Thread by @WestWingReport

On This Day. 1936: Franklin Roosevelt attended the unveiling of Mount Rushmore (newsreel from that day here). Do you know why Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt were chosen? See next tweet pbs.org/video/images-p… …

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Mount Rushmore:
-Washington was chosen for his role in helping to found the United States
-Jefferson for his authorship of the Declaration of Independence
-Lincoln for holding the Union together
-Theodore Roosevelt for his conservation efforts

FDR said other presidents would be added to Rushmore in the future, but this hasn't happened. A 2010 survey said Reagan and JFK were the preferences of Republicans and Democrats, respectively. Trump has also hinted that he'd like to be on Rushmore

On This Day, 1963. Ten months after a near-nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union, the famous Washingtoin-Moscow "hotline" was established. It wasn't a red phone like some people think - but a two-sided teletype system
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During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev communicated by encrypted messages that had to be relayed by telegraph or radioed between the Kremlin and the Pentagon. JFK feared this was too cumbersone and not effective in a crisis

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The new Washington-Moscow hotline enabled presidents to call the Pentagon with a message, which would be immediately typed into a teletype machine and fed into a transmitter. The message could reach Moscow in minutes, as opposed to hours. In 1963, it was regarded as a marvel