HE ‘red phone’ It wasn’t a phone call, and it wasn’t red, but he managed to get close to retirement age without betraying the purpose for which he was born: to prevent a misunderstanding from triggering a scandal. nuclear war between superpowers. As every 30 August, the so-called conservation officials direct communication channel between Washington And Moscow Congratulations and other congratulations will be exchanged this Wednesday to commemorate the anniversary of its launch. 60 years. It was originally a communication channel telexthen a satellite signalA fax from 1986 and an ordinary email Technologies that change over time before the feared nuclear threat disappears, war in ukraine.
Cinema and literature are responsible for the deterioration of this direct line between the two capitals. The Cold War takes the form of the ‘red telephone’ in the collective imagination. especially the movie Dr. Strange love’ related to stanley kubrickThe black comedy that premiered in 1964, parodying the nuclear war scare and adopting the title ”in Spain”Red phone: we’re flying to Moscow’. Inspired by the movie ‘Red alert’a thriller released by Peter George In 1958, this led to the editorial of the journal. ‘Parade’ magazine to demand the establishment of an unmediated channel of communication between the leaders of both powers shortly thereafter. “Can we lose the world with one phone call?” he wrote then.
The idea gained traction in public debate, but nothing changed until the decision was made. Missile Crisis from 1962 CubaAs the Soviets and Americans approached nuclear collision. Partly due to the infuriating slowness of transporting encrypted messages between the two capitals, this gave rise to all sorts of speculation about the opponent’s intentions. “Messages between Kennedy And Khrushchev how long they took six hours to delivery ‘The New York Times’ explains in an article published in 1988: ‘The New York Times’, through ordinary diplomatic channels, therefore both governments resorted to public statements as the quickest way to communicate. In other cases, Soviet messages were transmitted from the embassy to American journalists, such as: correspondent of the ABC channel, John Scali, to get them to the White House without delay.
Memorandum of Understanding and Transatlantic Cables
consciously bad communication Helping to escalate tensions during the Cuban crisis, both powers signed an agreement in Geneva in 1963. memorandum serving to establish an organizationdirect line of communication between the two capitals. The first electronic messages written on telex were supposedly Transatlantic Line Number 1first system transatlantic submarine cableconnecting Washington London and continued from there Copenhagen-Stockholm-Helsinki-Moscow routeAccording to the Electrospaces blog. In parallel, the same encrypted message was sent, the keys of which were shared by the embassies. radio circuit.
The ‘red phone’ was never even used in the USA oval office nor situation room But in the White House PentagonWhile in the USSR initially Headquarters of the Communist PartyAs Khrushchev told a group of American journalists at the time. Uncle Sam’s initial message was nothing more than a test of maximizing the use of characters: “The quick brown fox jumped on the lazy dog’s back 123456789,” as ‘Smithsonian’ magazine recalled in 2013. The system worked for many years, and literary passages were sent to each piece. “Americans sometimes send Shakespeare stuff, Russians Chekhov”, said the aforementioned article from the ‘Times.
times of crisis
Although there is no record of using a direct line to cancel a transaction nuclear warwill play an important role in some of them. major crises of the last sixty years. Details known largely from the memories of people who had access to the ‘red phone’. Shortly after Israel gave the first salute battle of six days (1967) Soviet ‘prime minister’ against a coalition of Arab countries Alexei Kosygin He sent a message to Washington that his country would not intervene directly in the conflict if the United States did the same, the president wrote. Lyndon Johnson in your memories. The White House accepted the beating.
’emergency line’, In the words of the Americans, he is also angry 1971 Indo-Pakistani war1973 Yom Kippur War, Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 wave soviet Afghanistan According to ‘The New York Times’ in 1979. And it still works today, albeit via email. This was confirmed by the White House National Security Advisor on September 25 amid the war in Ukraine. Jack Sullivan. When asked if the “red phone” was still operational, he said, “The answer to your question is yes.” “We have the ability to speak directly (with the Russians) at a high level and tell them what our message is and listen to theirs. It has been used frequently in recent months,” added Sullivan.