THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 16 APRIL 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974383
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: April 16, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
Top Secret 16 April 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
16 APRIL 1968
1. Vietnam
2. South Vietnam
3. Soviet Union
The Vietnamese Communists are re-
viving the claim that they exercise
administrative control over large areas
of South Vietnam. A recent Viet Cong
broadcast, for example, boasts that 1.6
million more people and 600 more ham-
lets and villages have come under their
control since Tet. The "revolutionary
,administrations" set up in "liberated
areas" will eventually merge to rule the
entire country, the broadcast asserted.
This was a prominent propaganda
theme right after Tet, but has been
,rare since mid-March. Its revival now
is presumably related to the prospect
of US - North Vietnamese talks.
port
Ky has all but withdrawn his su
from Prime Minister Loc
This wi
for President Thieu
a more effective
make it much easier
to replace Loc with
man.
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C Canada
West Germany
6. Rumania
Unless something gives soon,
Ottawa will be under strong pressure
to break diplomatic relations with
Paris early next week. The Province
of Quebec, after a "reminder" from
Paris, intends to send a delegation
there on Monday for a conference of
education ministers of various French-
speaking nations.
Both Pearson and Trudeau had pub-
licly threatened that if France by-
passes Ottawa and deals directly with
Quebec on this matter, relations will
be broken. The Canadian press is not
letting them forget this commitment.
Neither Ottawa nor Paris wants a break,
but neither can seem to get off the
hook.
Trudeau, who takes over next week,
feels even more strongly than Pearson
that something must be done to keep
Quebec from whittling away at Ottawa's
prerogatives.
Leftist youths continued their vio-
lent demonstrations yesterday for the
fifth straight day. At least half a
dozen cities were affected. There are
signs that the demonstrators intend to
keep it up through May Day.
Kiesinger is worried, and he has
warned that continued violence will be
met "decisively." According to US press
reports, he is considering the use of
federal troops.
Bucharest's acceptance of a US in-
vitation to send a high-level scientific
delegation to Washington early next
month is another sign of its strong de-
sire to expand relations with the West.
The delegation is to be headed by Alex-
andru Birladeanu, a deputy premier
whose special job is the direction of
scientific research.
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7. France
The French ?are resisting Soviet
efforts further to expand Franco-Soviet
space cooperation. A full review of
the matter is now under way in Paris.
Paris has explained that its commitment
to the International Telecommunications
Satellite Consortium bars closer co-
operation with the Soviets.
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Snret
16 April 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
16 April 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Current Propaganda Line: Hanoi radio continues
to portray the Viet Cong on the offensive in South'
-Vietnam. An army daily Commentary on 15 April de-
scribed the fighting around Khe Sanh as intense--
with the US Marines still under siege and Operation
PEGASUS able to make only a few miles a day because
of "heavy" Communist opposition. The commentary ad-'
mitted in a backhanded way that the siege of Khe
Sanh had been lifted, but claimed the US lost more
than five battalions.
The new 'allied operation north of Saigon, said
the newspaper, was getting on no better than its
predecessor and was being frustrated by local Commu-
nist guerrillas at all turns. Communist forces were
credited with recent "brilliant successes" in artil-
lery attacks, in ambushes, and in "lightning opera-
tions deep into enemy:territory."
On the peace front, Premier Pham Van Dong con-
tinues to reach out for Western audiences by making
himself available to a growing number of non-Commu-
nist foreign correspondents. In an appearance on
French television on 12 April, he was extremely con-
fident, according to Western news accounts. He con-
demned the US for not stopping the bombing completely
and told his French listeners that the North Vietnam-
ese were dealing from strength on all sides--economi-
cally, militarily, and politically.
More from Hanoi on US "Stubbornness": Hanoi
radio's international service broadcast an English
translation today of another Nhan Dan article criti-
cizing the US for:"refusing to agree to the sites
suggested by North Vietnam for preliminary contacts
between the two sides." The broadcast asserted that
the US has been "widely criticized both at home and
abroad because it has failed to match its deeds with
words (sic)." It then went on to claim that the
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"deliberate delay" by the US in agreeing to a site,
accompanied by the continuing "aggressive acts in
both zones of Vietnam," prove that the US really
does not want to move toward peace."
* * *
More on Self-Defense and Militia Forces: A
recent editorial in the party daily Nhan Dan stresses
the role of North Vietnam's self-defense TIO militia
forces in the "new stage" and because of the "new
situation." The editorial says the size of local
security forces has grown "rapidly" in recent years,
but also notes that they have shown "definite weak
points and shortcomings." The self-defense and
militia forces are once again urged to increase
their "combat strength" in order to carry, out the
role of "protecting the rear and serving the front."
Such exhortations in Hanoi's propaganda are
routine, but it is likely all the same that a special
effort is under way to tighten security and to make
certain that all military and paramilitary organiza-
tions are geared up to support the war.
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Hanoi on US Air Attacks: Hanoi continues to
report routinely on alleged "violations" Of North
Vietnamese airspace by US aircraft and to complain
about bombings in the southernmost provinces of the
country. Broadcasts pointedly complain of viola-
tions "at the 21st and 22nd parallels," and near
Hanoi, presumably referring to US reconnaissance ?
flights.
.American Group to Meet North Vietnamese: A
mixed bag of Negro radicals, civil rights workers,
and war critics were scheduled to leave New York
Saturday for Stockholm. The delegation is spon-
sored by the American Communist Party and is to
meet with North Vietnamese representatives. The
purpose of the meeting is unknown.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi's Propaganda Treatment of the US Elec-
tions: Hanoi's propaganda media normally devote a
very small percentage of their output to the US do-
mestic debate and US dissension over the conduct of
the war in ,Vietnam, and only a small portion of this
propaganda in recent months has been addressed speci-
fically to the US presidential election campaign.
This low-volume pattern did not change with the ac-
celeration of campaigning by the candidates and the
beginning of the party primaries. The New Hampshire
primary prompted a single Nhan Dan article and the
Wisconsin primary was totaiTTTRITO-red.
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An examination of Nhan Dan for March turned up
only two articles on the pre-SiBential elections: an
unsigned article on the 15th dealt with the results
of the New Hampshire primary, and an article on the
20th commented on Senator Kennedy's announcement
that he was entering the presidential race. -Nhan Dan
publishes a daily column reviewing world press com-
ment on various subjects, but on only three occasions
during March were there references to the US elec.-
tions or the ,candidates. On 5 March, this column
noted a UPI report of a statement by Senator Kennedy
on the situation in South Vietnam. On the 17th, it
cited US and British press comment on the New Hamp-
shire primary, and on the 26th it briefly mentioned
the challenge to the President by Senators Kennedy
and McCarthy.
There was also scant attention to the elections
during March in monitored Hanoi radio broadcasts.
The two Nhan Dan articles cited above were broad-
cast; ofEWFWfgT7 the North Vietnamese radio audiences
heard only a scattering of news reports on US dis-
sent over the war.
The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) carried no com-
mentaries on the election in its English language
transmissions during the month, although there were
a few:references to critical remarks by Kennedy and
McCarthy in news items. The Nhan Dan article on 15
March about the New Hampshire-TFimTFT was, however,
carried in VNA's Vietnamese language transmission-.
The small amount of attention to the elections
is consistent with Hanoi's general practice of de-
voting only a meager portion of its output to US
domestic developments. Hanoi's propaganda on the
week of protest in Washington last October was typi-
cal of its treatment of internal US developments.
This highly exploitable event occasioned seven com-
mentaries in a single week, but even that was rela-
tively minor attention when compared with treatment
of an event such as the South Vietnamese elections
in September 1967, which occupied as much as half of
Hanoi's broadcast time.
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(Hanoi's view of the US position in Vietnam
is not limited to election problems alone. The
North Vietnamese also emphasize other problems for
the US: antiwar sentiment and opposition, racial
disorders, economic problems, military manpower
squeeze, and international complications for US
policy.)
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