red telephone
Emergency leader connection
A red telephone is a direct emergency communication line between heads of state or other high-level officials, especially the hotline established between Washington and Moscow during the Cold War to prevent accidental nuclear war.
The image evokes urgent, top-level crisis communication: The president picked up the red telephone.
Despite the name, the actual U.S.-Soviet hotline was never a red phone—it was originally a teletype system.
- hotlineDirect emergency phone connection
- direct lineImmediate communication channel
- MoscowRussia's capital city
- WashingtonU.S. seat of government
- White HouseOfficial presidential residence
world leader · crisis · Cold War · emergency · receiver · dial · Kremlin · nuclear · nuclear war · red button · vintage · rotary · booth · cord · handset · pick up the phone · alert · president
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
red telephonesmall talk
Polite trivial conversation
chitchat · friendly chat · catching up · shooting the breeze · pocket dial
red telephonediplomatic channels
Formal interstate communication routes
chain of command · intermediaries · back channels · red tape · switchboard
red telephonepublic address
Broadcast communication system
press conference · open line · party line · public telephone · broadcast
telephone, redder, reddest, redness, redden, reddish, telephones, telephoned, telephoning