THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF - 1968/01/16
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05974226
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The President's Daily Brief
ecret 16 January 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
16 JANUARY 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. South Vietnam
3.
TOF' CRET
The Confederation of Labor has
authorized more sympathy strikes for
today. There are some indications,
however, that the government may re-
lease the six labor leaders arrested
last week. This could pave the way for
settlement of the strikes.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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16 -January 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
16 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Concern for Rice Crop: A recent Nhan Dan edi-
torial called on rural localities to suspe=all
"talks" that are not urgent in order to complete
the sowing of the spring rice crop by early Febru-
ary. The current planting was said to be proceed-
ing too slowly and might lead to a shortage of
seedlings for transplanting or to shortfalls in
planted acreage.
* * *
that the North Vietnamese during the past two months
have been building a new underground headquarters
somewhere in the hills between Lang Son and the Red
River. It is not possible to pinpoint this facility
in the almost 100-mile area given, but there have
been earlier reports that a headquarters facility was
being built outside Lang Son. In addition, a pattern
of VIP flight activity last summer suggested that
high-level North Vietnamese officials--possibly Ho
Chi Minh himself--were living there.
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Relations with France: Paris-Hanoi relations
continue their gradual warming trend, according to
Embassy Paris. The North Vietnamese representative
in Paris, Mai Van Bo, edged one step closer to dip-
lomatic status on 10 January by attending his first
official diplomatic reception. The French Foreign
Office has explained that Bo asked to be invited to
the reception on the grounds that the French repre-
sentative in Hanoi enjoyed such privileges, and the
French acceded to the request in the interests of
reciprocity. The French want their man in Hanoi to
be given maximum access to North Vietnamese leaders
and have cooperated over the past year in a gradual
upgrading of diplomatic relations with Hanoi. This
trend will apparently continue in 1968.
* * *
Extra Work: The efficiency of Vietnamese em-
ployees of the diplomatic community in Hanoi is
apparently seriously affected because, in addition
to their normal duties, they are required to work
for agencies of the government for several hours
each ni
This
requirement for additional wor may mean a evacu-
ation has shrunk the manpower pool in the capital
so much that all available skilled persons are re-
quired to help the city and government function.
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Black Marketing: According to a Western trav-
eler to Hanoi, government cadres in the Nam Dinh
area have been buying pork ration cards from farmers,
then purchasing pork and reselling it on the black
market at prices ranging from two to four times the
original cost.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
* * *
Hanoi on US Antiwar Protests: Yesterday Hanoi
broadcast in English a wrap-up of Western press re-
ports concerning recent antiwar protests in the US.
The broadcast alleged that the demonstration in
front of the Justice Department last week was a "pro-
test against the Johnson administration's persecution
of five American intellectuals who firmly opposed the
US dirty war in Vietnam." A United Press report of
the demonstrations in front of the Fairmont Hotel in
San Francisco is also cited, with the comment that
"Rusk was inside pleading for the Johnson policy of
aggression in Vietnam." Another report, says Hanoi,
tells of 328 American economists who recently sent
an open letter to US Congressmen to protest against
the war, arguing that it "constitutes the principal
source of US economic difficulties."
TO ECRET
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