Two world wars had already hit humanity, and on that October 1962, a third was looming. The then communist superpower, the Soviet Union, installed atomic missiles on the territory of Cuba, its Caribbean ally. And only 180 kilometers from Florida, that is, the mainland of capitalist America. The US saw that move as a direct threat, so they blocked the sea lanes.
At that time, the worst was considered to be at the latest when an American plane was shot down. However, at the last moment, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announced on Radio Moscow that the USSR was withdrawing its atomic weapons from Cuba. The world breathed a sigh of relief.
But the shock of the disaster that was averted at the last moment remained, a shock that forced both sides to consider measures aimed at increasing the dose of mutual trust, despite or precisely because of the hostility between Moscow and Washington. Thus, an agreement was reached on the establishment of direct communication between the two capitals.
Phone? Teleprinter!
Ten months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, on August 30, 1963, i.e. exactly 60 years ago, the so-called "hot line" between Washington and Moscow was established. It was not a telephone connection, but a teleprinter for exchanging written messages. So about a technique that was actually old-fashioned even for those times. "But in contrast to the telephone, it was not possible to eavesdrop on this technique," emphasizes historian Bernd Greiner in an interview with DW.
Secure communication without the possibility of eavesdropping was very important to both superpowers. "They wanted to ensure that their communications could not be intercepted by anyone - no matter who they might be." The first sentence sent from the US to the Soviet Union sounded coded, although it was actually just a test. It was the following text: "The quick brown fox jumped over the back of the lazy dog 1234567890." But why did they send that nonsense? Because in the English original that sentence contains the complete alphabet and all the numbers (The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog 1234567890).
A signal that was supposed to calm the world public
The "hot line" was therefore not a telephone at all in the beginning, and especially not a red one, as it was presented in some films. That's why Bernd Greiner, an Americanist specializing in the Cold War, says today that it was a symbolic act: "It was actually a signal aimed at reassuring the world public, a signal that said that the importance of mutual communication was understood in urgent situations, i.e. that one does not want things to go as far as in that threatening situation in the fall of 1962."
At the same time, Greiner quotes the then US President John F. Kennedy and his Defense Secretary Robert McNamara: "We faced the limits of the space of our action." The lesson learned in the Cuban crisis then was: in that crisis there was no way to manage, we were directed to coincidence and the good will of the other party. Therefore, other means and ways of communication had to be found.
What if the situation escalates?
The "hotline" in its original form, as a teleprinter, was not used very often. "It was activated a couple of times to test whether it worked, but in critical situations, when decisions had to be made, it was not used," notes Bernd Greiner.
In situations where it seemed that peace in the world was seriously threatened, as a rule, the classic telephone would ring. For example, during the Six Day War in 1967 between Israel and several Arab countries, or during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Both times there was a threat of a global conflagration, because the US was on the side of Israel and the Soviet Union was on the Arab side.
Technological innovations
In those dramatic situations, the "hot line" was established via satellite phone. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the collapse of the communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it seemed that there was no longer any need for an early warning system between Washington and Moscow.
In addition, over time, thanks to technological innovations, especially the development of the Internet, faster and more secure communication options have been created. A direct connection between the capitals of Russia and the USA has long been state-of-the-art. And communication channels in case of a crisis also exist between other major cities in the world.
It is difficult to assess whether the "hotline" was really "hot" even after the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022. "We don't know that, such a form of communication is of course not reported publicly," says historian Bernd Greiner.
Less communication than in the Cold War?
It is known, however, that US President Joseph Biden spoke several times by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "But we don't know anything about what was happening in terms of communication at the middle management levels, or at the military level." Could some kind of "hotline" even help in the current situation, regarding the war in Ukraine? Greiner is skeptical.
"The problem is that the established communication, especially between the military forces, but also between diplomats, has practically been interrupted. There is silence at that level," says our interlocutor, who is otherwise a good connoisseur of both Russia and the USA, with regret. And he adds: "That distinguishes the situation we are living in today, meaning in the context of the war in Ukraine, from the height of the Cold War." That is, from those times 60 years ago when those in power in Washington and Moscow decided to establish a "hotline".
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