A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook.
[3] It was the first time used by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on August 30, 1963[4] and utilized teletypewriter technology, later replaced by telecopier and then by electronic mail.
10 Downing Street and the Cabinet War Room bunker under the Treasury, Whitehall; with the White House in Washington, D.C. From 1943 to 1946, this link was made secure by using the very first voice encryption machine, called SIGSALY.
[5] On his visit to the Soviet Union in 1966, French President Charles de Gaulle announced that a hotline would be established between Paris and Moscow.
[7] India and China announced a hotline for the foreign ministers of both countries while reiterating their commitment to strengthening ties and building "mutual political trust".
[9] In February 2013, the Senkaku Islands dispute gave renewed impetus to a China–Japan hotline, which had been agreed to but due to rising tensions had not been established.