Vietnam War Peace Accords Signed

The Paris Peace Accords, officially the Agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Viet-Nam, was a peace agreement signed on 27 January 1973 to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War.^¹ It included a main treaty and accompanying annexes. The agreement was registered by the United States of America on May 13, 1974, with the United Nations Secretariat.^¹ It is recorded in the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) under Volume 935, Treaty No.13295.^¹ It was scheduled to take effect at 8:00 AM Saigon time the following day.^¹ The agreement was signed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG), and the United States.^¹ The PRG represented the Viet Cong, a South Vietnamese opposition movement de facto controlled by the North.^¹ US ground forces had begun to withdraw from Vietnam in 1969, and by the beginning of 1972 those that remained had very little involvement in combat.^¹ The last American infantry battalions withdrew in August 1972.^¹ Most air and naval forces, and most advisers, also were gone from South Vietnam by that time, though air and naval forces not based in South Vietnam were still playing a symbolic role in the war.^¹ The Paris Agreement removed the remaining US forces, and direct US military intervention ended.^¹ Fighting between the three remaining powers did not stop on 28 January, even for an hour.^¹ The agreement was not formally designated a treaty, and President Nixon did not ask the US Senate to ratify it.^¹