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Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho initialed the Paris Peace Accords on January 27,
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January 27

Paris Peace Accords: Vietnam War Officially Ends

Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho initialed the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973, formally ending American military involvement in Vietnam. The agreement required the withdrawal of all US troops within sixty days and the return of prisoners of war. It left North Vietnamese forces in place inside South Vietnam, a concession that effectively guaranteed the South's eventual defeat. Colonel William Nolde was killed by an artillery shell eleven hours before the ceasefire took effect, making him the last American combat casualty of the war. Kissinger and Le Duc Tho shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the accords; Tho declined it, noting that peace had not actually been achieved. He was right. Within two years, North Vietnamese forces overran Saigon. The Paris Peace Accords gave America a face-saving exit from its longest war but delivered no lasting peace to Vietnam.

January 27, 1973

53 years ago

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