THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974279
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: April 27, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: February 15, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
Top Secret 15 February 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
15 FEBRUARY 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. Laos
3. Dominican
Republic
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Menacing Communist troop movements
continue in the central and eastern
sectors of Quang Tri Province. The ef-
fect on popular morale in the province
capital (Quang Tri city) has been severe.
The people expect new attacks momen-
tarily; the sudden departure of the
Filipino nationals employed by the US
provincial mission has not helped.
The relative lull, in the enemy's
offensive against urban areas continued
overnight. There were no significant
ground probes in the Khe Sanh area.
Government forces were driven from
two positions west of Saravane yester-
day, thus virtually closing the Commu-
nist ring around the city. It is un-
likely that the two government battal-
ions there can successfully resist a
concerted enemy thrust.
The loss of Saravane would secure
Communist control of infiltration routes
in the southern panhandle and would deal
a severe psychological blow to an al-
ready uneasy leadership in Vientiane.
All districts of Santo Domingo
were quiet last night.
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4. Cambodia
5. Bolivia
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CONTAINS
Another package of material docu-
menting North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
use of Cambodia was sent to Phnom Penh
yesterday. The Australian ambassador
in Cambodia believes that the first
batch of information was a real eye-
opener for Sihanouk. He said that
Sihanouk appreciates the restraint the
President has applied and the care he
has taken to avoid border violations.
Sihanouk put the same thought in his
own words last week when he told Look
editor Attwood that the President�WYg
a "hawk about Vietnam, but a dove about
Cambodia."
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6. West Germany -
France
7. Canada
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Kiesinger arrives in Paris today
at the head of a 50-man delegation,
but the Germans are doubtful that even
with that strength of number they will
get far with De Gaulle. Differences
over British entry into the Common Mar-
ket and Willy' Brandt's recent criticism
of De Gaulle's policies have chilled
the atmosphere. Public irritation with
De Gaulle in West Germany now requires
that Kiesinger avoid any sign of knuck-
ling under as he searches for positive
aspects of Franco-German relations to
play up.
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-To
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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15 February 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
15 February 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Background on Trinh's Latest Interview: The
French Press Agency main office in Paris says the
interview which its correspondent obtained on 8
February with Foreign Minister. Trinh came in re-
sponse to a two-week-old request. This was the
interview in which Trinh said talks with the US
would begin "as soon as" the US had proven that it
had stopped bombing and that the talks could cover
a wide variety of subjects, including the war in
the South. The French correspondent had submitted
his questions in writing well ahead of the inter-
view. Hanoi broadcast the interview even before
the copy had reached the Paris office. In comment-
ing on the interview, the correspondent said Trinh's
new language meant that the talks could concern
"the heart of the problem and the very solution of
the war." The Foreign Ministry in Hanoi specifi-
cally approved this language in the correspondent's
dispatch.
This explanation of the circumstances of the
interview leaves little doubt that this was another
attempt by Hanoi to keep the "will-talk" offer of
late December alive in the world press and to make
it seem as reasonable and forthcoming as possible.
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* * *
North Vietnamese Comment on Site for Talks
with US: North Vietnam is not bothering to think
about a possible site for preliminary talks with
the US, according to a North Vietnamese press
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official in Vientiane. In a discussion on 5 Febru-
ary about Communist successes in the recent Tet of-
fensive, the official was asked if Laos was a pos-
sible site for the preliminary talks which the North
Vietnamese had proposed. The location of such talks
is no problem, said the press official; they could
be held anywhere. The problem, he claimed, was the
willingness of the Americans to negotiate.
* * *
North Vietnamese Shipping Trends: A review of
data on foreign shipping to North Vietnam during
1967 shows a striking change in the country's trade
pattern as compared with 1966. Seaborne exports de-
clined 51 percent in 1967, and imports rose 46 per-
cent. This, of course, is attributable largely to
the bombings.
Hanoi's growing dependence on foreign assist-
ance was reflected last year in a 66 percent in-
crease in seaborne imports from the Soviet Union and
China. These two countries accounted for 79 percent
of total seaborne imports.
Communist flag ships made 308 visits in 1967,
about the same as in 1966. The number of Soviet
ships in this trade, however, increased by 48 per-
cent and Chinese and East European shipping de-
clined correspondingly.
Seventy-eight Free World ships came into North
Vietnamese ports in 1967, a slight rise from the
previous year. The participation by British flag
ships rose by 34 percent, however. Most of these
and other Free World ships in this trade were under
Chinese charter.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Propaganda: Yesterday's English language
international broadcast from Hanoi described a four-
day fast by "more than 400 students" at Harvard, Rad-
cliffe, and Boston University. It quoted a Harvard
chaplain's description of the movement as "an expres-
sion to end the Vietnam war."
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The same broadcast reported briefly a "recent"
resolution by the National Council of Americans for
Democratic Action "demanding that the Johnson ruling
circles stop immediately the bombing of North Viet-
nam and put an end to all military acts in South
Vietnam." The resolution, said Hanoi, pointed out
that "one cannot tolerate further bloodshed" to
keep the "military junta" in power in Saigon.
On another subject, the broadcast-quoted a re-
cent New York Times article giving the names of
five soldiers who are allegedly seeking asylum in
France "to protest the US dirty war in Vietnam."
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