THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF - 1968/01/19

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974232
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
The President's Daily Brief
To ecret 19 January 1968
23
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
NR
TOP CRET
4. Laos
5.
6.
Approved for Release 2018/07/26 005974232
TOS ECRET
Souvanna is keeping cool, but even
he is not yet aware of the extent of
government losses at Nam Bac. So far,
only about a third of the troops that
had been defending the town have drifted
back to government positions. The
losses in military equipment are prob-
ably considerable.
Demands for a scapegoat may be-
come hard to resist, but up to now the
anger in Vientiane is directed mainly
against the flagrant North Vietnamese
violations of Laotian neutrality. Late
Wednesday night the North Vietnamese
Embassy in Vientiane was the target of
some hand grenades.
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
NR
NR
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
NR
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
To ecret
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
ecret 3.5(c)
16
19 January 1968
� TOP CRET
TOP
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
19 January 1968
NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi Orchestration of the Trinh Statement:
North Vietnam seems to have mounted ,a full-blown
propaganda effort to press its proposal for a ces--7
sation of US bombing and is stressing its willing-
ness to enter early talks with the United States in
return. Hanoi radio, for instance, now has endorsed
the 16 January interview of its man in Paris., Mai
Van Bo, by rebroadcasting it on the 18th.
Bo gave another interview on 17 January in
which he apparently was even more forthcoming. He
continued to reject the concept of Hanoi making any.
reciprocal military gesture to get the bombing
stripped. In discussing President Johnson's San An-
tonio formula, however, Bo tried to emphasize Hanoi's
positive approach by saying that North Vietnam was
ready to talk about "everything" and therefore dis-
cussion of the San Antonio formula could be taken
up after a bombing halt. Regarding the role of the
National Liberation Front, Bo said that the current
effort is directed at opening conversations between
Washington and Hanoi and implied that the Front's'
position
position and- questions concerning the South could, be
taken up sometime after US - North Vietnamese issues
were "negotiated."
'This interview has not yet been endorsed as an
authoritative commentary on Hanoi's position, and
reports on Bo's remarks in it may not be entirely
accurate , As reported, however, it goes well be-
yond previous North Vietnamese statements and strongly
suggests that the Communists' intend to orchestrate a
large campaign to publicize their position and make
it appear attractive' and reasonable.
Other Communist countries are picking up the
theme and expanding their coverage of the Trinh
statement. Commentaries in the Soviet press on
18 January cast Trinh's statement in the most favor-
able light, and one concludes with a strong endorse-
ment of the "actions and steps by the North Vietnamese
CRET
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
.TOP S
TOP
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
government aimed at a peaceful settlement of the
Vietnam problem." This is the most forthright So-
viet statement so far in characterizing the new
Trinh statement.
Czechoslovakia published a Foreign Ministry
"declaration" on 17 January challenging the US to
take the North Vietnamese up on their offer. This
is the first official government statement of sup-
port for Trinh's statement by a Communist country.
The Czech statement also says that Prague supports'
not only the Trinh offer to talk. with the US, but
also the "standpoints of the North Vietnamese gov-
ernment and the Front on a settlement of the Viet-
namese problem," and that it would continue to fur-
nish Vietnam with both "political and material" sup-
port.
The North Vietnamese consul in Rangoon also
held a press conference on 18 January to publicize
the Trinh offer and to condemn what he called lack
of US response to the initiative: According to the
French News Agency version of his comments, the con-
sul went on to talk about the San Antonio formula.
He said that it would be necessary for the US to
guarantee the withdrawal of US troops from South
Vietnam before US - North Vietnamese talks could
be "productive." Regarding North Vietnamese activity
during a period of US restraint, the consul asked,
"Why should we use so-called restraint when we did
not declare war on the US, which is carrying on an
aggressive war against us?" The consul declared
that the "two conditions" of the San Antonio formula
"show that the US has no good intentions for peace."
He went on to reiterate that the bombing must end un-
conditionally if the US truly wants talks.
* * *
New York Times Promised Interview with Bo:
Henry anner, Paris ureau c ie o e ew York
Times, informed the US Embassy on Thursday that
Mai VanBo had agreed to give him an interview "in
the next few days." Bo asked Tanner to submit ques-
tions in advance and Tanner intends to do so today.
-2-
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
 Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
Unwelcome Cuban Present:
after the aeparture of the
French, venereal disease was all but eliminated in
North Vietnam,
TOP RET
-3-
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
TOP RET
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
Lately, however,
venereal disease has been reintroduced into
the country "by the Cubans." Authorities are moving
quickly, he says, to treat the new cases.
Hanoi Seeks Free World Trade: North Vietnamese
officials continue to pursue free world trade con-
tacts.\
ese also attended and attempted to assure
that North Vietnam's foreign trade commitments would
be met in spite of the difficulties caused by the bomb-
ings./
Hanoi has also �recently been pushing to open
up a trade office in Singapore.
* * *
TOP CRET
-4-
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
.3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
. TOP RET
Approved for Release 2018/07/26 005974232
NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
. Hanoi Reports Opposition to Bombing: Hanoi is
continuing to report statements by individuals or
groups in the US favoring an unconditional cessa-'.
tion of the bombing in response to Foreign Minister
Trinh's offer to talk with the US. In a 16 January
broadcast beamed to US servicemen in South Vietnam,
Hanoi reported that an organization of American busi-
ness executives on 11 January urged the Johnson ad-
ministration to consider the new formulation "very
seriously" claiming that it "offers an opportunity
for a first step on our part to show that we are
honest and sincere in seeking a negotiated settle
ment." The broadcast reported that Harold Williams
and Henry Merideth were cochairmen of the group which
also included such prominent Americans as former
Marine Corps Commandant Shoup, and Rear Admiral Arnold
E. True.
The broadcast also reported a call for an end
to the bombing by an organization called "American
Opposition Abroad" based in Paris.
TOP8tCRET
-5-
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232
cret
Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 005974232