THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 26 JULY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976271
• 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 26, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
--TOT-Serret--26 July 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
26 JULY 1968
1. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
2. Communist China
Prague has made a few conciliatory
gestures, notably the removal of the gen-
eral who headed the central committee's
military-security department. This was
the official who aroused Soviet ire by
calling for revisions in the Warsaw Pact
organization. At the same time the Czechs
have reaffirmed their determination to
carry out their reform program.
Soviet troops have begun moving
southward in East Germany. This deploy-
ment may be part of a previously sched-
uled exercise, but it is doubtless also
intended to add to the pressure on Czecho-
slovakia. Soviet propaganda has become
a bit more intense in its criticism of
the Czech leadership.
/Peking has given
the army a mandate to restore order
throughout China. We know that the mili-
tary has in fact been intervening force-
fully against unruly Red Guards in South
China. Moreover, propaganda out of Pe-
king has just recently begun to empha-
size the army's role and to attack Red
Guard "anarchism." In the past these
themes appeared when the government
turned to the army to get things back
under some sort of control.
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3. Soviet Union
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4. Egypt -
Soviet Union
5. Soviet Union -
Middle East
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The pilgrimage of Arab military men
to Moscow continues. A Syrian military
delegation arrived there on Tuesday, and
an Iraqi delegation is scheduled to fol-
low before the end of this month. These
visits come in the wake of the Soviets'
recent exchanges with the Egyptians and
Defense Minister Grechko's trip last week
to Algiers.
All this will probably produce a new
batch of arms agreements. The Soviets
are not likely to agree to deliver equip-
ment more sophisticated than the types
that are on order now. We would expect
the agreements to reflect Moscow's active
participation in the enlarged training
programs most Arab countries have under-
taken.
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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
Top Secret
16
26 July 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
26 July 1968
I, NOTES ON THE SITUATION
7
Hanoi and the Liberation Front: In a long radio
broadcast on 24 July praising the. National:Libera-
tion Front, Hanoi again failed to assert that a poli-
tical settlement must be "in accordance" with the
Front's.program. This point, once .a fundamental fea-
ture of the North's position, was dropped formally
in a 17 July Foreign Ministry memorandum. Its omis-
sion in this account is further evidence that this
was a deliberate change in the Communist position,
despite efforts by some North Vietnamese spokesmen
to obscure the issue,
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More on the Honolulu Conference: With an air
of bored resignation, a-Liberation Radio commentary
on 24 June described the Honolulu communiqu?s a
tired rehash of previous pronouncements. Continu-
ing the .theme of earlier Communist comment, it called
the.talks a desperate but futile US .effort to re-
furbish the image of "country-seller" Thieu and to
boost the sagging morale of the "disintegrating pup-
pet forces." The commentary contained the standard
denunciation of reciprocity as an "absurd" demand,
and warned that nothing can halt the "stormy advance"
Of the Vietnamese people.
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North Vietnamese Light Industry Claims: North
Vietnam's Ministry of Light Industry reports that as
of the end of June, the ministry had achieved 57 per-
cent of its planned gross output for all of 1968,
and factories run by the ministry had increased their
output by 4.4 percent compared with the same period
last year. The same artiele reported gross output
in light industry is scheduled to increase by 26 per-
cent in 1968 over 1967.
II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
.ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Comment on New Anti-Vietnam Book: In an item
transmitted to its Hanoi office, the Liberation Press
Agency described the recent book by a US Marine of-
ficer as a courageous
expose of US policy in Vietnam, which strips away
official US "concealment" and "distortion" of its
aggressive designs.
The article said that the book, titled The Be-
trayal, is making the "old-line authorities nervous
and Worried," and reported that the US Navy, after
investigating the 'book for possible security leaks,
has ordered the officer to stand trial by court mar-
tial.
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