THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 12 JUNE 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976197
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: June 12, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
1-0-1S-magt,_12 _June 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
12 JUNE 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. France
3. Soviet Union
The persistent Communist shelling
of Saigon is beginning to provoke de-
mands by local politicians for retalia-
tion against Hanoi. In its session
yesterday, the Assembly's upper house
approved a petition calling on the'gov-
ernment to take all steps to prevent
further attacks, including a warning
to North Vietnam. The debate brought
demands for "a bomb on Hanoi for every
bomb on Saigon" and for immediate U$
termination of the Paris talks.
Brezhnev has been out of action
now for three weeks. We doubt he has
been hospitalized,
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4. Soviet Union
5. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
6. East and West
Germany
The Czechs and Russians are going
around and around again. This time it
is over an article in a Czech news-
paper (actually a reprint from the New
York Times) alleging that Soviet ofri=
cials were involved in the defection
of General Sejna.. .Moscow says the
piece was printed with the "one aim"
of worsening Soviet-Czech relations;
by implication it demands restoration
of Czech press censorship, which was
formally lifted last week.
The Ulbricht regime has adopted
new regulations which say that West
Germans will need visas to enter East
Germany. West Berliners, however,
will apparently need to procure only
an "annex" to their identity cards--a
move intended to emphasize that West
Berlin is not a part of the Federal Re-
public.
The new regulations are evidently
intended more to enhance "legal" East
German control over inter-German travel
than to restrict such travel. If the
East Germans succeed in implementing
these regulations, their claims to sov-
ereignty will be advanced, Bonn's claim
to represent all Germans will be shat-
tered, and the allied position in Ber-
lin will be weakened in proportion to
the amount of authority assumed by the
East Germans.
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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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12 June 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
12 June 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
.Le Duc Tho Speaks Out: Le Duc Tho, special ad-
viser to the North Vietnamese delegation in Paris,
Utilized several of the standard Hanoi formulations
in giving his views of the Paris talks to Charles
Collingwood. In the interview he charged that the
blame for the lack of progress in the discussions
clearly rests on the US. He said that the North
Vietnamese had come to Paris to "determine" with
the US the Unconditional cessation of the bombing.
Tho stressed that until the "US gives up its view-,
point of reciprocity" and effects such a cessation,
it will not be possible to proceed to the discussion
of other problems.
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Liberation Front on Outside Aid: According .to
a gist of a statement by the Liberation Front pre-
sidium, broadcast over the Hanoi domestic radio on
11 June, the Front rejected the "US slanderous alle-
gations on the South Vietnam problem at the Paris
talks." The new Liberation Front statement also re-
vived'an old propaganda theme which has been dormant
for years--the issue of foreign volunteers. The
statement claimed that although the South Vietnamese
people are relying mainly on their own strength,
they "have the right to receive assistance in all as-
pects from their kith and kin northern compatriots."
It also asserted that the "South Vietnamese people
tO'date have reserved and in the future will reserve
for themselves theright to appeal for and receive
assistance in all aspects from their friends in the
world, including assistance in weapons and volunteers."
This kind of language is similar to that used
by the Hanoi leadership in recent weeks on the subject
-2-
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of North Vietnamese Army presence in South Viet-
nam. It goes to great lengths to justify such a
presence, without admitting that the North Viet-
namese are actually there.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing significant to report today.
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