{"conversationCode":"037-071","tapeNumber":37,"conversationNumber":71,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-037-071","startDateTime":"1973-03-09T19:35:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1973-03-09T19:46:00.000Z","startDate":"9-Mar-1973","startTime":"2:35 PM","endDate":"9-Mar-1973","endTime":"2:46 PM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"estimated","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.; Downey, William;","description":"On March 9, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and William Downey talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 2:35 pm and 2:46 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 037-071 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":"5.4","chronRelease":"Fifth Chronological Release: Part IV","chronReleaseDate":"8-Dec-2010","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 37-71\n\nDate: March 9, 1973\nTime: Unknown between 2:35 pm and 2:46 pm\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President and Henry A. Kissinger [?] talked with William Downey.\n\n[See Conversation No. 418-5C]\n\n       Message from People's Republic of China [PRC]\n             -Chou En-Lai\n             -Release of John T. Downey\n             -Henry A. Kissinger\n             -White House announcement\n             -William Downey’s reaction\n                    -William and John Downey’s mother’s health [?]\n\f                                             - 47 -\n\n                            NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY\n\n                                         (rev. Sept-09)","filename":["037-071.mp3"],"tapeStart":"","tapeEnd":"","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A.","Downey, William","Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Kissinger, Henry A.","Downey, William"],"prevCode":"037-070","nextCode":"037-072","transcript":[{"start":2.12,"end":2.92,"text":"Hello."},{"start":2.94,"end":3.56,"text":"Hello."},{"start":3.6,"end":5.89,"text":"Dr. Kissinger, I have Mr. Downey."},{"start":5.93,"end":6.77,"text":"Yes, I'll talk to him."},{"start":7.45,"end":8.21,"text":"There you are, sir."},{"start":9.29,"end":12.72,"text":"You can get on."},{"start":12.74,"end":13.48,"text":"Hello, Mr. Downey."},{"start":13.92,"end":14.18,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":14.72,"end":22.18,"text":"I thought you'd be pleased to know we just got a response from Cho and Lai."},{"start":23.54,"end":25.46,"text":"Your brother will be released Monday."},{"start":26.72,"end":27.95,"text":"Released Monday?"},{"start":27.96,"end":28.46,"text":"Right."},{"start":28.49,"end":28.81,"text":"He will..."},{"start":30.62,"end":33.87,"text":"So I've got Henry on the other line here."},{"start":35.59,"end":38.59,"text":"We are going to announce it here at 3 o'clock, so don't say anything."},{"start":39.62,"end":43.56,"text":"But we got the message from him, so they reacted very speedily."},{"start":43.6,"end":46.12,"text":"And so he's on the way."},{"start":46.15,"end":47.49,"text":"Well, thank you."},{"start":50.11,"end":50.91,"text":"Couldn't be happier."},{"start":51.23,"end":52.77,"text":"It's been a long time."},{"start":52.81,"end":53.87,"text":"We're glad he's coming back."},{"start":55.48,"end":58.5,"text":"Yeah, maybe just about in time."},{"start":58.52,"end":59.18,"text":"It doesn't look very good either."},{"start":60.31,"end":62.42,"text":"Well, just so he gets back at this time."},{"start":62.46,"end":63.34,"text":"That's the important thing."},{"start":63.36,"end":63.76,"text":"Thank you."},{"start":63.78,"end":66.84,"text":"I appreciate everything you've done for it, sir."},{"start":66.86,"end":67.08,"text":"Okay."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon and Henry Kissinger spoke with William Downey to inform him that the People's Republic of China, following negotiations with Chou En-lai, had agreed to release his brother, John T. Downey, on the following Monday. The participants discussed the timing of the official White House announcement scheduled for 3:00 p.m. and acknowledged the urgency of the release due to concerns regarding the health of John Downey’s mother. The call concluded with William Downey expressing gratitude for the administration's successful intervention.","topics":["John T. Downey","PRC","Henry Kissinger","prisoner release","Chou En-lai","diplomacy"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-06T05:15:01.122Z"},"topicSlugs":["john-t-downey","prc","henry-kissinger","prisoner-release","chou-en-lai","diplomacy"],"audioDurationSec":75,"audioFiles":[{"file":"037-071.mp3","bytes":544768,"durationSec":75.31,"bitrate":57871,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:30.084Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/037-071.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/037-071","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/37/conversation-037-071","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}