Word: switchboard
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...increasingly busy public information switchboard at the Johnson Space Center, one of the most frequent questions from callers was whether pieces of Skylab would remain Government property and must be surrendered by their finders. "No," replied NASA'S Terry White. "We slammed the hatch on Skylab in 1974. Anyone can keep the pieces and put them on their coffee tables...
...bellyful of Ted Kennedy," said one of them. But the next day the President had cooled off and had second thoughts. He told congressional leaders that he had overreacted to Kennedy and he regretted having done so. But by then the issue had caught fire. Kennedy's own switchboard was alight with calls from all over the country, many from older people with fixed incomes who wanted to praise his stand against higher energy costs. The White House was bombarded, too, with most of the calls positive. One person wanted to tell the President he sounded exactly like Harry...
When Burns first went to work under Truman, the world was in turmoil. Once she worked at her switchboard for 40 days without a break. But it was worth it when Truman called one night, feeling lonely. Bess was away. Margaret had sailed for Europe. "Get me Margie," Truman ordered. Burns affirmed the request but was not sure just how quickly she could comply, since the President's daughter was two days out to sea. Margaret Truman was raised on a ship-to-shore connection in ten minutes. When the conversation ended, the President rang Burns back...
Burns could gauge the intensity of presidential concern from her headset, but she kept it all to herself. The phones hummed with hushed anxiety during the Cuban missile crisis, kept secret for six days. The Kennedy assassination strained the White House switchboard more than any other single event. Calls came in from all over the world, but the lines were so busy that only a fraction got through. People would call in distress and just sob, "Get me the East Room," which was where Kennedy's body...
Each year the White House switchboard grows technically more proficient. But nothing that science has produced can match Mary Burns...