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Hear U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announcing the January 1973 agreement to end the Vietnam War

Hear U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announcing the January 1973 agreement to end the Vietnam War

Learn about the January 1973 agreement to end the Vietnam War, as announced by U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. From Vietnam Perspective (1985), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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Related Articles: Richard Nixon , Paris Peace Accords , Vietnam War

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Transcript

NARRATOR: Finally, under the pressure of American bombing and, most likely, at the urging of the Soviet Union and Red China, the North Vietnamese returned to the negotiations in January 1973.

NIXON: The following statement is being issued at this moment in Washington and Hanoi. At 12:30 Paris time today January 23, 1973, the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam was initialed by Dr. Henry Kissinger, on behalf of the United States, and Special Adviser Le Duc Tho, on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The agreement will be formally signed by the parties participating in the Paris Conference on Vietnam on January 27, 1973, at the International Conference Center in Paris. Throughout the years of negotiations, we have insisted on peace with honor.

NARRATOR: Among the provisions of the peace agreement was the release of 590 American prisoners of war. Most of these men were pilots who had been shot down over North Vietnam; some had been POWs for more than eight years.
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