THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 23 DECEMBER 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974187
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: December 23, 1967

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The President's Daily Brief
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DAILY BRIEF
23 DECEMBER 1967
1. Australia
2. North Vietnam
3. South Korea
Ambassador Clark had a 15-minute
talk with Prime?Minister McEwen shortly
after President Johnson left Melbourne.
Prime Minister McEwen told Ambassador
Clark that, while the US and Australia
have had excellent relations all along,
the President's visit "cemented our re-
lationship for all time." The ambassa-
dor comments that McEwen could not have
been more complimentary.
The prime minister also said it
was the announcement of the President's
visit which had caused others--includ-
ing specifically the British--to send
top-level delegations. McEwen is Very
grateful for this.
President Pak is facing a new legis-
lative crisis. Opposition legislators
are paralyzing all legislative business
by a sit-in at the National Assembly.
The primary issue is the ruling
party's failure to live up to its agree-
ment to establish a committee to inves-
tigate the Assembly elections last June.
Such a committee would undoubtedly finger
a number of high administration officials
for involvement in election irregularities
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4. Vietnam
5. Greece
The Vietnamese Communists apparently
are taking a cautious approach toward
President Johnson's television remarks
about possible South Vietnamese contacts
with the Liberation Front. There has as
yet been no official comment from either
Hanoi or the Liberation Front.
The chief of the Front's mission in
-Prague, however, seems to have dismissed
the President's statements rather per-
functorily, but probably had not received
any, authoritative instructions. A Czech
newspaper says he "answered" President
,Johnson by saying in a 20 December inter-
view that "We do not intend in any way
either to ease the position of the Saigon
puppets or to help the American imperial-
ists solve their problems."
Hanoi seems to be wary of such brusque
disclaimers, probably because it sees US
encouragement of contacts between Saigon
and the Front as another step toward bol-
stering the role of the Front in any future
settlement. The Vietnamese Communists
took a similar approach toward Ambassador
Goldberg's congressional testimony on 2 No-
vember in which he said the US would not
stand in the way of Front representatives
appearing at the UN Security Council or
at a "Geneva" conference. The Communists
completely avoided comment on Goldberg's
remarks at that time. Only after the US
disclosed Front overtures for a presence
at the United Nations did they address
themselves to this issue. Then both Hanoi
and the Front denied the overtures and
once again dismissed the competence of the
UN on Vietnam issues.
Papadopoulos has just announced an
amnesty for all persons taken prisoner
since the junta seized power last April.
He stated specifically, that it will ap-
ply to Andreas Papandreou.
He also announced a referendum in
April on a new constitution.
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6. Eastern Europe
7. Czechoslovakia
8. Venezuela
9. Canada
The Soviet bloc foreign ministers,
winding up their meeting on the Middle
East, have issued a communiqu?ased
on the lowest common denominator. The
statement claims complete unity of views
among the participants, including the
Rumanians. In order to achieve this
consensus, however, the foreign minis-
ters balanced a renewed call for the
withdrawal of Israeli forces from Arab
territory with the reaffirmation of Is-
rael's right to exist. The absence of
any pledge of military and economic
aid to the Arabs also seems to repre-
sent a concession by Moscow to some of
the East Europeans.
The Czech party central committee
session ended late on Thursday, but no
communiqu?as yet been published. So
far there has been no hint of major
changes in the leadership.
The government's release of some
500 political prisoners in the annual
Christmas amnesty may lead only to more
terrorism next year. Among those re-
leased was a prominent Communist leader,
as well as all of the terrorist group
that abducted a US military officer in
1964. With the 1968 election campaign
close at hand, the government is try-
ing to avoid being charged with repres-
sion.
Foreign Minister Martin is the pop-
ular favorite to succeed Prime Minister
Pearson as leader of the Liberal Party,
according to the Gallup Poll. Martin
was favored by 29 percent, Finance Min-
ister Sharp by 13 percent, and former
defense minister Hellyer by 11 percent.
Forty percent had no preference.
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10. Nepal
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES 'ONLY
Special Daily Report on :North Vietnam
Top Secret
23 December 1967
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
23 December 1967 ?
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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Hanoi and the UN: Hanoi's adamant opposition to
any UN involvement in the settlement of the Vietnam
problem was underscored recently in an effort to get
the message across directly to diplomatic missions in
the capital. The North Vietnamese Ministry of For-
eign Affairs called in selected heads of diplomatic
missions and reiterated that the UN has no jurisdiction
and that settlement must be on the basis of the Geneva
agreements and the program of the Liberation Front
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* * *
Report from
Refugees:
some interesting and probably accurate information on
the draft situation in the Lao Cai area northwest of
Hanoi. no one under 20 is conscripted
and that the recruits for the army leave the area once
every few months in groups of four or five at a time.
The standard period of service is three years, but not
all are released from service at the end of this term.
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