{"conversationCode":"018-054","tapeNumber":18,"conversationNumber":54,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-018-054","startDateTime":"1972-01-10T22:29:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-01-10T22:31:00.000Z","startDate":"10-Jan-1972","startTime":"5:29 PM","endDate":"10-Jan-1972","endTime":"5:31 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.; Haig, Alexander M., Jr.;","description":"On January 10, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 5:29 pm to 5:31 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 018-054 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":3,"chronRelease":"Third Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"28-Feb-2002","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 18-54\n\nDate: January 10, 1972\nTime: 5:29 pm - 5:31 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.\n\n[See Conversation No. 313-30A]\n\n     Ziegler's trip to the People's Republic of China [PRC]\n          -Relations with the Chinese\n          -Press trips to the PRC\n                  -Number\n                        -Gerald L. Warren\n                  -Names\n\n     Press trips to the PRC\n           -Richard (“Dick”) Wilson, Nicholas P. Thimmesch\n           -List of names\n\n     Meeting with Chou En-lai\n\n[The President conferred with Alexander M. Haig, Jr.]\n\n     Haig asked to come into office\n\n[end of conferral]\n\n     Meeting with Chou En-lai\n          -Chinese table tennis team visit to the US\n               -US Table Tennis Association","filename":["018-054.mp3"],"tapeStart":"01:59:11","tapeEnd":"02:01:15","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ziegler, Ronald L.","Haig, Alexander M., Jr."],"prevCode":"018-053","nextCode":"018-055","transcript":[{"start":0.03,"end":1.97,"text":"Hello."},{"start":1.99,"end":2.31,"text":"Hello."},{"start":2.53,"end":2.97,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":3.23,"end":4.88,"text":"Well, you must have had quite an experience."},{"start":5.24,"end":6.36,"text":"Yes, it was really something."},{"start":6.44,"end":7.64,"text":"Yeah, yeah."},{"start":7.66,"end":11.4,"text":"Well, it's probably worth all your hour or three years of work, wasn't it, to go over there?"},{"start":11.46,"end":13.62,"text":"It certainly was an experience."},{"start":13.74,"end":14.79,"text":"I appreciate having the opportunity."},{"start":14.81,"end":16.19,"text":"Everything is going all right?"},{"start":17.17,"end":23.14,"text":"Yes, they were very cooperative, extremely cooperative and very warm."},{"start":23.2,"end":26.26,"text":"When are you going to let the press know that they're only going to have 80?"},{"start":26.24,"end":28.4,"text":"In the next week or so."},{"start":28.42,"end":33.15,"text":"I discussed that with the Chinese, and we're going to do that the next week."},{"start":33.17,"end":34.39,"text":"I had Jerry Warren."},{"start":34.43,"end":38.85,"text":"I told him that the question was raised that he should knock down the IDF-200, which some of them have floated."},{"start":38.87,"end":39.07,"text":"Right."},{"start":39.09,"end":40.66,"text":"I was just talking to Jerry."},{"start":41,"end":43.64,"text":"And to say that we just, that's part of the question."},{"start":43.96,"end":44.54,"text":"Right."},{"start":44.56,"end":51.35,"text":"That it's far less than that, so that we do go out at least, because I think the 80 is about the right number."},{"start":51.37,"end":54.91,"text":"Did they accept our names pretty well, or down the line?"},{"start":55.75,"end":59.91,"text":"Town right accepted the whole thing, just as presented."},{"start":59.93,"end":61.33,"text":"They were very responsive."},{"start":61.35,"end":68.94,"text":"There's no way to, you can't get any, do anything with regard to a Dick Wilson or a Timmish, for example?"},{"start":69.45,"end":74.3,"text":"Well, I was thinking of them on the basis of they're going to write books."},{"start":74.82,"end":78.33,"text":"That's another way that occurred to me, but I don't know."},{"start":78.59,"end":81.89,"text":"We did not want to raise any additional numbers there."},{"start":82.09,"end":85.64,"text":"I don't mean numbers, but these could be names to substitute if necessary."},{"start":85.66,"end":88.52,"text":"Well, there might be a way we could work around that."},{"start":88.54,"end":91.42,"text":"That's what Dick Wilson, I think, had on your final list."},{"start":92.05,"end":93.27,"text":"He's on the list."},{"start":93.25,"end":95.85,"text":"Well, we'll take a look at the Timish one then later."},{"start":96.19,"end":96.47,"text":"All right."},{"start":96.51,"end":119.24,"text":"Well, the evening that Premier Cho and I received it, he said to me that he wanted the, he felt that the Chinese table tennis team could come to the United States in the spring and asked me to convey that to the president of the table tennis association."},{"start":119.26,"end":119.4,"text":"Okay."},{"start":119.42,"end":120.36,"text":"That's great."},{"start":120.72,"end":122.5,"text":"Well, get some rest."},{"start":122.54,"end":123.2,"text":"Thank you, Mr. President."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon consulted with Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler regarding his recent preparatory trip to the People's Republic of China, specifically addressing the logistical management of the press corps. Ziegler confirmed that the Chinese were cooperative and had accepted the proposed list of journalists, while also noting that Premier Chou En-lai extended an invitation for the Chinese table tennis team to visit the United States. Following this, the President briefly coordinated with Alexander M. Haig, Jr. to arrange a follow-up meeting at the White House.","topics":["People's Republic of China","Diplomacy","Press relations","Table tennis diplomacy","Chou En-lai"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T01:02:06.550Z"},"topicSlugs":["peoples-republic-of-china","diplomacy","press-relations","table-tennis-diplomacy","chou-en-lai"],"audioDurationSec":125,"audioFiles":[{"file":"018-054.mp3","bytes":2992377,"durationSec":124.61,"bitrate":192111,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:24.938Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/018-054.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/018-054","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/018/conversation-018-054","catalogNaId":417192201,"catalogUrl":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/417192201","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}