South Vietnamese President Thieu announces war will continue 40 years ago today (1972)


Video: October 24, 1972 (7:14)

(Tuesday October 24, 1972, during the Vietnam War) — South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu publicly rejected a proposal for peace in Vietnam during a national television and radio address tonight that followed five days of intensive talks with U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger.

The communist North Vietnamese had dropped demands for Thieu to step down as President of South Vietnam, but elections would be held there within six months, North Vietnamese troops would remain in the South, and the United States would recognize the sovereignty of North Vietnam.