THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 14 FEBRUARY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974277
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: February 14, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800230001-8
The President's Daily Brief
itip--Seeret 14 February 1968
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JtJZ\ I
DAILY BRIEF
14 FEBRUARY 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Communist China
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The major Communist threat now ap?
pears to be centered in northern South
Vietnam.
The situation at Khe Sanh base and
at Hue did not change overnight.
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3. Communist China
4. United Nations
Algeria has said it will challenge
Taiwan's right to the Chinese seat in
the Security Council when the Council
meets today. Of the 15 Security Coun-
cil members, ten voted for the seating
of Peking in the last General Assembly;
Canada abstained. Several supporters
of Peking on the Council, however, be-
lieve the question should be decided in
the Assembly.
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5. United Kingdom
6. Cuba
7. West Germany
Treatment of Prime Minister Wilson
by the British press has improved as a
result of his Washington visit. As of
the middle of last week, the newspaper
concensus about his trip was negative;
most papers thought the timing was most
inopportune.
This changed during and after the
visit when the press noted that the
President had devoted more time to the
talks than expected and had gone out
of his way to emphasize the closeness
of both personal and official ties.
The trip is now seen as a clear gain
for Anglo-American connections.
A mass anti-Vietnam rally sched-
uled in West Berlin next weekend will
provide the first test of the Bundestag's
recent statements about keeping student
demonstrations in bounds. Embassy Bonn
believes that this endorsement of deci-
sive police action will assure adequate
protection of US facilities, although
minor damage will probably occur. The
Berlin mission concurs.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
f
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secret
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14 February 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
14 February 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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Hanoi Plays Down Tet Offensive: The North Viet-
namese are continuing to describe the Communist of-
fensive in South Vietnam as part of a longer term
effort.
An article in the North Vietnamese party daily,
Nhan Dan, on 13 February also suggested that the
curreET-fighting would not be the final Communist ef-
fort. The article referred to the fighting as "the
curtain raising victories" and called it an example
of "relentless fighting and of firm maintenance and
development of the revolutionary struggle."
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Hanoi Allows Some Non-Communist Visitors: After
several months of denying visas to applicants from
non-Communist countries, Hanoi is apparently once
again allowing selected non-Communist individuals to
enter North Vietnam.
* * *
Hanoi Letter to General Westmoreland: Hanoi's
latest English language broadcast to US servicemen
in South Vietnam took the form of an open letter to
General Westmoreland. The letter ridiculed "false
optimism" on the part of the General and claimed
that his attitude did not fit with the fact that the
situation is growing worse for the Americans in
South Vietnam. The broadcast pointed out that the
General's "failure and that of Washington are as
clear as daylight," and that the lesson he should
draw from Vietnam is that "no violence can prevail
over people's war."
* * *
Yacht Phoenix Completes Mission: The Quaker
yacht Phoenix reached Hong Kong on 13 February
after delivering $6,000 worth of medical goods to
North Vietnamese officials at the port of Haiphong.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on Senator Kennedy's Speech: North Viet-
nam added a bit more to its coverage of Senator
Robert Kennedy's speech last week in Chicago. In a
domestic broadcast on 13 February, Hanoi quoted sev-
eral sentences of the speech and added that "press
circles in the US" consider Kennedy's statement a
"severe criticism of Johnson's policy." Hanoi has
not yet referred to the speech in its international
English language broadcasts nor have the North Viet-
namese provided any independent comment on it.
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