THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 2 MAY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005975726
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: May 2, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006100020001-7
The President's Daily Brief
--TOr-Yrrirt- 2 May 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
2 MAY 1968
Gulf of Tonkin
LATE ITEM
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.THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
2 MAY 1968
1. South Vietnam
South Kdrea.
3. Middle East
The National Liberation Front is
trying to line up some reputable Catho-
lics for the new Alliance of National,
Democratic, and Peace Forces--the organ-
ization which the Communists evidently
intend ultimately to use as part of the
"coalition government" they have in
mind for the South.
Security efforts are being speeded
up in the wake of Tuesday night's ter-
rorist bombings in Seoul. The defense
minister, referring to the "growing
threat" from the North, announced that
he expects larger terrorist raids.
The Pak government will surely get
all the mileage it can out of the lat-
est incidents in an attempt to silence
opposition criticism of pending new se-
curity legislation.
The big Israeli parade in Jerusa-
lem got under way on schedule at about
4:00 AM, Washington time. So far, we
have heard of no serious incidents.
Jerusalem itself is under such tight
security wraps that it is hard to see
how any trouble could develop there,
The Arabs everywhere, however, are so
enraged at the provocative Israeli ac-
tion that outbreaks of violence could
easily be touched off at any of a num-
ber of places.
Amman is particularly vulnerable,
especially if the well-armed Arab ter-
rorist groups have slipped into the
city. Also, border incidents along
the Jordan River have been on the up-
swing in recent days and may well get
worse.
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4. Philippines
5. Soviet Union
6. Poland
7. Panama
President Marcos is in a bad slump,
politically, He remains
/preoccupied by the six-
week-old scandal involving the secret
training camp for anti-Malaysian guer-
rillas on Corregidor. He feels he has
already used up about all his political
capital in an effort just to stem the
continuing erosion of his influence on
the home front.
The President is likely eventually
to regain his old fire, but in the mean-
time the administration is close to
paralysis. The measure to extend finan-
cing for the Filipino civic action team
in Vietnam is one temporary casualty.
May Day in Moscow was uninspiring.
The speeches were dull and no new weap-
ons were shown in the parade.
The country's most eminent actress,
Ida Kaminska, tells Ambassador Gronouski
that she and her family want to emigrate
to the US. The world renowned 69-year-
old star, who is a Jew, explained frankly
that the government's anti-Semitic cam-
paign prompted her decision.
The ambassador is preparing for a
flood of similar requests from other
talented and able Polish Jews.
General Vallarino laid it on the
line on Monday to a couple of Arias
supporters who were pleading for Nation-
al Guard neutrality in the 12 May elec-
tions. Arias will not be permitted to
win, he said
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8. Chile
President Frei is about to be
faced with a new upsurge of strikes
for higher wages. Some government
workers--postal and telegraph em-
ployees and teachers--have already
been on strike for more than a month.
The Communists are now promoting a
series of 24-hour industry-by-industry
walkouts for the coming weeks. The
idea is to pressure congress to modify
a pending wage bill.
Even military personnel are agi-
tating for more pay--which raises
doubt about how effective they will
be if ordered to counter the labor agi-
tation.
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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
2 May 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
2 May 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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Comments by Dobrynin: Ambassador Dobrynin told
Deputy Under Secretary Bohlen the other day that the
North Vietnamese had been so confident that Warsaw
would be acceptable to the US that they had even sent
to the Polish Government the list of the delegation
they were prepared to send to the first meeting.
Bohlen asked Dobrynin what was the name of their
chief delegate, and he replied that it was a "three-
barreled" Vietnamese name which he could not remem-
ber.
* * *
Chinese Delegation in Hanoi: A Chinese dele-
gation was in Hanoi last week to discuss thesues-
tion of North Vietnamese talks with the S
Ambassador Sullivan reports also hearing a
second-hand report from a Soviet officer that Hanoi
was making an effort to "mend fences" with Peking
on the matter of negotiations and that as of 17
April the North Vietnamese were talking to the Chi-
nese at an unspecified location.
* * *
May Day Celebrations: Virtually the entire
North Vietnamese leadership turned out for May Day
celebrations, according to Hanoi Radio (Internation-
al Service in English), even "healthy and smiling"
Ho Chi Minh. The only Politburo members absent
were Pham Hung (whom a high-level Viet Cong defector
has recently told us is directing the war in the
South), party organizer Le Duc Tho, and government
economic expert Le Thanh Nghi. The speeches were
routine, with trade union leader Huong Quoc Viet
delivering the main speech.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing significant to report.
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Top Secret
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