THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 7 NOVEMBER 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974107
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: November 7, 1967

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The President's Daily Brief
T?p SI'fgaL 7 November 1967
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1. South Vietnam Signs are appearing that rank-and-
file members in both the moderate and
militant Buddhist camps are becoming
fed up with their intransigent leaders.
A prominent Buddhist layman says he
thinks this points the way toward a
solution of continuing factional strife.
He explains that if both Tam Chau and
Tri Quang are removed, the two factions
could then be amalgamated into a "third
force" and the Buddhists would be united.
2. Soviet Union 50X1
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DAILY BRIEF
7 NOVEMBER 1967
We do not expect this to happen
right away, but trends do seem to be in
that direction. President Thieu is
said to be prepared to look favorably
on any changes in the Buddhist charter
recommended by a new, reconciled Bud-
dhist grouping.
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3. Uruguay
4. Peru
5. West Germany
Devaluation of the peso yesterday
is the most significant move Gestido
has yet made to combat Uruguay's eco-
nomic problems. The new rate is 200
pesos to one US dollar; the old rate
was 99:1. This is a step recommended
last spring by the International Mone-
tary Fund.
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6. Congo Last week's mercenary incursion
into Katanga appears bogged down, at
least for the moment.
Mobutu remains adamant about get-
ting his hands on Schramme and the white
mercenaries who fled to Rwanda. At last
report, the Congolese president was will-
ing to let Schramme's Katangan support-
ers take a roundabout way home, but he
wants to make an example of the whites.
Mobutu may have to look elsewhere
for an example, however, as Rwanda's
President Kayibanda apparently has de-
cided to go ahead with the evacuation
of both mercenaries and Katangans.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietna* rn
Top Secret
I
7 November 1967
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
7 November 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Vietnamese Speeches Commemorating Soviet Anni-
versary: Statements by Vietnamese Communist offi-
cials in both Moscow and Hanoi over the weekend were
full of high praise for the Soviet revolution, its
example for Vietnam and the world, and the importance
of Soviet assistance to the Vietnamese revolution.
Vietnamese spokesmen also used the occasion to spell
out once again Hanoi's unbending terms for a settle-
ment of the war, and to state their conditions for
talks with the US.
First Secretary Le Duan, head of Hanoi's dele-
gation to Moscow, provided the major Vietnamese state-
ment in a speech to the Supreme Soviet on Friday.
Le Duan recounted the successful course of Commu-
nism since the October Revolution, claiming that the
Soviet victory has helped the Vietnamese people to
find a way to liberation. He said that the Vietnam-
ese people are determined to gain complete victory,
chiefly by relying on their own resources but with
the help of material support from the fraternal so-
cialist countries.
Le Duan ridiculed what he termed "profuse talk
about a false peace" and restated Hanoi's demand that
the four points and the program of the Liberation
Front serve as the basis for a settlement of the con-
flict. He added, moreover, that if the US "wishes to
reckon with talks with the government, it must first
of all, once and for all, and without any conditions,
stop the bombing and other acts of war against North
Vietnam."
Le Duan's formula for achieving talks--if accu-
rately translated and broadcast--suggests that a
further note of rigidity has been injected into
Hanoi's position on the war. In the past, authorita-
tive Hanoi spokesmen when speaking specifically of
the possibility of talks have called simply for an
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"unconditional cessation of the bombing and all
other acts of war against North Vietnam." Phrases
such as "once and for all," suggesting a permanent
halt, have not been used. Should Hanoi report Le
Duan's statement on this point as broadcast by Mos-
cow, the North Vietnamese would then appear to be
demanding as a prerequisite for talks not only
that the US stop the bombings unconditionally, but
that such a halt be declared permanent as well.
Back in Hanoi, Politburo member Truong Chinh
expressed many of the same sentiments in a speech
broadcast on 5 November. Chinh claimed that the
success of the Vietnamese revolution is clearly as-
sured by the support of the socialist camp. He
stressed that the assistance of the Soviets was of
"special importance" and that the services rendered
the people of Vietnam by the Soviet Union were "truly
great." The occasion for Chinh's speech was a meet-
ing held in honor of a visiting anniversary delega-
tion from the Soviet Union. Vietnamese rhetoric
and attendance at this meeting, while in keeping
with the occasion, were nonetheless similar in many
instances to that afforded a Chinese delegation
present during Peking's National Day early last
month.
* * *
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More from Haiphong; A reporter for the Manches-
ter Guardian filed a report from Haiphong on Sunday
describing a harrowing automobile trip he had made
one night recently out of Haiphong. Hundreds of
trucks were on the road. Suddenly, one of them had
an accident and a huge gasoline fire flared up. The
reporter's car was stuck in a mile-long tie-up. "I
felt that the soaring flames could be seen even in
Washington and any minute I expected to hear the
diving planes; so, obviously, did the Vietnamese."
Before anything happened, however, mobile antiair-
craft units roared up the road, "coming out of the
darkness from little side roads to take up positions
in the column." Then, the police arrived, the flames
died out, and traffic went on.
The reporter claimed to have been given a gUided
tour of some of Haiphong's heavily bombed areas. He
reported seeing "hundreds" of destroyed homes along
with the bombed-out factories. He added that the
bombing of this populous area may have been a mistake,
but, if so, "American marksmanship has fallen off
notably."
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* * *
North Vietnamese Officer Criticizes US Troops:
American soldiers are easier to fight than the French
and without helicopters they cannot do much more than
five miles a day, according to Colonel Ha Van Lau,
North Vietnam's liaison officer to the International
Control Commission. The colonel's remarks were made
in an interview in Hanoi with Joergen E. Peterson, and
reported in the 3 November Manchester Guardian. Lau
labeled US troops as "playboys" and claimed that they
had to have water flown in from Hawaii. He also as-
serted that the US did not have enough experienced
pilots and claimed that the pilots now bail out before
their planes are hit by missiles.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL AT-
TITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on Americans Against the War: On 5 November,
Hanoi International Service broadcast in English that
"more and more" Americans have come out against the war.
As examples, it cited an article by Linus Pauling con-
demning US policy in Vietnam, and a statement by US Navy
pilot James C. Child, who said he had returned the air
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medal he won in Vietnam because the war was "immoral
and largely futile." The broadcast also took note
of protest demonstrations held in US colleges against
the draft and against recruiting by firms which made
napalm for use in Vietnam.
Hanoi Broadcasts Another Statement by American
Visitor: On 4 November, North Vietnam broadcast
another recorded statement by Tom Hayden, an Ameri-
can who recently visited Hanoi. Speaking in English
to US troops in South Vietnam, Hayden denounced US
policy in Vietnam. A similar statement by Hayden
was broadcast by Hanoi on 29 October.
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