THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 9 MAY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976138
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: May 9, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
7-P6r-e,L 9 May 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
9 MAY 1965
1. North Vietnam
. France
. Soviet Union
Officials are preparing to pre-
vent student rioters from disrupting
the Vietnam talks in Paris. Steel bar-
riers and cordons of police are now
guarding the US Embassy and the build-
ing where the talks are to take place.
There is some reason for the gov-
ernment's concern. One of the more
prominent "New Left" student leaders
has publicly implied that the rioters
may try anti-US demonstrations after
the talks begin.
Recent satellite photographs show
that progress is on schedule at the
antiballistic missile sites around Mos-
cow. Although the Soviets had origin-
ally begun to build twelve such sites,
they have now cut back to eight. Pic-
tures of three of these show that they
are probably undergoing final check-
outs.
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4, East Europe
5. Israel -
Arab States
Party bosses from four East Euro-
pean countries suddenly converged on
Moscow yesterday. Rumania and--more
significantly--Czechoslovakia were ex-
cluded. This looks very much like an
urgent conclave over what to do about
Czechoslovakia.
Moscow's patience has been wear-
ing thin these past two days over the
growing liberal and nationalist trends
in Czechoslovakia, The men in the
Kremlin have been especially shocked
and angered by recent stories in the
Czechoslovak press which flatly accuse
Soviet agents of involvement in the
Prague purges of the 1950s--and in the
1948 death of Jan Masaryk.
Soviet sensitivity to these charges
prompted an angry rebuttal in Pravda
yesterday. Moscow clearly does not ac-
cept at face value Dubcek's assurances
that he can control the pace and scope
of democratization in the country.
So far, the Czechoslovaks have
faced up to Soviet pressures, We know
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however, that the leaders in Prague
were worried late last month that the
Soviets may feel obliged to intervene
more forcibly in Czechoslovakia. Yes-
terday's news of the gathering in Mos-
cow will surely heighten these fears.
Arab terrorists have been striking
at Israel with increasing frequency in
recent days. Several Israeli soldiers
have been killed. This may well prompt
Israeli retaliatory action. Jordan, as
usual, is the most likely victim,
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6. Panama
7. British Honduras
8. Kenya
Arnulfo Arias feels his only hope
in Sunday's election is to amass such
a tremendous majority that the govern-
ment will be unable to cheat him of vic-
tory. It is a slim hope. The National
Guard is going all out to beat Arias,
The two-year US effort to mediate
the old dispute over Guatemalan claims
to this Godforsaken colony seems likely
to come to naught. The mediator pro-
poses that the colony become an independ-
ent state committed to cooperation with
Guatemala in foreign, defense, and eco-
nomic affairs. The natives are rioting
because of the proposed limitations on
their sovereignty. The Guatemalans are
angry because they want fuller control.
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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
9 May 1968
16
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
9 May 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi's Delegation: Hanoi Radio's international
service in English on 8 May broadcast the composition
of its delegation to the Paris talks. It also stated
that "official" talks would start on 10 May. The
delegation is identical to that already reported in
Western press releases. It is headed by Minister
Xuan Thuy, the "representative of the DRV government,"
who left Hanoi for Paris on 7 May. Colonel Ha Van
Lau, with the rank of ambassador, will serve as an
"adviser" to Thuy, as will the three lesser ranking
members of the delegation.
A brief biography of Xuan Thuy, also broadcast
on the international service in English on 8 May, is
apparently designed to underscore his high government
and party positions. The broadcast noted that he is
both a member of the party secretariat and a govern-
ment minister--positions he was given after the North
Vietnamese response to President Johnson's 31 March
statement.
* * *
Soviet View on Peace Talks: A deputy to Soviet
UN Ambassador Malik told a senior US official at the
UN on 6 May that he thought the Vietnam peace talks
would follow the Korean pattern and speculated that
two years would be needed to reach a settlement.
This is the first Soviet estimate of any kind that
we have seen. The Soviet diplomat also commented
that Soviet announcement of ratification of the con-
sular convention was directly related to the agree-
ment on opening of the Paris talks.
* * *
Coolness Between Peking and Hanoi: Communist
China apparently made strenuous efforts to dissuade
North Vietnam from peace talks and is now upset with
Hanoi.
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Hanoi Broadcasts Prisoner Statements: Two
Hanoi broadcasts of 8 May, one in English to Havana
and the other in Vietnamese to South Vietnam, re-
ported statements by two US servicemen who were cap-
tured by the Viet Cong earlier this year. As in
other such broadcasts, the prisoners were quoted as
praising the "humanitarian and lenient" policies of
?the Communists and appealing for an end to the fight-
ing and US involvement in Vietnam.
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More Propaganda on US Bombing: In its latest
effort to muster support for its demand for a total
cessation of US bombing, Hanoi has sent a letter to
the International Red Cross and allied societies
alleging that the US has "savagely intensified" its
bombings in southern North Vietnam since 31 March.
The letter, broadcast over Hanoi's international
service in English on 8 May, listed numerous "in-
humane acts" committed by the US in the past several
weeks. It appealed to the international organiza-
tions to demand that the US "match the good will of
the DRV government" and cease unconditionally the
bombing and all other acts of war against North Viet-
nam.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report.
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Top Secret
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