- There Never Was Such a Thing as a Red Phone in the White House. Fifty years ago, still spooked by the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and Soviet Union built a hotline. But it wasn’t a phone http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/there-never-was-such-a-thing-as-a-red-phone-in-the-white-house-212156891.html#.ucsfeqk8src.twitter 11 comments history