Thieu proposes temporary Christmas truce in Vietnam 40 years ago today (1972)


Video: Dec. 12, 1972 (10:11)

(Tuesday, December 12, 1972, during the Vietnam War) — South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu proposed today a Christmas peace package providing for a cease-fire and release of all U.S. and Vietnamese prisoners of war, but the Viet Cong quickly rejected it.

Thieu told the National Assembly during an hour-long address in Saigon that American and Vietnamese prisoners of war could be freed during the cease-fire “while a comprehensive settlement is being negotiated” by the Vietnamese parties themselves.