It's May 10th, 1877 at the White House in Washington, D.C.

President Rutherford B. Hayes sighs as he opens and closes a succession of doors

along a corridor searching for the one he needs.

Hayes has only been president of the United States for two months and he's still getting

used to the layout of the White House.

Today he's been asked to attend a special ceremony in the telegraph room, but since President

Hayes has never been there, he doesn't know where the

ceremonies to take place. Finally, Hayes opens a door to a room where he finds a telegraph operator

tapping out a message. But the telegraph operator tapping out a message.

But the telegraph operator isn't working alone.

On the other side of the room is a small group of men clustered around a table with an unusual

machine on it.

They fall silent as Hayes enters and one of them invites

him to take a seat by the new machine. President Hayes sits and eyes the

contraption with a puzzled expression. It's a metal horn bolted onto a piece of wood with wires trailing from it.

An aide reveals that it's called a telephone.

It's a new invention, only patented last year, and the White House is one of the first places in the country to get one.

The aide flicks a switch and invites President Hayes to speak into the machine.

Hayes clears his throat before uttering a few words,

introducing himself as the President of the United States.

Then he asks the aid what he needs to do to send the message.

But the aid replies with a smile that the message was already transmitted the instant the president spoke.

...