THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 10 JULY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976243
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: July 10, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
-rop?Sec-ge-t___ 10 July 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
10 JULY 1968
1. Trance
2. Soviet Union
Pompidou's replacement by Couve de
Murville seems to indicate that De Gaulle
plans to exercise even tighter control
over the government's policies than he
?has in the past. Pompidou's relations
with the president have been strained
since the May crisis, and we think one
reason is that he displayed too much in-
dependence then? He is also said to dis-
agree with some of the more radical re-
forms De Gaulle is planning, particularly
the scheme to let workers participate in
the management of their enterprises.
Couve, on the other hand, is des-
cribed by his opponents as the "best mes-
senger boy in the government." He is es-
sentially a gifted but very loyal and
somewhat cynical bureaucrat.
Although Pompidou obviously can no
longer be considered De Gaulle's heir-
apparent, we would not count him out.
/ For the time being we
expect him to take his seat in the Na-
tional Assembly and operate from there.
Satellite photography of late June
shows construction has started on four
new groups of silos for the large Soviet
ICBM, comparable to our Titan II. (There
had apparently been a slow-down in new
?starts for this weapon in 1967.) This
brings the number of launchers for this
ICBM to some 230.
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3. Soviet Union
4. Nationalist
China
We also learn from satellite photog-
raphy that the Soviets have begun produc-
ing a third type of attack submarine.
This latest class is being built in the
Soviet Far East; we can not tell yet what
sort of a propulsion system it will have.
The other two types, both of them nu-
clear-powered, are being produced in the
western Soviet Union,
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5. Soviet Union -
Czechoslovakia
The Soviets and their conservative
allies in Eastern Europe are keeping up
the ressure on Pra ue.
Pravda on Sunday added its voice to the
chorus demanding that Prague return to
orthodoxy. Brezhnev on Monday weighed
in with his third speech in a week on
Western "ideological subversion" in Com-
munist Europe.
All this verbiage is backed up by
Soviet forces along the border. Some
.troops and aircraft also remain in Czecho-
slovakia itself,. and the Czech defense
minister has now hinted publicly that he
is having trouble persuading them to go.
In the face of this pressure the
leaders in Prague continue to insist that
what goes on inside Czechoslovakia is the
business of the Czechs. They, doubtless
have been heartened by the rank-and-file
backing they received ?over the weekend,
when regional party organizations picked
a solid pro-Dubcek majority for the party
congress in September. They seem so sure
of themselves, in fact, that it would take
direct Soviet intervention--open or co-
vert--to stop them.
Although neither side wants to push
the dispute to the point of military con-
flict, they are skating on thin ice. Mos-
cow's unwillingness to remove its troops
is particularly disturbing.
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6, Poland
7. North Korea -
South Korea
Hard-line opponents of Gomulka
made some significant gains in the
central committee Meeting which ended
yesterday. Interior-Minister:Moczar,
their leader, was elected to the party
secretariat and to.a candidate member-
ship on the politburo. Gomulka, whose
authority was once nearly absolute,
could not prevent open clashes between
his supporters and MoCzar followers.
Further intense maneuvering can
be expected between now and the party
congress in November,
Infiltration from North Korea has
increased over the past two weeks or
so. We expect it to continue at the
present rate into the fall. Most of
the infiltrators encountered so far
seem to have been equipped for recon-
naissance and have avoided contact with
:US or South Koi-ean forces.
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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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17
10 July 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
10 July 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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* * *
'More on Thant's Talk with Xuan Thuy: U Thant
has told an_American official that nothing new in ,
Hanoi's position appeared during his talk with Xuan
Thuy On 6 July. He said he foresees long, hard ne-
gotiations, and that at present he sees no role for
the United Nations.
Describing the conversations, Thant said that
Thuy? reiterated only well-known North Vietnamese
positions. Thuy predicted that the talks would con-
tinue despite the lack of progress and said that
private talks at this stage would "not make any dif-
ference."
Thuy declared to Thant that the US has always
distorted the Geneva Agreement, but "the whole world
knows what it means." He praised Governor Harriman
as "a good man" who "has to be guided by instructions
from Washington."
* * *
American Fliers: A French radio broadcast re-
ported yesterday that three American pacifists will
leave Paris this morning for Hanoi to pick up the
three captured pilots North Vietnam is to release.
-3-
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The three?Anne Scheer, Vernon Grizzard and Stuart
Meacham--will hold a press conference at Orly Air-
port before their departure. There is as yet no-
thing official from Hanoi on procedures for the re-
lease.
'Propaganda Efforts: In a Paris press confer-
ence on 8 July, the North Vietnamese charged that
the US, while talking of its restraint, has continued
and intensified the war. The charge was accompanied
by a long recitation of statistics designed to show
the growing ferocity of US attacks on North Vietnam,
The North Vietnamese spokesman declared that the US,
despite its modern weapons, cannot overcome the
hatred and will of the Vietnamese people. He dodged
questions concerning the release of American pilots,
explaining that he did not know the details of the
planned release.
* * *
Pyongyang and Peking Host North Vietnamese Dele-
gation: Pyongyang took the occasion of the visit of
the North Vietnamese government economic delegation
to reiterate its support for Hanoi and to repeat its
offer of "volunteers" if requested. A Pyongyang broad-
cast on 8 July asserted that discussions had proceeded
well and that an agreement was reached that day for
North Korea to provide free economic and military aid
to North Vietnam. The delegation, headed by politburo
member Le Thanh Nghi, had earlier visited Moscow and
Eastern Europe. Yesterday it went on to Peking, where
it was reported to have been greeted by 500 cheering
Red Guards, and by an official Chinese delegation
headed by Vice Premier Li Hsien-nien. The Red Guards,
according to French Press Agency reports, were waving
slogans denouncing US imperialism and supporting the
"heroic fight of the Vietnamese people."
* * *
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report today.
a
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