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Paris Peace Accords Signed

January 27, 1973

1973-01-27_Vietnam_peace_agreement_signing
1973-01-27_Vietnam_peace_agreement_signing
Secretary of State William P. Rogers signs the peace agreement for the United States, January 27, 1973. (National Archives)

The “Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam,” otherwise known the Paris Peace Accords, is signed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government (Viet Cong), and the United States. Among other stipulations, the agreement establishes a ceasefire, a 60-day period for withdrawal of all American and other foreign troops, and the return of U.S. civilian and military personnel held prisoner by Communist forces. The accords officially end direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. The next day, President Nixon uses an executive order to end the draft and inaugurate an all-volunteer military.1

1Spencer C.Tucker, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 877–88, 1034. Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968–1973, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 393–94.