Kingsbury Commitment

AT&T had also acquired many of the independents, and bought control of Western Union, giving it a monopolistic position in both telephone and telegraph communication.

These efforts and Vail's vision were communicated to the public by marketing campaigns under the slogan One System — One Policy — Universal Service.

In the letter, dated December 19, 1913, AT&T agreed with Attorney General James Clark McReynolds to divest itself of Western Union, to provide long-distance services to independent exchanges under certain conditions, and to refrain from acquisitions if the Interstate Commerce Commission objected.

[4] Justice Department officials opined that the plan gave the government everything and more than they could have hoped to obtain in court, and it found the approval of President Woodrow Wilson, who expressed his admiration for the attitude and vision of the telephone company:[3] My Dear Mr. Attorney General, Thank you, for letting me see the letter from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Cordially and sincerely yours, Woodrow Wilson The Commitment did not settle all differences between independents and Bell companies, but it did avert the federal takeover many had expected.

Under the decree, AT&T restricted its activities to those related to running the national telephone system and agreed to license patents it had developed without royalties.

That decision established the principle that customers could connect any lawful device to the telephone network, even to offer a competing service.

In 1982, AT&T and the Justice Department agreed on tentative terms for settlement of antitrust suit filed against AT&T in 1974, under which AT&T divested itself of its local telephone operations, which became known as the "Baby Bells."