THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 29 MAY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976172
• 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 29, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
-74-671--Se?cr.kt_ 29 May 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
29 MAY 1968
1. France
2.: Czechoslovakia
3. Iceland
The text of the draft law to be
put to referendum on 16 June is sched-
uled for publication today. It will
offer students an opportunity to par-
ticipate in running university affairs
and workers more voice in economic and
social matters. Ambassador Shriver
notes, however, the consensus of ob-
servers is that the outcome of the ref-
erendum will be close.
Aside from the serious problems
he has with the political opposition,
the students, and the unions, De Gaulle
must now appeal to a younger electorate.
He has found older citizens among his
strongest supporters and young people
cool or critical of him. By one esti-
mate, more than a million older voters
have died since the 1962 referendum,
and some 2.5 million young voters have
been added to the lists.
Czech consumers are getting at
least the promise of the good life.
Friday Premier Cernik announced a major
switch in Prague's long-range economic
planning. While the change may take a
decade, the new look in Czech invest-
ment will reduce emphasis on heavy in-
dustry--on which Communist ideology
traditionally insists--and provide more
resources for consumer goods production.
The Communists plan demonstrations
during the meeting of NATO foreign min-
isters in Reykjavik 24-26 June. There
could be some violence, although the po-
lice are aware of Communist intentions
and are making their own preparations.
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4, Canada
5. Middle East -
Africa
6. Japan
Trudeau's Liberal Party holds a
big lead in the latest Gallup Poll
taken in early May. The Liberals got
50 percent to 29 percent for the Con-
servatives. Looks are deceiving in
Canadian polls, however. The Liberals
were polling strong early in the 1965
campaign--and they failed to win a ma-
jority in Parliament. We think the
race will look a lot more even by the
time Canadians vote on 25 June.
Food supplies in a belt stretch-
ing from India to Morocco are threat-
ened by the most serious locust plague
in years. The UN's Desert Locust Serv-
ice has issued a "special warning" that
locust invasions may hit 16 nations.
The most dangerous situation is
in Saudi Arabia where extensive swarms
are breeding. Other breeding grounds
are located along the Moroccan-Algerian
border, in Iran and Pakistan, and in
the Somali Republic where one swarm
covers more than 200 square miles. Un-
less the breeding is controlled, the
swarms will begin moving next month.
Sato has won no high marks for his
handling of the Swordfish affair, and
it will be haunting him when upper
house elections are held 7 July.
Sato failed to take forceful ac-
tion when charges of nuclear contamina-
tion were first thrown around by an ir-
responsible press. He is doing nothing
now as public concern feeds on loaded
stories coming from the panel of Japan-
ese scientists who investigated the
Swordfish--and the panel is chaired by
a long-time member of the Japanese Com-
munist Party.
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7. Soviet Union
8. Sino-Soviet
What it lacks in originality, Pe-
king's commentary on Soviet affairs makes
up in pure nastiness. A short broadcast
yesterday provides a typical example.
The broadcast dealt with a recent
Moscow visit by Malaysia's Deputy Prime
Minister Razak. Less than 400 words long,
the commentary used the term "Soviet re-
visionist renegade leading clique," or a
suitable variant, 14 times. The Soviets,
in fact, came off much worse even than
the US imperialists.
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9. South Vietnam
10. Peru
The Communists apparently plan to
continue harassing Saigon now while
they prepare for major attacks on the
city this summer. Captured documents,
prisoner interro? at ions
point toward a
significant enemy build-up in the prov-
inces around Saigon. The movement of
North Vietnamese troops into the area
is particularly heavy.
Two of the 16 Mirage fighter-
bombers on order from France have ar-
rived in Peru. French technicians
will assemble the aircraft.
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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
29 May. 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
29 May 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
National Assembly Session: North Vietnam's
cent National Assembly session was used to explain
Hanoi's current policies on war and peace to the
home front. The Assembly has no real importance in
itself except as an instrument to put a stamp of
authority on decisions already hammered out in the
Communist Party. It did not even meet during the
past two years when regular air raids made such a
gathering hazardous.
The materials so far published on the Assembly
session break no new ground. They concentrate on
the military situation in South Vietnam, the success
of North Vietnam in coping with the bombings, and
the new political avenues which have been opened by
the Paris talks. The language used to describe di-
plomacy as simply "another front" in the struggle is
notably explicit and parallels the line often used
in secret Communist indoctrination materials.
The speeches tried to convey the impression of
order, stability, and economic progress in North
Vietnam, despite the impact of the war. There was
even talk of postwar reconstruction plans. Any sug-
gestion that the people can now relax, however, was
tempered by exhortations for continued strenuous
work and sacrifice in order to achieve "final vic-
tory."
* * *
Hanoi Propaganda: Hanoi continues its tire-
less recounting of US air attacks against civilian
targets in the sbuthern part of the country. Radio
Hanoi carried an English language broadcast on Mon-
day disparaging the US bombing restriction by claim-
ing that the raids are deliberately timed to catch
farmers returning home from the fields for rest.
Schools, homes, churches, and dams head the list of
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targets said to have been destroyed south of the
20th parallel. The attacks in Nghe An Province
since the first of April, said the radio broadcast,
had killed "hundreds" of civilians.
* * *
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* * *
More Chinese Reaction to Paris Talks
wall posters have begun to show up in the Chinese
capital condemning the US - North Vietnamese talks.
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II, NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
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Top Secret
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