Firsts in Voice Technology

Happy Presidents Day! We wanted to share with you a few presidential facts that relate to our modern, technological world.

​Who was the First President to Have his Voice Recorded?

During his first year in presidency in 1889, Benjamin Harrison used a phonograph wax cylinder to record his speech regarding the first Pan-American Congress. The speech is now the oldest surviving recording of a president’s voice. While Rutherford B. Hayes did record a speech several years prior, it was sadly lost.

Who was the First President to Use a Telegraph?

The 1844, invention of the telegraph baffled both the American people and government up until Abraham Lincoln’s presidency in the 1860s. During his term, Lincoln used the telegraph frequently to communicate with generals during the Civil War.

In 1866, Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson installed the first telegraph room in the White House so that he could efficiently relay urgent messages.

Who was the First President to Have a Phone?

In May 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to install a telephone in the White House’s telegraph room. For his first call, he called the inventor of the phone, Alexander Graham Bell, who was located 13 miles away.
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President Herbert Hoover installed the first telephone in the Oval Office in 1929, to enable the power of communications right at the president’s desk.

Make your Voice Technology as secure as the Oval Office and as clear as Lincoln's speeches with voice technology offered by Simplified Communications.

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