{"conversationCode":"031-072","tapeNumber":31,"conversationNumber":72,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-031-072","startDateTime":"1972-10-16T20:52:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1972-10-16T20:53:00.000Z","startDate":"16-Oct-1972","startTime":"4:52 PM","endDate":"16-Oct-1972","endTime":"4:53 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Townsley, Joseph;","description":"On October 16, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Joseph Townsley talked on the telephone from 4:52 pm to 4:53 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 031-072 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":4,"chronRelease":"Fourth Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"10-Dec-2003","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 31-72\n\nDate: October 16, 1972\nTime: 4:52 pm - 4:53 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Joseph Townsley.\n\n[See Conversation No. 799-33]\n\n*****************************************************************\n\nBEGIN WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1\n[Personal returnable]\n[Duration: 1m 4s ]\n\nEND WITHDRAWN ITEM NO. 1\n\n*****************************************************************","filename":["031-072.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Townsley, Joseph"],"prevCode":"031-071","nextCode":"031-073","transcript":[{"start":3.75,"end":4.21,"text":"You are?"},{"start":4.23,"end":4.33,"text":"Okay."},{"start":5.66,"end":5.98,"text":"Hello?"},{"start":6.91,"end":7.07,"text":"Hello?"},{"start":7.09,"end":7.49,"text":"Yes, Miss..."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon held a brief telephone conversation with Joseph Townsley to exchange initial greetings and establish contact. Following these introductory remarks, the remainder of the recording was withdrawn from the public record due to its status as a personal, returnable item. No substantive policy discussions or administrative decisions were documented in the available transcript.","topics":["Presidential communication","Joseph Townsley","Personal correspondence","White House tapes"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T03:52:37.248Z"},"topicSlugs":["presidential-communication","joseph-townsley","personal-correspondence","white-house-tapes"],"audioDurationSec":21,"audioFiles":[{"file":"031-072.mp3","bytes":509700,"durationSec":21.16,"bitrate":192703,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:28.232Z","findingAidSource":"nixonlibrary.gov subject log (2024-05), reslice-v2","findingAidUpdatedAt":"2026-09-18T08:42:40.104Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/031-072.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/031-072","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/31/conversation-031-072","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}