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1973 Nobel Peace Prize

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1973 Nobel Peace Prize
Henry Kissinger and
Lê Đức Thọ
Henry Kissinger (left) and Lê Đức Thọ (right) "for jointly having negotiated a cease fire in Vietnam in 1973"
Date16 October 1973 (announced)
10 December 1973 (ceremony)
Presented byNorwegian Nobel Committee
First awarded1901
WebsiteOfficial website
← 1972 · Nobel Peace Prize · 1974 →

The 1973 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Communist Party of Vietnam Politburo representative Lê Đức Thọ "for jointly having negotiated a cease fire in Vietnam in 1973." Thọ declined to accept the prize, and Kissinger accepted in absentia as he did not want to be targeted by anti-war protestors at the event. Kissinger later tried to return the award, but the committee declined his offer.

The 1973 Nobel Peace Prize is often cited as one of, if not the most controversial in the history of the award.[1][2][3] Two members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee resigned in protest, The New York Times referred to it as the "Nobel War Prize", and Tom Lehrer stated that "political satire became obsolete".

Award

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Background

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Main article: Paris Peace Accords

Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ had respectively been the United States and North Vietnamese representatives at discussions beginning in 1968 in Paris, France which aimed to put an end to the Vietnam War. On 26 October 1972, Kissinger held a press conference in Washington, D.C. in which he declared, "Peace is at hand."[4] On 27 January 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed. Under the agreement, direct American intervention in the conflict was ended and the remaining U.S. troops were to be withdrawn from Vietnam in exchange for a ceasefire and the cessation of conflict between North and South Vietnam.[5] However, the agreement was not ratified by the United States Senate, and fighting restarted before American soldiers left the country.[6] Additionally, South Vietnam had not been consulted on the terms of the agreement, and in fact had not even been informed that negotiations had resumed.[7] The South Vietnamese government subsequently refused to accept the accords, and North and South Vietnamese forces both frequently broke the terms of the agreement.[5]

Announcement

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On 16 October 1973, the Norwegian Nobel Committee held a meeting at which it decided to give the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize to Kissinger and Thọ for their roles in negotiating the Paris Peace Accords.[8] The committee announced its decision later that day.[1] Thọ was the first Asian chosen for the award.[9] Two dissenting committee members, Einar Hovdhaugen and Helge Rognlien, resigned in protest of the decision.[2][10][11]

Reactions

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International responses were strongly polarized, especially regarding the decision to award Kissinger. Controversy focused on his role in orchestrating the secret bombing of Cambodia, as well as his involvement in planning or aiding events that were deemed antithetical to the principles of the Peace Prize, such as Operation Condor, the Bangladesh Liberation War, and just a month earlier, the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.[1] At the time the award was given, fighting was still ongoing in Vietnam.[12][13]

In the United States, reactions were widely derisive. The New York Times published an editorial dubbing it the "Nobel War Prize", describing the award as "at the very least, premature".[7][14] Diplomat George Ball was quoted as saying, "The Norwegians must have a sense of humour."[7] Ernest Cuneo lambasted the decision to award Kissinger and Thọ while conflict was still ongoing, sarcastically writing in an editorial that the award "can only mean Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Chancellor Adolf Hitler were most cruelly overlooked for the same award in 1938."[15] In Norway, the Nobel Committee was subject to widespread criticism, with the Norwegian Arbeiderbladet newspaper calling the award a "bad joke" and stating, "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has disgraced itself".[16] In a joint letter to the Norwegian Parliament, multiple Harvard professors wrote that awarding Kissinger and Thọ was "more than a person with a normal sense of justice can take".[1] For only the second time in history, Norwegian Nobel Committee members resigned as a result of the decision; the first time being in 1935 in response to giving the award to Carl von Ossietzky.[a][17]

Kissinger himself contemplated declining the prize, as he considered Thọ's nomination to be an affront. He is quoted as saying to Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, "I figure it like Groucho Marx said, 'any club that took him in he would not want to join'. I would say that anything Lê Đức Thọ is eligible for, there must be something wrong with it."[7] Thọ, in turn, did decline the prize, stating that "such bourgeois sentimentalities" were not for him, and citing the fact that the Paris Peace Accords had not yet stopped the fighting in Vietnam,[7] though he said he would consider accepting the prize if the Paris Accord "is respected, the arms are silenced and real peace is established in South Vietnam".[18] The deadline for Thọ to accept of 1 October 1974 passed without Thọ accepting the prize.[8]

Ceremony

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The award ceremony was held on 10 December 1973, on the traditional anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, to give the Nobel Peace Prize to Kissinger. Kissinger declined to attend, concerned that the event would be targeted by anti-war protestors.[3][7] Aase Lionaes, the chair of the 1973 Nobel Committee, gave the award ceremony speech, stating

In awarding the Prize in 1973 as well to two responsible politicians at the centre of events, the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Storting emphasizes its belief that the approach to a solution of the many controversies that have led to or may lead to war must be via negotiations, not through total war aiming at total victory.[8]

In the course of her speech, Aase also read from Kissinger's letter to the Nobel Committee accepting the award, in which he said

I am deeply moved by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, which I regard as the highest honor one could hope to achieve in the pursuit of peace on this earth. When I consider the list of those who have been so honored before me, I can only accept this award with humility. The people of the United States, and indeed of the whole world, share the hope expressed by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee that all parties to this conflict will feel morally responsible for turning the ceasefire in Vietnam into a lasting peace for the suffering peoples of Indochina. Certainly my Government, for its part, intends to continue to conduct its policies in such a way as to turn this hope into reality.[8]

Kissinger received half of the allotted prize pool for 1973, roughly $65,000 (equivalent to $446,000 in 2023), which he used to set up a scholarship fund in the name of his parents for the children of dead or missing American servicemen.[3]

Prize committee

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The following members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee were appointed by the Norwegian Parliament for 1973.[19]

* Resigned in protest
1971 Norwegian Nobel Committee
Picture Name Position Political Party Other posts
Aase Lionæs
(1907–1999) 		Chairwoman Labour Vice President of the Lagting (1965–1973)
Bernt Ingvaldsen
(1902–1982) 		Deputy Chairman Conservative Vice president of the Storting (1972–1973)
Einar Hovdhaugen*
(1908–1996) 		Member Centre former Centre Party Parliament representative
Helge Rognlien*
(1920–2001) 		Member Liberal Liberal party chairman (1972–1974)
John Sanness
(1913–1984) 		Member Labour Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
(1960–1983)

Legacy

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As hostilities in Vietnam resumed in full, the 1975 spring offensive and subsequent fall of Saigon marked the complete failure of the Paris Peace Accords, and South Vietnam surrendered on 30 April 1975. On 1 May, the day after Saigon fell, Kissinger tried to give back the prize, stating via a cable to the Nobel Committee that "I regret, more profoundly than I can ever express, the necessity for this letter... the peace we sought through negotiations has been overturned by force."[3][20][21] The Nobel committee declined his offer to return the award.[1][21] As of February 2024, Lê Đức Thọ is the only person to have ever declined the Nobel Peace Prize, and one of only two people to ever decline any Nobel Prize.[b][1][22]

The award has endured as a critique of the Nobel Prize and its chosen winners, and is often remembered as one of the most controversial Nobel prizes ever given.[1][2] With regard to why he stopped writing politically satirical music, comedian and musician Tom Lehrer famously quipped, "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."[23] After the war, it was revealed in the Chennault Affair that Kissinger may have intentionally sabotaged peace talks in Vietnam in 1968 in order to help Richard Nixon become president, casting further derision on the choice to award him a Peace Prize for his work in Vietnam.[24][25]

On 11 January 2023, documents from the 1973 nomination process were unsealed, showing that even the members of the committee who voted for Kissinger and Thọ believed that they could prove to be poor choices; further, they were skeptical that the Paris Accords would bring lasting peace.[21] Stein Tønnesson, a Norwegian historian who reviewed the documents, said of them "I am even more surprised than I was at the time that the committee could come to such a bad decision."[20] The records also revealed that John Sanness, a member of the committee, personally nominated Kissinger, and that the committee jointly awarded the prize to Thọ despite knowing relatively little about him as they felt they "could not give it to Kissinger alone."[20][21] Following the unsealing of the documents and Kissinger's subsequent death in 2023, renewed attention was given to Kissinger's Peace Prize. One editorial published by Al-Jazeera labeled him "a war criminal with a Nobel Prize," calling the 1973 award "abhorrent" and "a slap in the face for the victims of Kissinger's brutality,"[26] while Norwegian Nobel historian Asle Sveen told the Agence France-Presse that it was "the worst prize in the entire history of the Nobel Peace Prize."[1] However, some defended Kissinger's award. In an op-ed in the National Review, Jay Nordlinger argued that North Vietnam, not Kissinger, was responsible for the collapse of the Paris Peace Accords, and that an undue amount of backlash was directed at Kissinger as opposed to Thọ.[3]

Nominees

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See also: List of individuals nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

The following individuals were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973; their names were unveiled in 2024.

Picture Name Born Died Notes
Henry Kissinger 27 May 1923
Fürth, Bavaria, Germany 		29 November 2023
Kent, Connecticut, United States 		Won.[27]
Lê Đức Thọ 10 October 1911
Nam Trực, Nam Định, French Indochina 		13 October 1990
Hanoi, Vietnam 		Won, but declined the prize.[27]
Pearl S. Buck 26 June 1892
Hillsboro, West Virginia, United States 		6 March 1973
Danby, Vermont, United States 		American novelist and activist who previously won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature.[28]
Napoleón Bilbao Rioja Bolivia Bolivia Bolivian doctor who destroyed potential biological weapons in the Chaco War.[29][30]
Sri Chinmoy 27 August 1931
Chittagong, British India 		11 October 2007
New York City, United States 		Indian spiritual leader, also nominated for the 1973 Literature Prize.[31]
Andrew W. Cordier 1 March 1901
Canton, Ohio, United States 		11 July 1975
Manhasset, New York, United States 		UN Representative and president of Columbia University.[32]
Daniel Ellsberg 7 April 1931
Chicago, Illinois, United States 		16 June 2023
Kensington, California, United States 		US military analyst and whistleblower responsible for the release of the Pentagon Papers.[33]
Indira Gandhi 19 November 1917
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, British India 		31 October 1984
New Delhi, India 		3rd prime minister of India (1966–1977, 1980–1984).[34]
Robert S. Hartman 27 January 1910
Berlin, German Empire 		20 September 1973
Mexico City, Mexico 		Founder of the field of axiology.[35]
Jomo Kenyatta c. 1897
Ngenda, Gatundu, Kenya Colony 		22 August 1978
Mombasa, Kenya 		1st president of Kenya (1964–1978).[36]
Luis Kutner 9 June 1908
Chicago, Illinois, United States 		1 March 1993
Chicago, Illinois, United States 		American human rights advocate.[37]
Paul-Émile Léger 26 April 1904
Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada 		13 November 1991
Montreal, Canada 		Catholic cardinal, former Archbishop of Montreal.[38]
Richard Nixon 9 January 1913
Yorba Linda, California, United States 		22 April 1994
New York City, United States 		37th and then current president of the United States (1969–1974)[39]
Marcelo Nubla 12 September 1898
Manila, Philippines 		12 November 1985
Philippines 		Chinese-Filipino lawyer and businessman.[40]
Samuel Pisar 18 March 1929
Białystok, Podlaskie, Poland 		27 July 2015
New York City, United States 		Polish-American lawyer and holocaust survivor.[41]
Jeannette Rankin 11 June 1880
Missoula, Montana, United States 		18 May 1973
Carmel, California, United States 		American politician and women's rights advocate. First woman to hold federal office in the United States.[42]
Adam Schaff 10 March 1913
Lviv, Austria-Hungary 		12 November 2006
Warsaw, Poland 		Polish Marxist philosopher.[43]
Gerard C. Smith 4 May 1913
New York City, United States 		4 July 1994
Easton, Maryland, United States 		US representative to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.[44]
Joseph Gabriel Starke 16 November 1911
Perth, Western Australia, Australia 		24 February 2006
Canberra, Australia 		Australian lawyer and member of the League of Nations secretariat.[45][46]
Fernando Tamayo Tamayo 13 February 1950
Palermo, Boyacá, Colombia 		13 April 2018
Bogotá, Colombia 		Colombian economist and politician.[47]
Trần Minh Tiết 28 December 1922
Cam Lộ, Quảng Trị, French Indochina 		18 April 1986
Monterey Park, California, United States 		Vietnamese Chief Justice of the Republic of Vietnam Supreme Court, under whom, in a landmark case, the Supreme Court vacated the conviction Trần Ngọc Châu received from a military court.[48]
Kurt Waldheim 21 December 1918
Sankt Andrä-Wördern, Tulln, Austria 		14 June 2007
Vienna, Austria 		4th secretary-general of the United Nations (1972–1981)[49]
Seán MacBride 26 January 1904
Paris, France 		15 January 1988
Dublin, Ireland 		Won the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize.[50]

Notes

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  1. ^ At the time, there has since been a third instance as the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize award to Yasser Arafat also prompted the withdrawal of a committee member.
  2. ^ The other being Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature. This does not include people who were forbidden from accepting the Nobel Prize, such as Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk who were prevented from accepting their awards by the Nazi Germany, or Boris Pasternak who declined the Nobel Prize under pressure from the Soviet Union.[22]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "How 1973 Nobel Peace Prize Sent Shockwaves Around The World". NDTV World. Oslo, Norway. 2 October 2023. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Tønnesson, Øyvind (29 June 2000). "Controversies and criticisms". Nobel Committee. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Nordlinger, Jay (30 November 2023). "Controversies and criticisms". The National Review. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024.
  4. ^ Tyler, Ray (1 November 2023). "Peace is at Hand". Teaching American History. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024.
  5. ^ a b The Paris Agreement on Vietnam: Twenty-five Years Later Archived 1 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine Conference Transcript, The Nixon Center, Washington, DC, April 1998. Reproduced on mtholyoke.edu. Accessed 22 February 2024.
  6. ^ "50 years later, the legacy of the Paris Peace Accords isn't one of peace". Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. 26 January 2023. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Horne 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d 1973 Award Ceremony Speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Thu. 22 February 2024. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1973/ceremony-speech/ Archived 21 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Pace, Eric (14 October 1990). "Le Duc Tho, Top Hanoi Aide, Dies at 79". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  10. ^ Helge Rognlien. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 23 February 2024. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/bio-helge-rognlien Archived 11 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Einar Hovdhaugen. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 23 February 2024. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/bio-einar-hovdhaugen Archived 12 February 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Feldman 2000, p. 315.
  13. ^ Abrams 2001, p. 315.
  14. ^ "Nobel War Prize". The New York Times. 17 October 1973. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  15. ^ Cuneo, Ernest (26 October 1973). "Nobel Peace Prize Was a Grim Joke". Kansas City Star via the North American Newspaper Alliance. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  16. ^ "Europe Critical of Award". Kansas City Star via the Associated Press. London. 26 October 1973. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  17. ^ Award ceremony speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 23 February 2024. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1935/ceremony-speech Archived 1 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Lewis, Flora (24 October 1973). "Tho Rejects Nobel Prize, Citing Vietnam Situation". The New York Times. Paris, France. Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  19. ^ Norwegian Nobel Committee. Beretning fra Det Norske Stortings Nobelkomité for 1961–1975 (in Norwegian). Parliament of Norway.
  20. ^ a b c "Nobel panel knew Kissinger Vietnam deal unlikely to bring peace, files show". The Guardian. 11 January 2023. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  21. ^ a b c d Fouche, Gwladys (11 January 2023). "Nobel Prize body knew Kissinger's 1973 Vietnam deal unlikely to bring peace, documents show". Reuters. Oslo, Norway. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  22. ^ a b Nobel Prize facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 23 February 2024. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nobel-prize-facts Archived 9 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Todd S. Purdom, " 'When Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize, satire died' " Archived 8 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 31 July 2000.
  24. ^ Farrell, John A. "When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election". Politico. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  25. ^ Taylor, Adam (30 November 2023). "Henry Kissinger: Nobel peace laureate, war criminal?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  26. ^ Twaij, Ahmed (2 December 2023). "Kissinger: A war criminal with a Nobel Peace Prize". Al-Jazeera. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  27. ^ a b "Nomination of Le Duc Tho (Vietnam) and Henry Alfred Kissinger (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  28. ^ "Nomination of Pearl S. Buck (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  29. ^ "Nomination of Napoleón Bilbao Rioja (Bolivia) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  30. ^ "Napoleón Bilbao Rioja". santarosabolivia.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  31. ^ "Nomination of Sri Chinmoy (India) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  32. ^ "Nomination of Andrew Wellington Cordier (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  33. ^ "Nomination of Daniel Ellsberg (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  34. ^ "Nomination of Indira Gandhi (India) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  35. ^ "Nomination of Robert Schirokauer Hartman (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  36. ^ "Nomination of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  37. ^ "Nomination of Luis Kutner (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  38. ^ "Nomination of Paul Emile Léger (Canada) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  39. ^ "Nomination of Richard Milhous Nixon (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  40. ^ "Nomination of Marcelo Nubla (Philippines) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  41. ^ "Nomination of Samuel Pisar (Poland) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  42. ^ "Nomination of Jeannette Rankin (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  43. ^ "Nomination of Adam Schaff (Poland) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  44. ^ "Nomination of Gerard C. Smith (United States) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  45. ^ "Nomination of J. G. Starke (Australia) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  46. ^ "Obituary for Joseph Gabriel Starke". oa.anu.edu.au. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  47. ^ "Nomination of Fernando Tamayo (Colombia) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  48. ^ "Nomination of Trần-Minh Tiết (South Vietnam) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  49. ^ "Nomination of Kurt Waldheim (Austria) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  50. ^ "Nomination of Seán MacBride (Ireland) for the Nobel Peace Prize for 1973". media.digitalarkivet.no. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2022.

Works cited

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