Republicans are having a fun time mocking President Obama today for using a story about President Rutherford Hayes expressing skepticism the telephone would catch on. According to the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, the tale was a myth that’s somehow caught on over the years without any sourcing behind it and Hayes was actually somewhat of a technophile.
But The Atlantic spots an interesting potential source for the latest use of the Hayes story, or rather set of sources. President Ronald Reagan apparently used the same Hayes quote about the phone in a 1985 speech honoring Apple’s Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The episode was recounted in Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography of the late businessman, providing a pretty clear avenue for it to make itself back into the White House.
