National Archives Hosts Nixon Legacy Forum Friday, December 5, 2014
Press Release · Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Washington, DC

Experts to discuss President Nixon’s historic opening to China

On Friday, December 5, at 10 AM, the National Archives hosts a Nixon Legacy Forum on President Richard M. Nixon, Vietnam, and the Paris Peace Accords. This event is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. You can also watch the program live on YouTube. Attendees should use the Special Events entrance, located on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. Metro: Yellow or Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial station.

On January 23, 1973, President Nixon announced that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, the chief North Vietnamese negotiator, had initialed a peace agreement in Paris. A panel of former members of the National Security staff will discuss the chronology, key players, and impact of the Paris Peace Accords. The panel will include Winston Lord, John Negroponte, and William Richard Smyser. Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland will moderate. This event is presented in partnership with the Richard Nixon Foundation.

Kathleen Troia “KT” McFarland is a Fox News National Security Analyst and host of FoxNews.com's “DefCon 3.” She served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She was an aide to Dr. Henry Kissinger at the White House.

Ambassador Winston Lord joined the National Security Council in February 1969, and worked closely with Dr. Kissinger during the Paris Peace Talks and accompanied him on historic trips to the People’s Republic of China and the USSR. He went on to serve as State Department director of policy planning, ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

Ambassador John Negroponte was a provincial reporting officer in South Vietnam in the 1960s before joining the first delegation led by Averill Harriman and Cyrus Vance at the Paris Peace Talks in 1968. He went on to work on the National Security Council and accompanied President Nixon and Dr Kissinger on the historic trip to the USSR in 1972. He later served as Ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the UN and Iraq. He also was Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Deputy National Security Advisor, Deputy Secretary of State and the first Director of National Intelligence.

Professor William Richard Smyser served extensively in Germany with the U.S. Armed Forces and Foreign Service, including as a witness to the Berlin Crisis of 1961. He later became a senior member of Dr. Kissinger’s National Security Council Staff, working as an advisor to the U.S. delegation at the Paris Peace Talks in 1969, and on efforts to establish relations with the People’s Republic of China in the 1970s. After leaving Kissinger's staff, he served as Political Minister at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn. He then retired from the Foreign Service to join the United Nations as Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees and then went on to teach at Georgetown University.

The National Archives is fully accessible, and Assisted Listening Devices are available in the McGowan Theater upon request. To request a sign language interpreter for a public program, please send an email to public.program@nara.gov or call 202-357-5000 at least two weeks prior to the event. To verify the date and times of the programs, call the National Archives Public Programs Line at: 202 357-5000, or view the Calendar of Events online.

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For press information contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at 202-357-5300.

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