Four parties sign the Paris Peace Accords

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...

Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ initialed the text later signed as the Paris Peace Accords. The private negotiations had produced a settlement among Vietnamese parties and the United States, but the...

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...

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...

The Lao parties signed an agreement restoring peace and achieving national concord, setting a ceasefire and a path toward a coalition government. The settlement formed part of the wider regional...

Operation End Sweep began clearing mines laid by U.S. forces during the war, following the Paris Peace Accords. Helicopter crews worked in Haiphong’s shipping approaches and other ports. The operation...