"Time to Bridge That Gulch" Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1945
30 August 1963
Tested for the first time to make sure that keyboards on both sides worked. The first message to be sent from Washington DC was "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's back 1234567890". This message was sent, encrypted and in English. A couple hours later, a message was received from Moscow encrypted and in Russian conforming the successful relay.
22 November 1963
Message sent to the USSR to confirm that President Kennedy had been assassinated. This updated the Soviet Premier, who was still Khrushchev, that a transfer of power would take place in the United States.
1967 - Six Day War
President Lyndon B. Johnson uses the hotline to inform Soviet leaders that he was considering sending Air Force into the Mediterranean. This helped to clear up any misunderstandings about the American's intentions in the Middle East, and it helped to communicate the USSR's intentions in the war as well.
1971 - India Pakistan War
President Nixon used it to communicate with Premier Alexei Kosygin on Russian involvement in preventing a UK-US attack on Indian forces.
1973 - Yom Kippur War
Egyptian and Syrian forces, armed with Soviet technology, began a two front war with Israel to avenge their defeat during the Six Day War. The Israelis forces, backed by US armed forces, pushed back the two-sided front and managed to drive Egyptian armies into the Sinai desert. From there the Israelis forces began to siege the troops who were already low on medicine and food. In the end, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger reached a cease fire with his Soviet counterparts. Israel, however, did not let up. Through in person negotiations and the hotline, both Americans and Soviets negotiated another compromise, although, US-USSR relations soured once more and at one point US military forces went into a Stage 3 alert.
1979 - Russian Invasion of Afghanistan
President Carter sends Premier Brezhnev explaining his immense anger in the invasion. He enacted trade embargoes and economic sanctions on the Soviet Union, stepped up US aid to Afghanistan revolutionaries, he even boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
1981 - Threat of Russian invasion on poland
Communist Poland declared martial law which brought about radical economic and social changes. The USA responded by sanctioning western countries in an attempt to help the union that declared this martial law, the Solidarity. Premier Gorbachev sued for peace and eventually reached a compromise with Poland and the USA.
1982 - Israeli invasion of Lebanon
US forces are sent to relieve and support Lebanese forces meanwhile the Israeli are supported by the Soviet Union although they did not take action
1991 - Gulf War
US and USSR involvement in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait brought both superpowers into negotiations once more. In the end, Premier Gorbachev chose to abide by the UN's resolutions, he began to play both sides so that there was no assumption that the USSR wished to return to the height of the Cold War.