I AM GLAD to open this world-wide centennial celebration of the invention of the Morse telegraphic code and of the electrical transmission of these signals. It is a source of pride to all Americans that the vast system of instantaneous communications by means of the electrical telegraph originated in the mind of an American, Samuel F. B. Morse, whose culture was an honor to his country and whose character was an inspiration to mankind.
HERBERT HOOVER
Note: The President initiated the centennial celebration of Morse's original conception of the electromagnetic recording telegraph by pressing a gold telegraph key in the White House which sent the message to an assembly in the Law Library of the Capitol, the same room from which Mr. Morse sent his first message in 1844.
Herbert Hoover, Message in Tribute to Samuel F. B. Morse. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207930