THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 9 JULY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976241
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: July 9, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
9 July 1968
32
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
9 JULY 1968
1. Soviet Union
There are signs that the Soviets
will try again to launch an unmanned
spacecraft on a circumlunar mission
later this month. Earlier attempts--
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2. Israel
3. Japan
failed during launch.
We presume that Golda Meir's res-
ignation yesterday as secretary general
of the Israel Labor Party was due mainly
to age and poor health. Whatever the
reason, her departure leaves an impor-
tant void, and the selection of her suc-
cessor will bring on a major intra-party
struggle.
Mrs. Meir has long been a symbol
of the party's old guard which has
backed Prime Minister Eshkol. With
her departure it may well become weaker.
Her resignation will have no direct
bearing on the course of Arab-Israeli
relations.
Sato's Liberal Democrats did better
than expected in Sunday's upper house
elections. The chief opposition party--
the Socialists--were set back for the
second time in a row. Sato will undoubt-
edly be encouraged to keep his present
course and maintain close ties with the
US.
4. France The French nuclear test on Sunday
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5, Communist China
6. Soviet Union-
Communist China
7. South Korea
The count of bodies recovered from
the waters around Hong Kong is now over
60. Most of these victims of the fac-
tional fighting inside China had died
violently before being dumped in the
river.
Sino-Soviet trade will probably
hit rock bottom this year. Newly re-
leased Soviet statistics show a decline
in 1967 to $106 million--only one third
the level of the year before, and about
five percent of the 1959 figure.
Contrary to usual practice, impor-
tant legislation has recently been get-
ting through the National Assembly with-
out major partisan delay.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
16
9 July 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
9 July 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Reply to Ashmore: Hanoi has turned down Harry
Ashmore's proposal for a Southeast Asian conference.
In the process it went out of its way to chide him
for failing to produce results in his previous me-
diating efforts. According to a message to Ashmore
? from the Indonesian ambassador in Hanoi, the editor
of Nan Dhan (Ashmore's contact during his visit to
Hanoi in March) did not reject the idea totally, but
he considered the present time "not opportune be-
cause bombings continue and no progress in Paris."
The editor then voiced "disappointment with follow-
up after your talks in Hanoi, especially Department
of State's public disavowal of unofficial contacts
in Hanoi and your failure to influence US Govern-
ment's subsequent attitude." The Indonesians gave
the text of this message to Ambassador Green in
Djakarta.
* * *
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* * *
New Road Around Demilitarized Zone: The North
Vietnamese have almost completed a new road into
the Laos Panhandle.
The new road is apparently to connect with a
route in Laos which is being extended northward.
When the two roads are joined, the Communists will
have a motor road which is shorter and more direct
than the two existing entry roads from North Viet-
nam.
Roads in Laos: The road construction near the
Demilitarized Zone is related to a more general COm-
munist effort to upgrade the road network in Laos.
as a result of this ef-
fort the ?network will for the first time be able to
handle truck traffic .all the way to the South.Viet-
namese border during the entire rainy season. In
fact, the system can now handle more materiel, even
in the rainy season, than is required by the, North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in.South Vietnam.
-2--
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All Indochinese are Brothers: In words which
recall Hanoi's recent line that all Vietnam is "one
country," the North Vietnamese press spokesman in
Paris yesterday voiced support for Laotian and Cam-
bodian resistance to "American aggressors." "The
Vietnamese people, the Laotian people, and the Khmer
(Cambodian) people," he said, "are three brother
peoples living on the soil of the Indochinese Pen-
insula. Their fates are closely tied to one another."
In expanding the "one country" idea to include
Cambodia, the spokesman came out strongly in support
of Prince Sihanouk. In doing so he had ?to ignore
the ?inconvenient fact that the internal dissidence
which has plagued Sihanouk for months has received
considerable Communist support.
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? Propaganda on Bombings: In a broadcast yester-
day charging that the US had "intensified" air and
naval attacks on North Vietnamese territory during
June, Hanoi's international service cited dozens of
bombing and artillery fire statistics to prove its
point. The broadcast accused the US of singling
out such civilian targets as schools, churches,
homes, and hospitals for attack.
In a French language item transmitted on Sunday
to the North Vietnamese news agency in Paris, Hanoi
complained that North Vietnam has been "continuously
overflown" by, US attack and reconnaissance planes
since the bombing limitation was announced, Citing
the "colossal interception network" which protects
.American airspace from invading aircraft, the broad-
cast found it "very regrettable" that the "rulers
of the White House do mit recognize the rights of
other countries" to defend their sovereignty. The
broadcast warned Communist antiaircraft'.crews not
to relax their vigilance, even in areas not being
attacked, since "we should not exclude" the possi-
bility that unlimited bombing might be resumed.
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLICITAL
ATTITUDE ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
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Top Secret
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