THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 17 OCTOBER 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974068
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: October 17, 1967

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24: CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
The President's Daily Brief
17 October 1967
23
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
DAILY BRIEF
.17-OCTOBER 1967
1. South Vietnam
2. Soviet Union
3. Laos
The Communist terror campaign
against Saigon's Chinese community con-
tinues. Seven attempts--five of them
successful--have been made to assassi-
nate men of Chinese ancestry since the
19 September bombing of the Chinese Na-
tionalist Embassy. We suspect the cam-
paign may be designed to impress Chi-
nese businessmen with the advisability
of resuming--or continuing--payment of
"protection money" to the Viet Cong.
The Soviets are having major main-
tenance problems with the icebreaker
Lenin, their only nuclear-powered surface ship.
-
The Communists are stepping up
their harassment of government posi-
tions in the north. This action has
upset plans for a government offensive
in the area, but is not likely to get
beyond the "little war" stage. The
government, determined to hold, has
sent in reinforcements, and we doubt
that the Communists are willing to pay
the price of a direct assault.
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
4. Jordan -
Soviet Union
5. India
' The Indians are buying
new SU-7 fighter-bombers from the So-
viets.
The Indians claim
they need these supersonic jets to
counter Pakistan's purchases of French
fighter-bombers and to replace older In-
dian aircraft.
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
TOP SECRET
1 7 OCT 1967
SPECIAL DAILY REPORT ON NORTH VIETNAM
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
TOP SECRET
50X1
4
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2 _
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
.17 October 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Chinese Military Delegation May be in Hanoi:
No high-level Chinese military officer is
known to have visited Hanoi since 1961, except for
Yang Te-chih, the commander of the Tsinan Military
Region, who headed the Chinese National Day dele-
gation which visited Hanoi from 27 September to
_10 October. Yang's visit was publicized and the
Chinese did not mention his military status. It is
likely, however, that other Chinese military dele-
gations have made unpublicized visits to Hanoi.
If a Chinese military delegation did arrive,
it would probably be reviewing Peking's military
assistance programs and inspecting the Chinese lo-
gistic and antiaircraft units now in the country.
* * *
North Vietnam's Industrial Problems: An August
article in a North Vietnamese journal seems to re-
flect the troubles encountered in keeping up some
semblance of production in key industries. The
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2 ?
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2 50X11
? article reported that a conference called by the
AMinistry of Heavy Industries had stressed the need
to achieve "as best we can" the plan for producing
equipment for agriculture, transportation, and com-
munications and to make a greater contribution to
the development of local industries. These, evi-
dently, are the priority areas in Hanoi's wartime
industrial planning.
.The article went on with some propaganda claims
.that "heavy" industrial output had risen consider-
ably since 1964. This'is pure fantasy. What "heavy"
industries there are have either been shut down or
cut back and very little new capital investment is
being put into them.
* * *
? .Propaganda on Haiphong Bombing: Hanoi propa-
ganda statements on the recent raids on targets in
the Haiphong area have drawn a picture of great
physical destruction, especially to civilian instal-
lations. An international broadcast in English On
13 October accused the US of "monstrous crimes" and
claimed that all hamlets near the city have been
napalmed, and that schools, clinics, and hospitals
have been damaged or destroyed.' The broadcast also
asserted, however, that despite the "barbaric US
raids," adequate Measures for evacuation had kept
civilian deaths down. The broadcast ended on a con-
fident note by claiming that even though the city
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
50X1
'50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
had become the "Pentagon's main target" and that
one-third of the population had been evacuated,
life continues to go on in a normal fashion in the
port city.
II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
-Hanoi Claims "President in Desperation" Over
Vietnam: In a 13 October English language broad-
cast.to American servicemen in South Vietnam, Hanoi
asserted that President Johnsonis "painfully anx-
ious" about the "impasse" of the war and that US
criticism of his Vietnam policy is growing stronger.
.The broadcast claimed that the.President has to de-
liver speech after speech on Vietnam "to ward off
further woes" and that by doing so, he hopes to
stay in the White House for another term. According
to Hanoi, President Johnson hopes to avoid becoming
the first president to lose a war. Hanoi stated
that the President cannot hide the truth andthat
.American newsmen in South Vietnam have used the word
stalemate to describe the war situation.
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2 50x1
.Hanoi Reports on Appeals to US Antiwar Groups:
.A 16 October Hanoi broadcast describes two appeals
by Vietnamese Communist groups to sympathizers in
the US calling for stepped-up efforts against the
-war. .0ne appeal by the newly formed "South Vietnam
.People's Committee for Solidarity with the American
People," called the US antiwar movement "a coordin-
ated action of the two peoples (US and Vietnamese)
against their common enemy." Hanoi also stated that
.a North Vietnamese women's leader sent a: letter to
.American women hailing their "courageous and sus-
tained" struggle against the war. The letter 'ex:-
pressed confidence that American women would in-
crease their efforts and compel the US Government
to accept Communist conditions for peace in Vietnam.
Martin Luther King Asked to Participate in Peace
Efforts: A number of Nobel Peace Prize winners, who
announced several weeks ago that they were seeking
talks with all parties to the war/
.Hanoi Cites US Paper on Increased Expenditures
for Vietnam: A 12 October Hanoi broadcast to South
Vietnam cites a recent New York Post article report-
ing that the war is draining US economic strength.
The broadcast quotes the Post as stating that the
war has caused a substantial decrease in US financial
-4-
50X1
50X1
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2 50X1
and moral strength and that no sources of supply
are inexhaustible. The broadcast also notes that
?,Arthur Schlesinger recently said that the US has
spent $90 billion on the Vietnam ?war during the
last 32 months of "escalation."
.Hanoi on US Burnings: Hanoi's internatiOnal
broadcasting service on 14 October routinely noted
the suicide of Miss Hiroko Hayasuki, a Japanese-
American woman who burned herself to death in San
Diego last Thursday. So far we have not received .
.any North Vietnamese commentary on the two other
burnings which occurred on Sunday. Hanoi's treat-
ment of the woman's death was relatively restrained
in contrast to its extensive propaganda coverage of
earlier burnings in the US. The broadcast said
.Miss Hayasuki was the sixth American citizen to
have used suicide by fire as ?a "protest against .
Johnson's unjust, illegal, and immoral war in Viet-
nam."
50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2
TOP SECRET'
TOP SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005500130001-2