THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 8 JUNE 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976191
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: June 8, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006200010001-7
The President's Daily Brief
8 June 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
8 JUNE 1968
1. Soviet Union
2. Czechoslovakia?
The Czechs have appointed a spe-
cial military spokesman to handle pub-
licity for the upcoming Warsaw Pact
exercise in Czechoslovakia. We see
this highly unusual move as part of a
plan to allay fears that the Soviets
will use the exercise to cover military
intervention.
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. Soviet ?Union - Soviet press and television have
Egypt seized upon the assassination of Sena-
tor Kennedy to launch a vicious tirade
at US domestic and foreign policies
and the entire American system. Con-
spicuously missing is any message of
sympathy to the Kennedy family or the
people of the US.
. Soviet Union
5. France .
This propaganda is suggesting both
official US negligence and even conniv-
ance in the shooting.. Pravda, for in-
stance, says that a leader of the bour-
geois who departs even slightly from
the imperialist line is subject to
elimination. So far, the Soviet media
have been completely silent about the
national.origin of the accused killer.
Some:Arab newspapers are dishing
up similar but more direct charges of
official US complicity in the murder.'.
One Cairo paper talks about "certain
including the CIA," which were
involved. A Beirut paper says, "US in-
telligence was probably behind the assas-
sination."
We doubt that De Gaulle's radio-TV
broadcast yesterday convinced many un-
committed voters to support the regime
in the parliamentary elections later
this month. The General's rather vague
idea of a partnership for management
and labor will probably be rejected as
paternalistic and dangerous for the
unions. His continuing attacks on the
Communists are also not very effective
electoral ammunition.
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6. South Vietnam
7. Japan
8. Bolivia
Saigon Radio announced today that
National Police director Loan has been
replaced by Ranger commander Colonel
Tran Van Hai. There are also rumors
that Saigon's mayor Cua has been re-
placed.
There have been several reports
that Thieu was planning to remove both
men, who are recovering from wounds re-
ceived during the recent fighting in
Saigon.
Although Thieu's action might pro-
voke Ky into some impetuous move, in-
cluding his resignation as vice presi-
dent, Thieu evidently anticipates that
there will be no major trouble.
Sato's cabinet secretary, react-
ing to popular concern over the jet
crash in Fukuoka last weekend, an-
nounced on Wednesday that the govern-
ment will request cessation of US night
training flights-.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister
Sato voiced his displeasure, saying
there is a need to restudy- the problem
of US air bases near congested areas.
He also charged the US with failure to
keep its word On minimizing night train-
ing flights.
Leftist students have mounted dem-
onstrations every day this week against
US diplomatic posts and military facili-
ties throughout Japan. Thus far, the
police have been able to keep these dem-
onstrations under control.
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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
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16
8 June 1968
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006200010001-7 -
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
8 June 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
- Cyrus Eaton to See Le Duc Tho: The aging Cleve-
land industrialist and espouser of left-wing causes
has plans to meet the North Vietnamese delegation in
Paris this weekend. Eaton has been in Moscow where
?he passed on news of his Paris. trip to Ambassador
Thompson. According to Eaton, Kosygin is making ar-
rangements for the meeting with the Vietnamese.
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Kosygin, Eaton said, questioned him on US in-
tentions about peace. The Soviet premier said the
Russians had heard many rumors that President John-
son did not want a settlement before elections.
Eaton claims he assured Kosygin that the US is sin-
cerely seeking an agreement.
Eaton did not say just what it was he intended
to say to the North Vietnamese in Paris.
* * *
Bloc Arms: East European arms delivered to
North Vietnam are showing up in South Vietnam. Ru-
manian and Bulgarian antitank bazookas, Bulgarian
recoilless rifles, and Polish assault rifles are
being captured by US forces. The bazookas and as-
sault rifles captured were manufactured as recently
as 1967.
* * *
Rail Lines North Improved: Recent photography
shows the North Vietnamese have been busy improving
the rail lines to China. The new construction con-
sists of additional sidings and by-passes around tun-
nels and rail yards--all designed to make the lines
less vulnerable to bombing and to speed the flow of
traffic.
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?
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on Senator Kennedy: Hanoi news media are
giving extensive coverage to the death of Senator
Kennedy. News of the assassination was carried by
both domestic and international broadcasts on 6 June
and the following day; lengthy commentaries appeared
in Nhan Dan, the party daily. The initial broadcasts
pointed "Eilit that the Senator wasone of the strong-
est critics of US policy on Vietnam and called him a
"formidable opponent of the Johnson-Humphrey party."
According to one broadcast in English, the Nhan
Dan commentary portrayed the Senator's death as the
TaTest example of the use of violence in the American
election process and implied that those who opposed
him in the elections were responsible for his death.
Another broadcast in French, also sourced to
Nhan Dan, included extensive quotes from the Sena-
TOTM speeches on Vietnam.
-3-
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Top Secret
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