THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 SEPTEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976367
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: September 20, 1968

-Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006400170001-8
The President's Daily Brief
-71-9-17Dre4-20 September 1968
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THE 'PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
20,SEPTEMBER'1968
. Israel -
Arab? States
2. Mexico
3. Nigeria
It has been a week and a half
since the clashes along the Suez Canal,
and Israel has failed to,retaliate.
The.Israelis have spent the time brood-
ing about the significance of the inci-
dents, and our embassy reports a grow-
ing conviction in official Tel Aviv
circles that the gap.between Israeli
and Egyptian military capabilities has
suddenly narrowed. .In this mood the
Israelis could be tempted to make a pre-
emptive strike in order to restore their
faith in Israel's preponderance.
Yesterday's terrorist ambush near
the Jordan River, in which six Israeli
soldiers including a lieutenant colonel
were killed, will further whet the Is-
raeli appetite for revenge.
The Mexican press has generally
supported the army's occupation of the
National University, but the academic
community, is outraged. Further clashes
between government forces and the mili-
tants seem almost inevitable.
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4. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
5. Soviet Union
6, Guatemala
The next? visit of the Czech lead-
-ers.to Moscow--now apparently scheduled
for next week--promises ?to be almost as
difficult as their last one. -Pravda
intimated yesterday that the Soviets in-
tend to permit no compromises.
Deputy Premier Sik and Foreign Min-
ister Hajek, the two liberals most
heavily criticized by Moscow, have now
left the cabinet, but the Czechs have
balanced their departure by easing out
three pro-Soviet officials as well. Re-
ports continue to accumulate that Dubcek's
own job is still on the line.
The circumlunar spacecraft returns
to earth tomorrow. At Annex we examine
some of the problems of its recovery.
7. Soviet Union Berlin and West Germany have re-
Germany ceived much critical attention in
Pravda and Izvestia recently. This is
part of a Soviet campaign against the
?West German activities normally sched-
uled for West Berlin in the fall. It
may also be an attempt to divert atten-
tion from Czechoslovakia.
Dobrynin has assured Secretary Rusk
that the Soviets plan no moves against
West Berlin in the wake of the invasion
of Czechoslovakia. The East Germans
have made no such commitment, however.
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. Communist China -
India
We have seen no sign that either
side is preparing for major operations,
This is the
season for border clashes, however.
The Chinese have recently, strengthened
their garrison in the border area.
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ANNEX
The Return of the Soviet Circumlunar Spacecraft
Zond 5, the Soviet unmanned circumlunar probe,
continues on its return course with all systems appar-
ently functioning well. The spacecraft is expected to
re-enter the earth's atmosphere around noon tomorrow.
The re-entry phase is one of the most critical of
the mission, with little room for error. If the angle
of re-entry is too sharp, the spacecraft could burn up;
if too wide, it could skip off the atmosphere, veer
back into space and become irretrievable.
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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
20 September 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
20 September 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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Condition of Rice Crop:
the recent typhoons, the latest of
which hit the Hanoi area on 9 September, have caused
serious flooding of the rice crop.
the pumps have not been able to clear
the fields rapidly enough to prevent damage to the
crop. .This latest typhoon also may have come too late
?to permit replanting. In addition, the rice crop is
threatened by worms and a lack of fertilizer,
the latest typhoon caused
widespread damage in the Hanoi area;? some sections
of the capital were without electricity for more than
five days.
* * *
End of Cuban Visit: A Cuban delegation headed
by,a Central Committee member left for home on Monday
after a visit to North Vietnam, Hanoi Radio's inter-'
national service in English announced on 18 September
that during the Cubans' two-week stay they toured the
Hanoi-Haiphong area and were received by Ho Chi Minh
and Pham Van Dong. The delegation pledged to strength-
en the "militant solidarity and fraternal cooperation"
between the two countries.
*
Liberation Front Office in Paris: A Western wire
service yesterday reported that the arrival in Paris
today of a senior Liberation Front official has been
postponed. The change in plans was announced in Paris
by ,a North Vietnamese spokesman who declined to offer
any explanation other than "technical reasons."
The delay probably is explained by the statement
of Etienne Manac'h of the French Foreign Office to an
American Embassy officer on Tuesday, that he was able
to persuade Debr?o postpone for several days the
granting of visas to Liberation Front officials now
waiting in Moscow. It was clear, however, thatManac2h
expected them to arrive in Paris before the end of
the month.
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? II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
:ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Concern Over Nixon: Manac'h also told another
embassy officer that he sees concern on the part of
the North Vietnamese over the possibility of a Nixon
electoral victory. He pointed to the recent Hanoi
broadcast castigatin Mr. Nixon
as evidence that Hanoi con-
siders him an uncompromising hawk on Vietnam. Manac'h
added that the North Vietnamese had been critical of
both US presidential candidates, but the recent attack
on Nixon had seemed to him of sufficient interest to
ask the French delegation in Hanoi for a report on the
subject.
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Top Secret
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