Lê Đức Thọ shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The Nobel Committee honored Thọ and Kissinger for negotiating the Paris Peace Accords, which were signed in January 1973 and aimed to end direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Thọ represented North Vietnam during the secret and public negotiations, while Kissinger represented the United States.
The award was controversial because the ceasefire did not end the fighting in Vietnam, and the agreement allowed North Vietnamese forces to remain in South Vietnam. Lê Đức Thọ declined the prize, saying that peace had not truly been established. Kissinger also did not attend the Nobel ceremony in Oslo.
Readers sometimes confuse Thọ with South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu or General Võ Nguyên Giáp. Thọ was a senior communist political leader and negotiator, not the military commander most associated with North Vietnamese battlefield operations. The Paris settlement ended America’s direct combat role, but the war continued until the fall of Saigon in 1975.