THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 17 JANUARY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974228
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: January 17, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005700290001-3
The President's Daily Brief
-----ro`y-rs-erre-t? 17 January 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
17 JANUARY 1968
1, Guatemala
2. South Vietnam
3. Soviet Union
The Guatemalan Government declared
a state of national alert last night.
All political activity is suspended,
carrying of arms is prohibited, and
press coverage of terrorist activities
is restricted. Apart from the official
countermeasures, we expect that right-
wing terror squads will now move quickly
to strike at anyone they consider "sub-
versive."
In addition to the shooting of the
four Americans, there were three poli-
tically motivated assassinations in the
24-hour period ending yesterday. An-
other attempted killing failed.
All strikes are to be called off
for the time being. This respite is
the product of a bargaining session be-
tween the government and union leaders
Monday night. The government agreed to
give electrical workers a retroactive '
cost-of-living allowance in exchange
for the temporary back-to-work order
from the union.
The no-strike pledge is good only
through Tet, however, and problems
could develop unless the government
moves toward a more permanent accommo-
dation--including release of jailed
union leaders.
The Russian press is beginning to
acquaint its readers with the names of
prominent presidential aspirants in
-the US. Today's Annex reviews a recent
Izvestia article on this subject.
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JU" I
4. Soviet Union
5. Israel-Jordan
6. Dominican
Republic
7. Nigeria
Brezhnev, Kosygin, and Podgorny
traveled on from Warsaw to East Berlin
before returning home last night. A
statement out of Moscow merely says that
in talks with Ulbricht and company, the
Soviet leaders discussed "questions con-
cerning the Communist movement, further
political and economic cooperation, and
some problems of the present-day inter-
national situation."
Yesterday we noted that Husayn was
very much alarmed over the chance of
Israeli retaliation for the continuing
terrorist raids. Now Ambassador Barbour,
reporting from the Israeli side, adds
that patience in Tel Aviv on this score
is indeed wearing dangerously thin.
President Balaguer seems determined
to use a strong arm in dealing with stu-
dent agitation at the Autonomous Univer-
sity of Santo Domingo.
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The Nigerian civil war, now six
months old, will probably continue for
some time. Federal forces have not
been able to win a clear-cut victory,
but they have somewhat the upper hand
and seem capable of keeping it.
Prospects for peace, or even a
cease-fire, remain poor.
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ANNEX
Soviet Preview of the US Election Campaign
Izvestia, the Soviet's second largest newspaper,
carried a lengthy article on 7 January reviewing
possible presidential candidates in the US. These
are Izvestia's conclusions:
Senator McCarthy--a "symbol hurled into
the restless waters of the Democratic organization,"
who intends to gather under his banner all those
opposed to Vietnam. He has scant hope, however, of
getting nominated.
Senator Kennedy--McCarthy is really a
stalking horse for Kennedy; Kennedy might take the
reins if McCarthy attracts sizable voter interest
in the primaries. Attributing especially Machiavel-
lian motives to Kennedy, however, Izvestia believes
that the Senator will more likely back President
Johnson--preferring the victory of any Democrat in
1968 in order to realize better his own ambitions
later. In 1968 Kennedy would run for vice president
for the sake of a Democratic victory.
Richard Nixon--Long ago welcomed by the
"military-industrial corporations and bankers of
the Pacific Coast" and now backed by "the 'new
money' of the missile and oil kings," Nixon is fur-
ther described as a "political dealer-chameleon"
who has slipped behind the mask of a "liberal, mod-
erate conservative" but in reality is "a reaction-
ary and an advocate of a 'hard line' in foreign
policy."
Governor Reagan--He gets short shrift,
being portrayed only as a former movie actor who
has replaced Goldwater in the notorious position
of representing the extreme right wing of the Re-
publican Party.
Governor Rockefeller--may run after all,
as suggested by the "secret lessons on foreign poli-
cy" he has been getting from Harvard's Henry Kissinger.
According to the article, "influential monopolist
circles" intend to back Rockefeller.
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Governor Romney--"candidate of the bank-
ers and industrialists of the northwest"; he is
trying to avoid a stand on Vietnam in order to
keep a free hand for political maneuvers and schemes.
Senator Percy--seen merely ?as a "possible
_pretender"; a "relative moderate."
George Wallace--"fanatical supporter of
segregation and double-dyed 'ultra' who banks on
the so-called white backlash."
Izvestia noted that although Wallace can
hardly believe earnestly in victory, he may draw
off enough votes to throw the election into the
House of Representatives. The article says that the
Republicans have only to win some 30 seats in the
House to win a majority, "with all the consequences
resulting from it if the President is elected by
this House."
Covering any eventuality, Izvestia concluded
that although many things can change during the cam-
paign, "one thing is clear--the monopolist bourgeoi-
sie will again try to place in the White House 'their
own man,' who will pursue a course profitable for
them within the country as well as abroad."
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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j'a nu a r y 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
17 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Reaction to the War:
in groups the Vietnamese continually
voice their pride in their nation, in its history of
resisting aggression, and in the fact that it is now
"defeating" the most powerful nation on earth. Work-
ers, however, have tended to become corrupted by
the war and are engaging in petty theft and black
marketeering. Primary effort is given to keeping
safe and alive. American leaflets on how
to build small bomb shelters were picked up and used
extensively.) In private, some of the Vietnamese
voice sentiments about peace, the happiness it would
bring, and the horror of the air raids.
in
spite of a deep longing for peace and considerable
depression over economic difficulties and personal
hardships, no one contemplated even for a moment try-
ing to do anything against the will of the government.
A fatalistic attitude, "as if the war were a flood or
a hurricane to be survived," seemed to be quite com-
mon.
* * *
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??
Tighter Security: North Vietnam is ?tightening
even further the already rigid security controls
that grip the cities. The party daily, Nhan Dan,
has called for greater efforts to keep fET-UiEFFI
population in line and thus implies the regime is
having some security problems. The article pointed
out that watching for enemies of the state is not
just the work of security police--all citizens were
urged to lend a hand in spying on their neighbors
to expose "espionage agents and counterrevolution-
aries." This means anyone, in short, who might be
expressing less than wholehearted enthusiasm for
the war effort. There also was a strong hint in
the article that a crackdown is coming on black mar-
keteers.
* * *
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French Left Raises Funds for Hanoi: Various
Communist and leftist-oriented organizations in
France have joined together in a project termed
"Ship for Vietnam," designed to raise at least one
half million dollars in goods and money to be
shipped to North Vietnam. The French Communist
Party has pledged to raise the lion's share of the
amount with other groups contributing according to
their means.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
US Being Made Ogre on Talks Issue: North Viet-
nam and its European bloc allies continue to stress
the importance of Foreign Minister Trinh's offer of
talks with the US in return for an end to the bomb-
ing. This propaganda is keyed to the theme that
the US is rejecting peace overtures.
In an unusually detailed broadcast beamed in
English to US servicemen in South Vietnam on 15 Janu-
ary, Hanoi reported both the national and interna-
tional figures who have called upon the administra-
tion to respond to the Trinh statement. The broad-
cast listed Senators Robert Kennedy, McCarthy, Ful-
bright, and Cooper as leaders on the domestic scene
demanding an end to the bombing, and quoted a num-
ber of editorials in leading US papers to that effect.
Remarks by leaders of several NATO countries calling
for an end to the air raids also were quoted.
Bloc comment has been generally cautious in
treating Trinh's statement, but has been uniform in
claiming that the US has failed to respond. A Hun-
garian broadcast on 15 January is typical. It claimed
that Washington had given no sign of interest in ne-
gotiations and quoted recent remarks by US officials
to demonstrate an uncompromising US position on set-
tlement of the war. Like the Hanoi broadcast, that
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from Budapest listed the NATO countries which have
voiced support for a cessation of the bombing and
noted remarks by Senator Mansfield.
* * *
Hanoi Ballyhoos Deserters: Hanoi in an inter-
national broadcast on 16 January reported that three
more "antiwar" American soldiers have sought politi-
cal asylum in Sweden. The broadcast went on to wrap
up previous reports on the 13 other recent defectors
to Sweden and to report the protest at the Justice
Department on 12 January.
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