THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 18 NOVEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976467
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: November 18, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006500310001-1
The President's Daily Brief
--....TOT-Srrret-48 November 1968
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THEJ3RESIDENT S
DAILY BRIEF
18 NOVEMBER.1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Soviet Union
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The eruption of Communist attacks
in and around Da Nang ?city this week-
end and in other military and civilian
areas of I Corps had been widely anti-
cipated
Da Nang in par-
ticular.was targeted in
reports which also
pointed toward the resumption of signi-
ficant enemy offensive.activity.in the .
III Corps - Saigon area. A 15 November
report cited plans for a
"general offensive and uprising" against
Da Nang and other major urban centers
between-now and the end of November.
Major attacks against other cities have
yet to occur
Zond-6, the Russians' unmanned
circumlunar probe, re-entered the
earth's atmosphere early yesterday,
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3. Czechoslovakia
4.. France
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The Czechoslovak Communist Party
met the expected bid for power by par-
ty conservatives with the creation of
an eight-man executive committee. Both
liberals and conservatives are repre-
sented on it, but the essentially mod-
erate cast of the committee should pre-
vent extremists of either faction from
seizing control. Liberals Dubcek, Svo-
boda, Cernik, and Smrkovsky all retained
their seats after the stormy central
committee session, but what looks like
a Soviet stooge has been installed in
four top party posts in the person of
Lubomir Strougal, a close friend of
former party boss Novotny.
During the session Dubcek and
other leaders made a quick flight to
see Brezhnev in Warsaw and give him a
status report on the proceedings. The
plenum ended without resolving basic
differences over the party's future
course, but the Soviets now seem better
placed for the next stage of the con-
tinuing struggle.
Prague's students have defied the
government's warnings against protest
activity, but they have so far confined
their action to nonprovocative sit-ins
in university buildings. Their call for
a nationwide sit-in "just like the one
in France" could lead to trouble, how-
ever.
The franc is going downhill fast,
and is now considered to be in serious
trouble. The big speculators are cash-
ing in their francs, and some of their
other currencies, for the popular
Deutsche mark, just as in 1967-68 they
tried to buy up all the gold insight.
The failure of the Western central
bankers to announce agreed measures to
shore up the franc or stem the tide
?against it may force the French to im-
pose some very tough domestic controls.
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. Poland
6. Iran..
Saudi Arabia
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The party congress has endorsed a
new factional balance under Gomulka's
continued leadership. It gives signifi-
-cant but not decisive power to a young
generation of hard-liners. Personnel
-shifts announced at the end of the six-
day conclave on 16 November have infused
new(and forceful blood into the leader-
ship, but more of Gomulka's tired old
guard remain in circulation than the
hard-line factionl3robably-had hoped.
Three of the four newcomers to the
leadership are youthful provincial-par-
ty leaders associated with Gomulka's
main .factional_rivals-. :None is.a lib-
eral. There--will be no change for the
present in-Warsaw's domestic and.for-
eign:policies, but the newcomers May
:try-to implement these policies more
forcefully.
The Shah of Iran and King Faysal
seem to have gotten along very well
during the Shah's visit to Jidda, and
they agreed on the need for cooperation
in the Persian Gulf area to head off
subversion by the Soviets and Arab radi-
cals. Cordiality and understanding at
the top could override much of the long-
standing political, cultural, and ?reli-
gious differences that separate the two
countries.(
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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
18 November 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
18 November 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
US Reconnaissance Flights: The North Vietnamese
Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 16 November
which seems to Confirm that Hanoi _dos not 'intend
now to make continued US reconnaissance flights an
obstacle to the Paris talks. .Supporting remarks
made the day, before by a North Vietnamese spokesman
in Paris, the foreign ministry statement denounced
US reconnaissance flights but threatened no diplomatic
retaliation. It dismissed US charges of North Viet-
namese violations in the DMZ as a US trick aimed at
convincing.the.world that Hanoi had agreed to condi-
tions in.order to obtain a bombing halt--but it went
on to charge that the US, not North Vietnam, haclire-
cently launched attacks in .the DMZ. The statement
again repeated the Communist demand that the US move
onto the next stage of the Paris talks, with or with-
out Saigon.
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Effects of Mining of North Vietnamese Rivers: -
River:traffic in southern,NorthVietnam_continues.to
be impeded somewhat by'US "destructor" mines-sown be-
fore the bombing halt. The North Vietnamese are im-
proving :their techniques for sweeping these mines,
the latest wrinkle being -a pair of sampans rigged to
the bow Of an amphibious truck. .The-sampanS probably
mount some kind of electromagnetic gear to detect
and perhaps explode the sunken mines. -Recent inter-
cepts have referred to a "relatively safe" mine-clear-
ing apparatus used in conjunction-with amphibious
,vehicles.
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-II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
:ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Secretary Clifford and President Thieu: Eager
to exploit any sign of friction between the US and its
South Vietnamese allies, the Communists in a Liberation
Radio broadcast beamed to South Vietnam on 15 November
described Secretary Clifford's recent remarks as a
"slap in the face" to President Thieu.
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The broadcast said Clifford's comments criti-
cizing Thieu's attitude toward the expanded Paris
talks clearly showed Thieu's position as a "puppet"
who is president "in name only." It likened Thieu
to a disobedient servant being scolded by his
"master." The broadcast ended with the standard
prediction that the future would bring the downfall
of the Thieu government and the rise of a "people's
peace cabinet."
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Top Secret
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