Before 1968, there existed no universal number for emergencies. Residents in their individual communities had to rely on telephone numbers of local operators. Unfortunately, the quality of these services varied greatly, especially during times of heavy use. To fix this, the FCC (or Federal Communications Commission) made a deal with AT&T and Bell Industries in 1967 to establish an emergency number that could be used across the United States, a short number that could be memorized by anyone.