December 19, 1913, AT&T agreed with Attorney General James Clark McReynolds to divest itself of Western Union, to provide long-distance services to independent exchanges under certain conditions, and to refrain from acquisitions if the Interstate Commerce Commission objected. Justice Department officials opined that the plan gave the government everything and more than they could have hoped to obtain in court, and it found the approval of President Woodrow Wilson, who expressed his admiration for the attitude and vision of the telephone company: The Commitment did not settle all differences between independents and Bell companies, but it did avert the federal takeover many had expected. AT&T was allowed to buy market-share, as long as it sold an equal number of subscribers to independents. Crucially, while the Kingsbury Commitment obliged it to connect its long-distance service to independent local carriers, AT&T did not agree to interconnect its local services with other local providers. Nor did AT&T agree to any interconnection with independent long-distance carriers. AT&T's connection with the Western Electric Company was not addressed and the independent manufacturers still could not sell into Bell's market place, but operators had to buy Bell equipment for standard trunks to be able to connect to the Long Lines network. Continued monopoly Consequently, AT&T was able to consolidate its control over both the most profitable urban markets and long-distance traffic. All telephone networks in the United States were nationalized during World War I from June 1918 to July 1919. Following re-privatization, AT&T resumed its near-monopoly position. The Willis Graham Act of 1921 allowed AT&T to acquire more local telephone systems with the genial oversight of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), effectively declaring the telephone business as a natural monopoly. By 1924, the ICC approved AT&T's acquisition of 223 of the 234 independent telephone companies. Between 1921 and 1934, the ICC approved 271 of the 274 purchase requests of AT&T. With the creation of the Federal Communications Commission by the Communications Act of 1934, the government regulated the rates charged by AT&T. In 1956, AT&T and the Justice Department agreed on a consent decree to end an antitrust suit brought against AT&T in 1949. Under the decree, AT&T restricted its activities to those related to running the national telephone system, and special projects for the federal government. In 1968, FCC regulators intervened when the Bell System tried to prevent a mobile communications system, the Carterfone, from connecting