6 Nobel Prize Winners Who Declined The Prize

1. Le Duc Tho

1911-1990

Le Duc Tho, theVietnamese politician, is in the first place on our list 6 Nobel Prize Winners who Declined the Prize. Tho was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his involvement in Paris Peace Talks that lead to a ceasefire in Vietnam War in 1973. He shared the award with Henry A. Kissinger.

Nobel Peace Prize award from 1973 has been one of the most controversial. First Le Duc Tho declined the prize and then Kissinger didn’t show up at the award ceremony, so two members of the Nobel Prize selection committee withdrew. Moreover, Kissinger’s critics accused him of being involved in the secret bombing in Cambodia. Finally, true peace in Vietnam was established only two years later, in 1975.

Le Duc Tho explained the refusal to accept the award with the following words: “Since the signing of the Paris agreement, the United States and the Saigon administration continue in grave violation of a number of key clauses of this agreement. The Saigon administration, aided and encouraged by the United States, continues its acts of war. Peace has not yet really been established in South Vietnam. In these circumstances it is impossible for me to accept the 1973 Nobel Prize for Peace which the committee has bestowed on me. Once the Paris accord on Vietnam is respected, the arms are silenced and a real peace is established in South Vietnam, I will be able to consider accepting this prize. With my thanks to the Nobel Prize Committee please accept, madame, my sincere respects.^”