Vietnamese Politburo member who negotiated the Paris Peace Accords with Kissinger and declined the Nobel Peace Prize
Lê Đức Thọ took effective charge of North Vietnam’s delegation in Paris in 1968 and began secret talks with Kissinger in 1970, signing the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. He declined the Nobel Peace Prize, saying peace had not yet been established in South Vietnam.
Born Phan Đình Khải in Nam Định, he helped found the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 and was held in French colonial prisons in 1930–1936 and 1939–1944. During the war against France he ran party organisation in the south alongside Lê Duẩn, and in 1955 he joined the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers’ Party. He arrived in Paris in June 1968 to take effective charge of the North Vietnamese delegation, and from February 1970 held secret talks with Kissinger that led to the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973. Named joint winner of that year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Kissinger, he declined it on the ground that peace had not yet been established in South Vietnam. He died in Hanoi in 1990.
Activities and affiliations
- Diplomacy and international organization · Vietnam
Career Timeline
- 1930Helped found the Indochinese Communist Party.
- 1930–1936, 1939–1944Imprisoned by the French colonial authorities.
- 1948Became deputy secretary and head of the Organization Department of the Cochinchina Party Committee in the south.
- 1955–1986Served on the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers’ Party, renamed the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1976.
- 1968Arrived at the Paris peace talks and took effective charge of the North Vietnamese delegation.
- 1970–1973Held secret negotiations with Henry Kissinger that led to the Paris Peace Accords.
- 1973Was named joint Nobel Peace Prize laureate with Kissinger but declined it, saying peace had not yet been established in South Vietnam.
Related historical events
- 1945–1954The August Revolution and the First Indochina WarSouthern party organiserDuring the war against France, he ran party organisation in the south alongside Lê Duẩn.
- 1955–1975The Second Indochina WarChief North Vietnamese negotiator in ParisNegotiated the Paris Accords in secret talks with Kissinger and declined the Nobel Peace Prize.
Negotiating strategy and the October 1972 tentative agreement
In the summer of 1972, Lê Đức Thọ returned to negotiations with Henry Kissinger as the party leadership concluded that military gains alone could not force the opposing side to yield. In July, the Politburo directed the delegation to consider concessions needed to end U.S. involvement in the war while protecting core interests, and to time negotiations in relation to the military situation. After the August meetings, Thọ and Xuân Thủy analyzed U.S. proposals and reported to Hanoi. They advocated assessing the other side’s intentions, holding to principles, and remaining tactically flexible.
In the intensive negotiations beginning October 8, Thọ pursued the Politburo’s priority of ending the war, securing U.S. troop withdrawal, and arranging the return of prisoners. In a report to Hanoi on October 12, he assessed that the Politburo’s goals had largely been achieved, while identifying weapons replacement, political prisoners, and the international commission as unresolved issues. The two sides reached a tentative agreement on October 17, but it did not take effect after South Vietnamese president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu rejected major terms. Further negotiations followed, and the Paris Agreement was signed on January 27, 1973. It ended direct U.S. military involvement but did not produce a stable cease-fire or political settlement; fighting continued.