Senator Rankin Fite (right) making the call.
The first 911 call was placed by Rep. Rankin Fite, the Speaker
of the Alabama House of Representatives, in the town of
Haleyville, Alabama on February 16th of the following year.
Nome, Alaska adopted the system a week later. Still, it would
years before the system was widespread and decades before
it was uniform.
It was only in 1973 that the White House issued an official
statement in favor of 911, and even that a suggestion rather
than a law or executive order.
By 1987, 50 percent of the nation was using the system.
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