THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 11 JULY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976245
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: July 11, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
11 July 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
11 JULY 1968
1. Soviet Union -
Egypt The Soviets may be moving toward a
more active role in the search for a
solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute.
In late June Kosygin gave Jarringevery
indication that Moscow wants to find a
solution, and does not want the issue
returned to the United Nations. The So-
viets, and Jarring himself, are said to
be interested in having the US and the
Soviet Union "get in on the act" with-
out interfering with the Jarring mission
itself. Jarring expects to have more
talks with Kosygin in Sweden over the
next three days.
2. Nigeria
The Soviets also
would like Jarring to
draw up concrete proposals to put to
either side.
We see in Moscow's efforts not only
a wish to encourage Jarring to be more
active, but perhaps a willingness to
press the Arabs to be more flexible. No
such flexibility, however, was evident
in the communique issued after Nasir's
recent visit to Moscow.
Federal troops now hold about two
thirds of Biafra and are slowly pushing
ahead against strong resistance. Gowon,
who has never fully committed himself to
a military solution, is now said to see
no alternative.
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3. Pakistan
4. Panama
Ayub no longer seems on top of things.
Ambassador Oehlert recently found him dis-
interested and lethargic and apparently
hemmed in by his ministers and staff.
In his talk with the ambassador, Ayub
reneged on his earlier suggestion that "a
smaller, less visible" installation might
replace the Peshawar facility. Ayub said
the Russians had predicted this very thing
and had advised him that they would con-
sider it "a very hostile act." Ayub of
course is being careful not to upset Mos-
cow at a time when a new military aid pro-
gram is shaping up. However, anti-US
elements in his Foreign Ministry prob-
ably helped matters along by leaking his
idea for a smaller installation to the
Russians.
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The freewheeling finance minister is
at it again. Last month he engineered a
decree allowing Panamanian ships to trade
with Communist countries. President Robles
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5. Presidential Trip
6. Brazil.-
East Germany
Overwhelmingly warm and friendly
comments continue to characterize the
press treatment of President Johnson's
visit to Central America. In San Sal-
vador, for example, the President came
across exceptionally well and was judged
"muy simpatico;" the crowd turnout was
above everyone's expectations.
The uniformly favorable press cov-
erage in Nicaragua stressed the Presi-
dent's unifying role in strengthening
the Central :Americans' commitment to the
Common Market and to economic and social
progress. Somoza told Ambassador Crockett
that his private conversation with Presi-
dent Johnson on the plane had left him
more enthused and dedicated than ever to
these principles.
In Honduras, Ambassador Jova notes
that officials from President Lopez on
down were euphoric over the visit, and
comments that the accomplishments of the
short trip exceeded his expectations.
Even one initially critical antigovern-
ment newspaper joined in the heavily
favorable press coverage,
East Germany has offered about 100
diesel-electric locomotives to the Bra-
zilian federal railway in exchange for
coffee. This offer is likely to be ac-
cepted unless Brazilian trade officials
now in. the US can arrange suitable financ-
ing for US equipment, While the federal
government has never bought East German
locomotives, the state of Sao Paulo pur-
chased 83 last year.
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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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17
11 July 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
11 July 1968
NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Copenhagen Visit a Bust: Danish officials say
that the visit to Copenhagen earlier this week by
Hanoi's ambassador to East Germany was a dull and
unenlightening affair. The diplomat was on the usual
propaganda junket, hoping to extract a joint commu-
nique favorable to Communist positions. His conver-
sations with the Danes were especially sterile and
consisted of rehashing of the standard North Vietnam-
ese line. It took some five hours to thrash out an
acceptable communique; the final version dropped the
propaganda which the North Vietnamese had proposed
and substituted a bland statement that the Hanoi of-
ficial had present his government's views on the war.
* * *
?Chinese Receive North Vietnamese Aid Delegation:
The North Vietnamese economic delegation headed by
Vice Premier Le Thanh Nghi arrived in Peking on 9 July
to arrange this year's Sino - North Vietnamese aid
agreement. In contrast with 1966 and 1967, the dele-
gation arrived in Peking last instead of first on an
itinerary which included East Europe, the Soviet Union
and North Korea. Despite this, the North Vietnamese
were given a friendly reception at the airport by Chi-
nese Vice Premier Li Hsien-nien and "more than one
thousand revolutionary people" armed with cymbals,
gongs and portraits of Mao and Ho Chi-minh.
Although other North Vietnamese officials have
recently stopped off in Peking, Nghi is the first
ranking North Vietnamese visitor to be publicly ac-
knowledged by the Chinese since Hanoi's acceptance
of peace talks. A Peking dispatch covering the dele-
gation's arrival consisted largely of banal salutes
to Sino - North Vietnamese "fraternal friendship"
and avoided the indirect criticism of the Paris talks
contained in previous Chinese statements on Vietnam.
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Hanoi oniChe:Sanh: Vietnamese Communist propa-
ganda continues to whoop it up Over the US deactiva-
tion of the base at Khe Sanh. On 9 July, Hanoi Radio's
international.service in English claimed that Commu-
nist forces have "taken complete control" of the cen-
tral portion of the base and alleged that the Libera-
tion Front's flag is now flying there while a "search
for the remnants of the enemy" continues-. Yesterday,
the radio broadcast a summary of a-Nhan.Dan article
describing the US "defeat" in such extravagant terms
that even the most ardent listener must have been
skeptical. There ls nothing new in any of this, but
the Communists are apparently going to use Khe Sanh
in a continuous propaganda campaign, making it a
symbol of Communist success and US failure.
,New Diplomatic Ties: Hanoi-Radio announced on
10 July that Iraq and North Vietnam have agreed to
establish diplomatic relations.
anoi already has diplomatic
ties, with ree 0 er Arab states--Egypt, Syria,
and Yemen. It seems likely that the North Vietnamese
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ambassador who resides in Cairo and serves all three
of these countries will be accredited to Baghdad as
well.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Americans in Paris: A delegation of Americans
described as "draft resisters and deserters" called
-3-
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on the North Vietnamese delegation in Paris on 6 July
and delivered a statement expressing the "American
people's opposition to the US war in Vietnamaccord-
ing to Hanoi Radio. The broadcast said the statement'
bore the signatures of 550 American members of peace
movements in France.
The statement supported Hanoi's demand for a
complete bombing halt andexpressed the group's dedi-
cation to the victory Of the Vietnamese peciple, "which
will be the victory of the American people as well."
Writing in the delegation's guestbook, two American
visitors praised the courage and heroism of_the Viet-
namese people, the broadcast said.
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Top Secret.
Secret
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