THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 25 APRIL 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974399
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: April 25, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
t 25 April 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
25 APRIL 1968
1. North Vietnam
2. Communist China
3. Soviet Union
Recent aerial photography shows
an unusual type of surface-to-air
missile radar near Hanoi. Satellite
photography of China confirms that
this particular radar is produced by
the Chinese.
Recent satellite photography of
China's ICBM launch complex at Shuang-
Cheng-Tzu shows that a major modifica-
tion program is under way there. A
new control bunker and launch pad are
apparently being built. Also, the
existing launch pad is being modified
and will not be usable for several
months.
last night after a standdown
of almost six months.
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4. Sino-Soviet
Relations
5. Cambodia
Timed to appear with the opening
of the preparatory meeting in Budapest
to plan a world Communist conference,
the Russians have come out in their
party journal Kommunist with a harsh
polemic against the Chinese. The Soviet
line here is that the very existence of
Communism in China is in jeopardy, that
this is a problem for all Communists,
and that it should be on the agenda of
the Communist summit meeting in Novem-
ber.
The article is intended to have a
special meaning for Eastern Europe. For
the Czechs, in particular, Moscow is
'saying that nationalism (the non-Russian
variety) is a perversion and this can
lead to the destruction of Communism.
The message for Dubcek and company is:
this far, but no farther.
In general, however, there is a con-
siderable lack of realism in the piece--
a sense of longing for the iron disci-
pline of the Stalinist era and the re-
turn of "proletarian internationalism."
The Soviets know full well that it is
too late for this, but they want to
start the Budapest meeting in the old
orthodox style.
Sihanouk, in a special address to
the nation on Monday, accused the Com-
munists of fomenting the tribal rebel-
lion in northeast Cambodia. He claimed
to have considerable "evidence" of
Pathet Lao and Vietnamese Communist
presence among the tribal dissidents
and said that a number of Communist
agents have been captured. Sihanouk
may be exaggerating somewhat about the
threat in the northeast, but he has
long considered this area a prime tar-
get for Vietnamese expansionism.
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6. Laos
7. Israel
We have reports that the Commu-
nists may be planning a coordinated
terrorist campaign against major Lao
towns in the near future. It is pos-
sible that these reports have been
generated by the Communists to play on
the jittery nerves of the Lao leader-
ship. Similar rumors of a widespread
offensive to celebrate the Laotian New
Year two weeks ago did not materialize.
The Communists, however, almost
certainly have the capability to con-
duct such raids at a time and place of
their own choosing. Furthermore, there
has been an increase in Pathet Lao ter-
rorism this year. Over the past week,
for example, they have destroyed the
quarters of US attach?nd AID offi-
cials in two towns in southern Laos.
There were no US casualties in either
incident.
Israel is about set to start work
on a 42-inch oil pipeline by-passing
the Suez Canal and running from Eilat
on the Gulf of Aqaba to Ashkelon on
the Mediterranean. Completion of the
first stage of construction--planned
for next year--will provide an annual
capacity of about 20 million tons. Com-
pletion of the second stage (by about
1975) will bring capacity to 50-60 mil-
lion tons a year.
Iran is the only likely source of
substantial quantities of petroleum
for the pipeline. This petroleum will
probably go mainly to Eastern Europe.
A fleet of supertankers will unload at
the deep-water facilities at Eilat;
smaller tankers will load at Ashkelon.
This will probably be a less costly
route than oil carried via the cape or
even through the canal.
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
'Top Secret
16
25 April 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
25 April 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
North Vietnamese to Japan: North Vietnamese
delegates have been admitted to a meeting of a
Japanese leftist group for the first time in three
years. The delegates will attend the 10th general
session of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association
in Kobe on 28 and 29 April.
On several occasions in the past, Hanoi dele-
gates to similar meetings have been denied entry
permits by the Japanese Government. This time,
however, Tokyo said that "new developments" in the
international situation would make it inappropriate
to refuse entry. The three Vietnamese are not high-
ranking personalities but propaganda types who will
try to promote anti-Americanism and make a pitch for
Japanese support of Hanoi.
Now that the ice has been broken, additional
visits by North Vietnamese seeking to promote better
Hanoi-Tokyo relations can be expected. The Japan-
ese Government says that applications in the future
will be considered on a "case-by-case basis."
Low-Pressure Hanoi Propaganda: Hanoi is try-
ing a new propaganda approach to American audiences.
Radio Hanoi on 24 April broadcast the first of a
series of talks to the American people by a folksy
North Vietnamese lawyer named Tran Cong Tuong.
Tuong identifies himself as a member of the Vietnam-
ese Communist delegation to the 1954 Geneva confer-
ence on Vietnam. More recently he has traveled ex-
tensively to Free World propaganda forums, such as
the various "war crimes trials," to drum up popular
support for North Vietnam. The broadcast of 24
April was beamed in English to Havana, probably for
transmission over, Cuban short-wave radio facilities.
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In his broadcast Tuong appeals directly to
the American people to imagine themselves in the
position of the North Vietnamese with foreign
planes and warships coming from another continent
thousands of miles away to "kill their mothers and
children." The broadcast is replete with refer-
ences to "justice, freedom, legitimate demands for
self-defense and peace," and the technique is a
sort of informal fireside-chat approach. It is ob-
viously tailored to American audiences and designed
to be more effective than Hanoi's usual propaganda
tirades.
* * *
Hanoi Takes Credit for the F-111A: Hanoi
claims to have brought down the US F-111A in its
southern Quang Binh Province on 21 April. A Hanoi
radio broadcast of the 24th says this is the third
F-111A which North Vietnamese air defenses have
brought down.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Quotes US Senators: A radio Hanoi trans-
mission in English to Havana relayed some recent
statements on the war by Senators Robert Kennedy,
Mansfield, and McCarthy. The broadcast noted a
Reuters report of a Kennedy statement in Los Angeles
in which the Senator allegedly said the US should
keep its promise "to go anywhere any time to nego-
tiate peace in Vietnam." Senator Mansfield was
quoted as favoring a coalition government in Saigon
and a US withdrawal from Vietnam as soon as possible.
A statement by Senator McCarthy charging that
Secretary Rusk was "hamstringing" attempts to start
peace talks was also cited. The broadcast did not
mention Senator McCarthy's assertion that the Secre-
tary should be replaced.
In keeping with its usual practice, Hanoi made
no editorial comment of its own. Nor did it make
any particular point of the fact that two of the
Senators it quoted were presidential candidates.
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