Editing Lê Đức Thọ (section)

=== 1970 ===
Thọ first met Kissinger in a secret meeting in a modest house in Paris on the night of 21 February 1970, marking the beginning of a test of wills that was to last three years. Kissinger was later to say of Thọ: "I don't look back on our meetings with any great joy, yet he was a person of substance and discipline who defended the position he represented with dedication".<ref name="Kp623" /> Thọ told Kissinger at their first meeting that "[[Vietnamization]]" was doomed, dismissively saying in French: "Previously, with over one million U.S. and Saigon troops, you have failed. Now how can you win if you let the South Vietnamese Army fight alone and if you only give them military support?".{{sfn|Langguth|2000|pp. 562–563}} Kissinger saw that Thọ's beginning his activism working for Vietnamese independence at the age of 16 as proof that he was a "fanatic", and portrayed Thọ to Nixon as an unreasonable, uncompromising man, but one who was also well mannered, cultured, and polite. Kissinger found Thọ's air of superiority exasperating as Thọ took the viewpoint that North Vietnam was the real Vietnam, and regarded the Americans as "barbarians" who were merely trying to delay the inevitable by supporting South Vietnam.{{sfn|Langguth|2000|p. 562}} In April 1970, Thọ broke off his meetings with Kissinger, saying that there was nothing to discuss.{{sfn|Langguth|2000|p. 563}} An attempt by Kissinger to talk to Thọ again in May 1970 was rejected with a note reading "The U.S. words of peace are just empty ones".{{sfn|Langguth|2000|p. 569}}