Do politicians still use telegrams?
Yes. The United States Telegram Service provides a direct telegram delivery service to government offices at the federal, state, and local levels. The telegrams, called “Opiniongrams” can be up to 20 words long and cost $14.95 to send. Even today, people still use them to send messages of support, congratulations, or to express a viewpoint on current issues. Until 2006, the service was provided by Western Union Telegram.
Next time you find yourself basking in the glow of a bunch of retweets, remember you are just writing OpionionGrams for @jack instead of for Western Union. (This advertisement is from November 1982.) pic.twitter.com/4j1Is9iNXF
— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) May 10, 2020
Did you know?
Telegrams - also called “cables” are still sent between government and diplomatic offices. Such telegrams are sent over secure lines and are highly secret. But in 2010, a large number were leaked by a website calling itself “wikileaks”.
Resources
Read more detailed information about political telegrams by visiting these websites.