###Vietnamese Negotiator Le Duc Tho Remains the Only Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to Decline the Award
As the world reacts to the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, a ancient precedent stands out: Le Duc Tho, the Vietnamese diplomat, is the sole individual to have refused the prestigious honor. His rejection,stemming from the ongoing conflict despite a signed armistice,offers a rare instance of a laureate declining recognition based on the incomplete realization of peace.
In 1973, Tho, alongside then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris Peace Accords intended to end the Vietnam War. Though, the ceasefire proved fragile, and fighting continued in South Vietnam. Tho, believing genuine peace hadn’t been achieved, formally declined the award. This act underscores the Nobel Committee’s complex history with recognizing peace efforts amid continuing turmoil and raises questions about the criteria for awarding the prize in ongoing conflicts.
The accords,the result of 15 years of conflict and four years of negotiations,aimed to establish an armistice. Yet, by October 1973, when Kissinger and Tho were announced as recipients, the war hadn’t truly ended. “Peace has not really been established in South Vietnam. under these circumstances, it is impossible for me to accept the 1973 Nobel Peace prize, with which the committee has awarded me,” Tho stated, according to contemporary media reports. Kissinger accepted his share of the prize, but Tho’s refusal remains a unique event in the prize’s history.
