White House communications center, 1898

And here's what it looked like at the other end of the cable: this is the White House communications center in 1898, known at the time as the Telegraph and Cipher Center. (It is a precursor to today's White House Situation Room.) The gent at the roll-top desk at left, who was in charge of operations there, is Capt. Benjamin F. Montgomery of the U.S. Signal Corps.