THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 21 AUGUST 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976315
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: August 21, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
21 August 1968
23
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
21 AUGUST 1968
1. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
(As of 5:30 AM
EDT)
Soviet and other Eastern European
forces have now occupied Prague and
other major population centers. This
well-coordinated operation used exten-
sive airlift as well as overland move-
ment.
Some gunfire has been reported
from Prague where citizens apparently
?
shot at Soviet troops. There are no
indications that Czechoslovak military
units are resisting/
The National Assembly has demanded
that "allied" forces be withdrawn, but
the Soviets insist the intervention was
at the request of the Czechoslovak Gov-
ernment. The whereabouts of Dubcek and
other key party members are unknown,
but they presumably are holed up in
the central committee building, which
is surrounded by Soviet troops.
So far there has been little re-
action from other capitals except
those of the Soviet allies who pre-
dictably echoed the Russian line.
In light of last night's develop-
ments, it is a good guess that this mod-
erate faction in the Politburo was over-
ruled in the last 24 hours or so, and
that the intervention was then ordered.
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. France
3. Soviet Union
4, Communist China
There is a mood of uneasiness and
uncertainty in France as fall ap-
proaches, and with it the prospects of
renewed violence.
The government has announced plans
that would seem to go a long way toward
meeting the student demands of last
spring, but the Latin Quarter is astir
again with pressure for more and faster
educational reform. Already there is
agitation to seize the universities
when classes resume.
Agriculture is another problem
area. Rising production costs could
spark violent farmer demonstrations
like those of 1967. On the labor front,
things look brighter and serious worker
discontent does not seem to be brewing
now.
The regime is walking carefully
where some of its more prominent intel-
lectual dissenters are concerned.
Physicist Andrey Sakharov, whose essay
proposing Soviet-US cooperation was
published last month in the New York
Times, was recently ordered to recant.
Sakharov refused to do so--and got away
with it. Other prestigious mavericks
also have been handled with care.
The Soviet leaders probably hope
they can avoid creating martyrs--as
they did with the trial of two intel-
lectuals earlier this year. Lesser
known members of the intelligensia are
still quietly going to jail.
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5, South Vietnam
6, Bolivia
General Vasquez, the recently
fired army chief of staff, openly broke
with Barrientos last night. In a radio
address he announced his intention to
"raise the standard of rebellion."
Vasquez may get some support from al-
ready rebellious students, but he is
not likely to find much in the army,
which has gone on full alert. The US
Embassy suspects the army may use this
as an opportunity to take over the gov-
ernment.
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???
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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
Top Secret
16
21 August 1968
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t.))(1
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
21 August 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Propaganda On Tay Ninh: Communist propaganda has
so far played the recent Viet Cong attacks in the Tay
Ninh area in low key. Hanoi's international service
in English on 19 August described the fighting only
.as a "series" of Communist attacks. An even more
authoritative commentary in the Hanoi party daily
the next day said that the Tay Ninh attacks had con-
tributed to the current "general offensive"--an ex-
pression the Communists use to characterize the fight-
ing since Tet. There is still no effort, ?at least in
radio propaganda, to term the action a kickoff for a
new offensive or to characterize it as the much-
heralded "third phase" of the general offensive. Lib-
eration Radio has not yet commented significantly on
the fighting.
* * *
Hien to the Boat Races: King Savang, Premier
Souvanna, and most of the diplomatic corps in Vien-
tiane will be attending the annual boat races in
Luang Prabang which begin on Friday. North Vietnam-
ese Ambassador Hien, the dean of the corps, plans to
attend too. Since his return to Laos, Hien has paid
court to the King while studiously ignoring Souvanna
and his government, and this will be the first time
the ambassador and the premier have appeared at the
same function. The US Embassy comments that it will
be interesting to watch Savang, Souvanna, and Hien
maneuvering at close quarters.
* * *
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
More on US Elections: North Vietnam's army news-
paper has again scored the election campaign as "bally-
hoo" being generated by US political parties to fool
the voters. In a propagandistic analysis of the US
political scene, it found little substance in the Re-
publican platform and charged that the party had not
yet faced the "most important Vietnam problems',"
which, it went on to say, could be easily resolved by
,US withdrawal.
Despite the intense private interest shown by
North Vietnamese officials in the US presidential cam-
paign, this propaganda commentary again offers only
standard Marxist contempt for the US electoral proc-
ess, while giving no clue to Hanoi's true attitudes
toward different candidates.
-2-
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Top Secret
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