THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974121
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: April 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: November 15, 1967

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The President's Daily Brief
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DAILY BRIEF
15 NOVEMBER 1967
. Syria
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2. Dominican Republic The political calm of the past six
months is threatened by feuding between
senior military officers.
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LOP� ISET
Whichever way Balaguer moves, he
is going to displease one military fac-
tion or the other.
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3. Communist China
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4. United Nations
5. Soviet Union
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Brawling between rival Red Guards
is increasing again despite government
efforts to quash disorder.
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Brazil has now taken a cut at a
draft resolution on the Middle East.
The text, which may be tabled soon,
calls for Israeli withdrawal from all
occupied territory, but provides for
demilitarized zones.
The Brazilians think they have'a
good chance to get their resolution
adopted. It would not be acceptable to
Israel, however, because it goes too
far on withdrawal and does not provide
for direct negotiations between the Is-
raelis and Arabs.
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I
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6. Soviet Union
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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15 November 1967
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
15 November 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi Power Plant: Repair work to the Hanoi
Power Plant since it was last struck on 26 October
has apparently progressed at a slightly faster rate
than expected. Between one-third and one-half of
the plant's normal capacity had apparently been re-
stored in the first two weeks after the most recent
bombings, smoke
coming from two of the plant's seven stacks and
probably also from two others. One of the seven
stacks was destroyed by bombings and never repaired.
At the time of the October strike the plant was
operating at about one-half to two-thirds of its
normal capacity. During recent months, Hanoi's es-
sential power needs seem to have been adequately
met by the power plant's undamaged capacity and by
diesel power units scattered throughout the city.
Complete restoration will probably require another
six months.
* * *
Situation in Hanoi: We have another report
on the situation in
Hanoi in late October,
medical facilities still in operation in Hanoi had
reduced staffs, He said that much of the medical
equipment had been removed to temporary hospital
installations set up in hillside caves outside of
Hanoi.
small one- and two-man work-
shops which had been set up in temporary shelters
and shallow caves throughout Hanoi. The workshops,
which could be easily dismantled and moved, were
producing spare parts for antiaircraft weapons, gen-
erators, and printing presses,
numerous gasoline-powered electric
generators had been placed under trees and were fre-
quently moved from one location to another.
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Residents of Hanoi were prohibited from gather-
ing in public places during the daytime
Although the authorities attempted to
boost morale by limiting working hours and holding
evening political indoctrination sessions,
described the spirit of
maining in Hanoi as "subdued,"
the population
Coal briquettes for heating and
no longer available in Hanoi,
Powdered coal was substituted for the briquettes
and was also in short supply.
re-
cooking were
North Vietnam's For-
eign Ministry had provided all embassies in Hanoi
with small rowboats for use in evacuation if the
US bombed the Red River dikes and the city was
flooded. Each embassy was told that alternate ac-
commodations had been prepared in the mountains to
the northeast of Hanoi.
* * *
Life in Hanoi: A Soviet correspondent for
Pravda reported on 14 November that life goes on
in a "well-organized" and "normal" manner in the
North Vietnamese capital. He stated that Hanoi has
absorbed and dealt with practically all the conse-
quences of bombing and that needs for electricity
and water are "in the main satisfied."
* * *
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Assessment of Effects of Bombing: 3.3(h)(2)
official tells us that his
superiors are convinced that US bombing is having
a marked effect on the morale of the North Vietnam-
ese people and government. They believe the bomb-
ings around Hanoi are creating serious strains on
the regime and on its willingness to continue the
war, officials couple this conclusion with 3.3(h)(2)
their continuing hope that a US bombing pause will
lead to negotiations toward a peaceful settlement
of the war.
These views come directly from the con- 3.3(h)(2)
sul general in Hanoi, who reported recently that the
air attacks were creating a "nightmare" situation
for inhabitants of the capital. We strongly believe
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that he is exaggerating the psychological effects
of the bombing, and that his opinions are colored
by concern for his own safety. Reliable Western
observers continue to report that the North Viet-
namese are holding up well in the face of the
bombings. These observers frequently are struck
with the population's stoical acceptance of air
attacks and by the thoroughness, efficiency, and
imagination which characterize North Vietnamese
civil defense efforts. There have been a number
of recent reports of temporary panic or hysteria
because of the bombings, but we have no convincing
evidence on which to alter our basic conclusion
that popular and official morale remain good.
* * *
.More on the Role of Women: Last month, Hanoi
put on a particularly intensive propaganda campaign
to "liberate the full revolutionary capacity" of
North Vietnamese women. The importance of woman-
power in industry was stressed.
as a further
encouragement, Hanoi has promised that women would
be given the leading administrative positions in
any production unit with more than 70 percent female
membership.
3.3(h)(2)
The Hanoi press claimed that Hanoi's engineer-
ing plant, set up with Soviet assistance just out-
side the city limits, has 30 percent female employees
and that many executive positions are held by women.
women do, in fact, make up a sig-
nificant proportion of factory work forces in Hanoi,
as well as of the militia and the armed forces.
* * *
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Quakers Will Not Deliver Medicine to North Viet-
nam: The yacht Phoenix sailed for Da Nang from Hong
INEg yesterday after plans to deliver medical sup-
plies to North Vietnam were changed. The American
Quaker crew said it had been informed by the North
Vietnamese that it would not now be convenient for
the ship to come to Haiphong because of intensified
US raids. The crewmen announced that they had de-
cided instead to go to South Vietnam and deliver the
medicines to the militant Buddhists and the South
Vietnamese Red Cross. Saigon authorities have agreed
to grant visas to the crew provided the medicines
are turned over only to South Vietnam's Red Cross.
* * *
Week of "Solidarity" with Vietnamese People:
The International Union of Students (IUS), a Commu-
nist Front based in Prague, has declared the week
of 10-17 November as the "week of world solidarity
with Vietnam." On 12 November
IUS announced that the
week would be observed in numerous countries with
demonstrations before American embassies and a stu-
dent strike on 17 November. Hanoi can be expected
to play up the demonstrations in its propaganda,
as it has similar events in the past.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Blasts Latest US "Phony Peace Talk":
Hanoi has condemned President Johnson's Veterans Day
weekend appeal as "phony peace talk designed to mask
a widening of the criminal aggression against the
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-Vietnamese people." An article in the party daily,
Nhan Dan, of 14 November rejected the President's
call for peace talks aboard a "neutral ship in a
neutral sea" and.other recent statements by US lead-
ers about settling the war. -Nhan Dan claimed that
the President "shed crocodile tears" over the deaths
of American servicemen in the South, but that the
real aim of his speaking tour was to justify an "ac-
centuation.and extension of the Vietnam war.". The
article claimed that "the cream of the administration"
has been mobilized for more than a month to justify
"the criminal acts committed in Vietnam." Referring
specifically to the President's call for peace talks,
:�Nhan Dan said that "a neutral ship is not necessary
since the US can get enough ships to take everyone of
its soldiers away from Vietnam." .Nhan Dan concluded
by reiterating Hanoi's long-standing contention that
a settlement of the war must be based on its four
points and the political program of the Liberation
.Front.
* * *
Hanoi on US Antiwar Protests: On 14 November,
Hanoi International Service broadcast in English on
recent opposition to President Johnson's Vietnam
policy. The broadcast states that the President
faced "angry crowds of antiwar demonstrators" in
front of the Bruton Parish Church on 12 November.
According to Hanoi, opposition to the President's
policy within the Democratic Party is also growing.
The broadcast states that some Democrats are plan-
ning a national campaign aimed at defeating the
President in next year's primaries, but makes no
mention of Senator Eugene McCarthy. In addition,
-Hanoi notes an 11 November antiwar protest meeting
in New York's Union Square and an antiwar meeting
of labor leaders in Chicago.
* * *
Hanoi's Appeal to US Soldiers: Hanoi has is-
sued an appeal to US servicemen in South Vietnam
to heed the Liberation Front's offer, of lenient
treatment for those US Soldiers who "cross over to
the people's side." An English langilage broadcast
on 14 November claimed that the Front would help
such soldiers return to their families "when con-
ditions permit!, and pointed to the recent release
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of three US servicemen in Cambodia as an example
of such treatment. The broadcast also discounted
allegations that the Front employed terrorist tac-
tics or brainwashing against captured US soldiers
and claimed that soldiers previously released by
the Front had in fact received brainwashing only
after they had been returned to US control.
* * *
Puerto Rican Servicemen Now Singled Out by
Hanoi: In another of its broadcasts to US service-
EWE�in South Vietnam, Hanoi on 13 November appealed
to soldiers of Puerto Rican extraction to recognize
the fact that their homeland is a dependent terri-
tory of the US and that they, like "other colored
Americans," are suffering racial brutality and being
used to fight other colored people far from home.
The broadcast went on to recount the story of a
young Puerto Rican in New York who defied the draft
regulations and concluded by asking, "How can you
justify fighting for those who deny your country's
independence and against the people who do no harm
to your own people."
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