Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ initial the peace agreement

After months of fighting and extensive U.S. air and naval support, South Vietnamese forces regained the city. The battle had devastated the area and displaced residents. Competing accounts of...

U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger publicly said that a peace agreement was near after secret negotiations with Lê Đức Thọ. President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu rejected key terms and the...

Negotiations between U.S. and North Vietnamese representatives broke down. Nixon then ordered the massive Linebacker II air campaign, showing how coercive bombing was used as leverage while...

The Nixon administration began intensive air attacks on Hanoi and Haiphong after negotiations stalled. The bombing killed civilians and damaged infrastructure; it did not settle the underlying...

The Nixon administration halted the intensive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong after eleven days. Civilian deaths and destruction drew international criticism. Negotiations resumed, but the bombing’s...

The United States, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam and Provisional Revolutionary Government signed the agreement. It provided for a ceasefire and U.S. troop withdrawal, but did not...

Representatives of the United States, the Republic of Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the Provisional Revolutionary Government signed the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring...

The ceasefire provisions of the Paris agreement took effect. Fighting continued, and the agreement’s monitoring and enforcement mechanisms could not establish a durable political settlement....

The first group of U.S. prisoners of war was released and flown from Hanoi under the Paris agreement. The operation brought home 591 U.S. prisoners over several weeks; Vietnamese prisoners and missing...

Operation Homecoming began with the release of U.S. prisoners from North Vietnam. The National Archives records 591 American prisoners released under the agreement, while Vietnamese detainees and...