Tho, Le Duc (1911-1990) born Phan Dinh Khai in Nam Ha province, Vietnam, Le Duc Tho was a founder of the Indochinese Community Party (1930) and a leader of the Vietminh (a group that sought Vietnamese independence from the French) and the Communist Party (revived as the Vietnam Workers' Party). Tho was the senior Viet Minh official in southern Vietnam until 1954, and a member of the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers' Party (the Communist Party of Vietnam after 1976) from 1955 on, overseeing the Vietcong insurgency that began in the late 1950s. He is remembered in the West for his role in the cease-fire as special advisor to the North Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace Conferences between 1968 and 1973, for which he was a corecipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974 with Henry Kissinger. Tho, however, did not accept the honor. He remained a member of the Politburo until 1986.
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