Press Releases: Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs Release of Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XLII, Vietnam: The Kissinger-Le Duc Tho Negotiations, August 1969-December 1973

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Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

December 21, 2017


The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XLII, Vietnam: The Kissinger-Le Duc Tho Negotiations, August 1969–December 1973.

This volume is part of a Foreign Relations subseries that documents the foreign policy decisions of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon. It includes a complete set of the memoranda of conversation between the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry A. Kissinger and North Vietnamese Politburo Member and Special Adviser to the North Vietnamese Delegation Le Duc Tho during the negotiations that led to the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973. It further includes negotiating sessions between Kissinger and Tho conducted in the aftermath of the Agreement, in February, May, June, and December 1973, in an attempt to achieve a stable cease-fire.

Presented chronologically, the documents in this volume—memoranda of conversation recording the meetings—show, among other things: 1) the evolution of the U.S. and North Vietnamese positions in the negotiations, 2) how the parties reached agreement on the Accords, also called the agreement or the settlement, and 3) how the Accords failed to lead to a stable cease-fire or to a political settlement of the conflict.

This compilation was compiled and edited by John M. Carland. The volume and this press release are available exclusively on the Office of the Historian website at https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v42. For further information, contact history@state.gov.