THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 21 MAY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976158
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: May 21, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
21 May 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
21 MAY 1968
1. France
2. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
3. United Kingdom
The tide has not turned yet.
Strikes continue to mushroom all over
the country. The Paris police are now
demanding immediate pay raises and
openly warning that their patience is
wearing thin. They have not yet
threatened to join the strikers, but
it could come to that.
A police strike would immensely
complicate the picture for De Gaulle.
He would have to bring in the army,
which he would regard as a last resort.
French military officials have ex-
pressed doubt whether even regular
troops in the Paris area could be re-
lied on in all circumstances.
At this point, De Gaulle still
seems intent on avoiding open confron-
tation. He knows that use of force to
dislodge the protestors would almost
surely bring on new violence.
Nothing has happened yet to sug-
gest a break in the Kosygin-Dubcek
stalemate. A ranking liberal leader
in Prague pointedly declared on Sunday
that Czechoslovakia will not retreat
in the face of Soviet pressure. He
tempered his remark, however, with a
warning that the party will not toler-
ate attacks on its supremacy.
Sterling was under heavy specula-
tive pressure yesterday in all markets.
The Bank of England is buying pounds,
but it is in bad shape with almost no
foreign exchange left. By yesterday,
it had spent nearly all of the $7 bil-
lion loaned by other central banks to
support sterling during the past year.
When these funds run out, sterling will
face a de facto devaluation, and that
might bring the fall of the Wilson gov-
ernment.
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4, West Germany
5. South Vietnam
Thieu tells Ambassador Bunker that
he and Huong expect to complete forma-
tion of the new cabinet in a day or two,
and that at least five of the 17 incum-
bents will be kept on, including two
generals.
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. Australia
7. North Korea
8, Israel
9. Soviet Union
Prime Minister Gorton is making
his own foreign policy to a much greater
extent than Harold Holt ever did. He
is relying more and more on his own
staff
. The most obvious difference between
-Gorton and his foreign and defense min-
isters is his idea that Australia should
rely after 1971 on well-armed mobile mil-
itary units based at home. The ministers
contend that Australia should maintain a
force in Malaysia.
The North Koreans are working to
expand relations with various Middle
East countries, Since the first of the
year they have Set up diplomatic rela-
tions with Iraq and South Yemen and
opened trade offices in Lebanon and Ku-
wait./
The cabinet meeting yesterday was
a rough one for Eshkol. He managed to
get endorsement "in principle" for his
foreign policy, but. Dayan and the other
hawks were extremely critical on some
points--particularly Eban's "acceptance"
Of .the November Security Council resolu-
tion and the transfer of the Jarring
talks to New York. In effect, Eshkol
and friends have been put on notice that
further "concessions will endanger the
Coalition government.
With the current ferment in Czcho-
slovakia, Moscow has additional good
reason to keep a sharp eye on its res-
tive intellectuals.
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10. Haiti
1.1. Cuba
President Dorticos has been out
of public sight for nearly two months.
His absence was especially obvious
last week when the new Soviet ambassa-
dor presented his credentials--to For-
eign Minister Roa. We do not know
whether Dorticos' problem is physical
or political.
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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
21 May 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
21 May 1968
. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
? Hanoi Stresses Southern Victories: Hanoi's
latest ,review of Communist military "successes" in
South Vietnam since Tet concluded that, although -
the allies have failed in their objectives, heavy
fighting may still be necessary before a Communist
victory is assured. An editorial in the Hanoi
daily Nhan Dan, broadcast in-English in the Inter-
national SeYVice on 20 May, listed the usual statis-
tical details which generally accompany the Commu-
nist claims of victory in the "general offensive
and uprising." It also ridiculed the effort of the
US to take measures to prevent further Communist at-
tacks. The editorial zeroed in on the contention
?that the Saigon government is divided and is Suffer-
ing serious political, economic, financial, and so-
cial difficulties. Contributing to this decline,
the editorial alleged, is the growing strength of
the Viet Cong as well as the formation of a "bloc
of national unity" represented by the new National
Alliance. The Alliance was described as "effec-
tively working for the rallying of more people in
the fight against the US."
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Civil Defense Preparations Continue: A French
news dispatch from Hanoi bears out
continued defensive preparations. North Viet-
namese authorities are said to have begun a "short
competition campaign" in the capital to "evacuate
the population and increase shelter construction."
Hanoi is troubled by the influx of thousands of evacu-
ees who -returned following the beginning of bombing
restrictions.
Hanoi Delegate on Parts Talks: HA Van Lau,
deputy head of North Vietnam's negotiating team, in
talking to a Japanese newsman on 18 May, said that
Hanoi regards the US entry into talks as acceptance
of its demand that the bombings be stopped. Asked
what Hanoi would do if the US refused to stop the
bombings, Lau said "the talks will continue." He
also Said that Hanoi believes the US attitude toward
negotiations is closely ?dictated by domestic politi-
cal considerations and that North Vietnam does not
expect serious bargaining until early August under
the pressure of the political conventions.
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North Vietnamese Diplomatic Travelers: In its:
continuing effort to gain the support of neutral gov-
ernments for its position in the war, Hanoi has for
the first time dispatched a representative on ,a
"friendship visit" to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Ngo
Minh Loan, the North Vietnamese ambassador to Peking,
arrived in Rawalpindi on 17 May for a six-day visit
and is receiving considerable government and press
attention. Prior to his departure for Kabul, Loan
is scheduled to be received by President Ayub and
other Pak officials. In statements to the press,
Loan has avoided direct comment on the Paris talks.
He did state, however, that it is apparent from the
US position that there has been no basic change in
US policy.
Other traveling Hanoi representatives are being
more forthcoming in offering their views of the Paris
talks. North Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Hoang
Van Loi, who is currently in Syria, was quoted by
Damascus radio as saying that the "victories of the
South Vietnamese people" have forced the US into the
Paris negotiations, and that these victories will
make the negotiations brief. Loi also stressed that
the US must stop the bombing and added that "we will:
get what we want either through struggle or through
negotiations."
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Nhan Dan Commentary: Like Hanoi's public
spokesmen in Paris, North Vietnamese media remain
fixed on a full bombing halt as the first condition
for any progress in the talks with the United States.
A Nhan Dan commentary on 20 May scored the concept
of reCiprocal military restraint and demanded a com-
plete and "unconditional" bombing cessation. The
paper noted that the US had raised many other issues
in Paris, "in the hope of diverting public attention"
from the bombing question. It said that the Commu-
nists Were armed with "concrete evidence and valid
reasons" on all these issues, which "will be dis-
? cussed" after a bombing halt.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Propaganda Silent on US Elections: Hanoi's
propaganda since 3 May has contained no discussion of
the US presidential election campaign. There has been
no mention of the Indiana or Nebraska primaries. Xuan
Thuy's statement at the Paris talks on 13 May took
note of US domestic criticism of American policy on
Vietnam and named Senator Robert Kennedy as one of
the critics, but this passage was not included in
the summary of Xuan Thuy's statement disseminated by
the Vietnamese News Agency.
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