Important phone calls that changed the course of history

The telephone is so integral to our lives that it’s easy to forget it was invented less than 150 years ago. Ever since, the telephone has helped alter the course of history.

When was the first phone call?

On March 10, 1876, inventor Alexander Graham Bell called his assistant Thomas Watson from the next room and said, “Mr. Watson, come here—I want to see you.”

From there, the instrument grew in importance to become a linchpin of history throughout the 20th century.

Important calls that affected the entire planet

Telephones in history are often depicted in old movies as the original social media, with neighbors sharing gossip over a party line. However, even early on, phones were used for important calls, such as helping people communicate during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.

Let’s look at what happened during World War II. The heads of two superpowers, the United States and the United Kingdom, had formed a crucial alliance. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) called British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the implications of the attack. Although the two leaders had been in regular communication before this, FDR’s pivotal phone call laid the groundwork for what would come to be known as the Atlantic Charter, which strengthened the Anglo-American alliance and established post-war goals for both countries.

Then there was the September 26, 1983 call that didn’t happen, and may have saved the world. During the Cold War, Stanislav Petrov was a Soviet lieutenant colonel responsible for monitoring early-warning radar. On this day, his screen indicated the U.S. had launched five intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) toward the Soviet Union.

Petrov was supposed to call his superiors immediately to report such activity. But he had doubts. He reasoned that a genuine attack would involve hundreds of missiles, not just five. Petrov correctly surmised, with no supporting evidence, that the system was malfunctioning—and that is what he called to report to his superiors.

Had he chosen to report what the system indicated, it’s likely the Soviet Union would have retaliated, unleashing WWIII. In a very real sense, we owe our lives to Stanislav Petrov, who was later abundantly glad he was on duty that night and trusted his instincts rather than the radar.

One pastor, two presidents, and three very important calls

Martin Luther King, Jr., (MLK) and President John F. Kennedy (JFK) both altered the course of history. Three important calls made the difference in their respective trajectories.

In 1960, JFK was a Massachusetts senator with White House aspirations. King was a civil rights leader, jailed in the Deep South where he was facing significant prison time. JFK wanted to help, but he had to walk a fine line to avoid alienating his southern constituents. At the same time, he needed the Black vote. Kennedy phoned the governor of Georgia and asked if he could work to free MLK.

Sargent Shriver, the senator’s brother-in-law and head of the presidential campaign’s Civil Rights Section, urged him to also call King’s wife, Coretta, to convey his sympathy and support. JFK agreed. The call lasted about 90 seconds, and it was enough.

The next day, King walked out of jail and told reporters he was indebted to Kennedy for his role in securing his release. And while MLK did not explicitly endorse Kennedy, JFK won the 1960 presidential election by a narrow margin.

King went on to build strong relationships with both JFK and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. The third presidential telephone call involved King and President Johnson in 1963.

On November 25, 1963, just three days after Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson called King to thank him for his support. During that call, King suggested that one of the greatest tributes they could pay President Kennedy would be to enact some of the progressive policies he sought to initiate. The two strategized for nearly two years to persuade Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965—the landmark federal legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Johnson signed the Act in August 1965.

When Nixon made the first phone call to the moon

At a time when long distance calls were much less common due to the cost, President Nixon took “one small step for a man” one step further, by making an out-of-this-world call.

In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had just walked on the moon when the president called. Nixon said, “Hello Neil and Buzz, I am talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made.”

While it wasn’t the longest phone call ever made, it was indeed the one that spanned the longest distance.

First phone call on a cell phone

Speaking of important calls, what could be more important for today’s world than the first telephone call on a cell phone?

Most of us date cell phone usage from the clunky, pricey models available in the mid-1990s, but the first cell phone call actually took place way back in 1973, when Motorola engineer Dr. Martin Cooper placed the first mobile phone call using a working prototype of a handheld phone.

Apple vs. Microsoft: the important call that saved Apple

Most people tend to make an enduring choice with their first computer purchase: We’re either Apple or PC, and never the twain shall meet.

But almost 30 years ago, one visionary tech pioneer was about to go bankrupt.

In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to his position as Apple’s CEO. The company was in major financial trouble. So Jobs called Bill Gates at Microsoft, who agreed to invest $150 million in Apple stock, effectively rescuing the company.

As Apple’s financial position stabilized, the company rolled out the iMac, which became Apple’s most successful new product in years. Then came the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, elevating Apple into one of the world’s most lucrative brands. The iPhone, of course, is the heart of Apple’s success, reaching even into developing countries that lack basic household amenities. It’s arguably the most successful product in history.

From the first phone call to every call

Depending on how you define communication, the telecom timeline stretches much further back than the telephone. Smoke signals were pretty effective for those who knew how to read them, as were drums and semaphores. But it was the phone that provided an easy way to connect with others using our own voices.

Since the days when we had to dial on a rotary phone to reach out and touch someone, phones have secured a permanent place in our hearts and hands. Today, we even have National Telephone Day to celebrate this extra appendage we can’t imagine living without. Phones make all our lives better!