Today in 1915, Alexander Graham Bell inaugurated the first transcontinental telephone service in the United States with a phone call from New York City to Dr. Thomas Watson in San Francisco. Richard John in Network Nation: “The spanning of [the 2,900-mile] distance was made possible by the invention of the three-element high-vacuum tube, the invention that marks the birth of electronics.”And: “In the course of the public debate over government ownership, Bell publicists discovered that Bell’s long-distance network had great popular appeal… One of the most significant facts about this ‘famous achievement,’ observed one journalist, was the extent to which it had been ‘turned into account by the publicity departments of the telephone companies. We venture to guess that the advertising value of the ocean-to-ocean line is quite as great so far as the actual value derived from it.”