Video: 'Dr. Strangelove phone conversation U.S President'

(Thursday, June 20, 1963) — The Moscow–Washington hotline (officially, the Direct Communications Link or DCL) was authorized today by the signing of a “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Line” in Geneva, Switzerland, by representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States. The agreement resulted from the Cuban Missile Crisis, which made it clear that reliable, direct communications between the two nuclear powers were a necessity.