Many New Gadgets For White House

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30976, 4 February 1966, Page 13

Many New Gadgets For White House

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, February 3.

New gadgets being used all over the White House in Washington indicate that under President Johnson’s Administration the electronic age has really arrived.

New electrical devices are being used to unlock doors and chase birds from the trees in the White House grounds. Long-playing tapes of quiet, instrumental music can be heard in all the offices and the President has a new speaking stand so highly wired and complex that it is privately referred to as “my mother, the rostrum.” The rostrum, double-tiered and made of perforated hardboard and oiled walnut, contains both a built-in microphone and built-in teleprompting equipment. Push Buttons

Plug in a socket and Mr Johnson is wired for sound, push a button and one-way mirrors slowly rise before his eyes.

His speeches, written on scrolls which are revolved by electric motors, are reflected by low-watt bulbs on to the mirrors.

As a result, as the President reads them, he appears to be looking at his audience and the audience can see his face through them. The new rostrum has proved

so satisfactory that it is now transported by Air Force plane to all out-of-town appearances Mr Johnson makes.