THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 16 JUNE 1969

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976829
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: June 16, 1969

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The President's Daily Brief
16 June 1969
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
I. MAJOR PROBLEMS
EUROPE
Pompidou now has seven years in which to establish hip
brand, of "Gaullism without De Gaulle." We expect him to try
to fashion a ministerial team which includes centrists, left,-
wing Gaullists, and Independent Republicans as well as ortho-
dox Gaullists. In the process some familiar faces--Couve and
Debra among them--seem almost certain to disappear from the
lineup. National Assembly President Jacques Chaban-Delmas is
currently the frontrunner for the premiership.
It is too early to predict with any precision what Pom-
pidou's foreign policies will be. He was hewing ever closer
to established Gaullist lines as the campaign closed, but with
a strong parliamentary majority behind him he is free to put
his own stamp on the traditional policies. We suspect he will
not depart too quickly, or too markedly from the paths traced
by his predecessor.
VIETNAM
Chou En-lai's statement on Saturday recognizing the Pro-
visional Revolutionary Government contains the most open and
direct Chinese treatment to date of the issues surrounding a
settlement in Vietnam. Chou urged the Vietnamese Communists
to fight for "complete victory," warning that the US would
never agree to "unconditional" military withdrawal Or the es-
blishment of a "revolutionary" coalition government in the
South. This willingness to refer publicly to US withdrawal
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and to the possibility of a coalition government is a new
development. It appears to be further evidence of Peking's
grudging acceptance of the talks at Paris and of the possi-
bility of eventual progress there.
SOVIET AFFAIRS
The Soviet space program suffered another setback
Saturday when its largest operational booster--the SL-12--
was unsuccessful in an attempt to achieve orbit around the
earth, probably because of a fourth stage failure. Although
the precise nature of the intended mission is uncertain, the
timing of the launch suggests a lunar probe
This marks the third time this year that the Soviets
have been unable to conduct a lunar mission. SL-12 failures
also prevented two probes to Mars in the spring.
Moscow has decreed measures to hold down grain losses at
harvest time, and we believe this means it is worried about
crop prospects. The weather has been bad so far this year in
more than one important region. Adequate precipitation this
summer and good weather during the harvest would still enable
the Soviets to produce at least an average grain crop, but
since the long-run goal is to increase production despite the
weather, an average crop would be disappointing to the
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leadership. This fact could once again make agricultural
policy a prime political issue, something it has not been
during the last three years of successful harvests.
There is nothing significant to report on the Middle
East.
II. OTHER IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS
ARGENTINA
The armed forces are getting more and more unhappy With
President Ongania. Their dissatisfaction over his handling
of last month's student and labor unrest has not abated, and
they are finding much to criticize in his newly reorganized
cabinet. Key officers are denigrating the .competence of the
cabinet as a whole, and they are also making much of the new
interior minister's alleged Peronist tendencies and the'So7'
alai welfare minister's advocacy Of ?a corporate state. Adcling
to the officers' displeasure is the fact that Ongania did not
consult them before he made the changes.
There are no indications yet that the military wants On-
gania out of office, but it is keeping much closer tabs on the
government these days. The government's next test may come
tomorrow, when a general strike has been called in Cordoba,
the city which saw the worst violence last month.
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