THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974335
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: April 27, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: March 19, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
Top Secret 19 March 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
19 MARCH 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Poland
3. France
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For the first time in the current
crisis, uniformed soldiers armed with
automatic weapons are being seen in the
streets of Warsaw. Armed police are
also coming in from other cities.
Rumors abound that Gomulka is short-
ly to deliver a major speech, perhaps
today.
The
security reinforcements in the capital
may be to help control the crowds that
would be rounded up for a Gomulka speech.
Unrest continues in other Polish
cities.
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4. USSR-Space
5. Israel
6. Egypt
7. Nepal
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The Israelis are grim in the wake
of yesterday's terrorist incident near
the southern port of Eilat. At last
word, two adults were dead and 27 child-
ren wounded after a school bus hit a
mine. This surely raises the chances of
a bigger than usual Israeli retaliation
against Jordan.
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8. Iran
9. Panama
10. Chile
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The Shah is putting the squeeze on
the Western oil consortium, and this
time he is deadly serious. He insists
that it must increase production over
the next five years at a rate far great-
er than the consortium can entertain.
He has given it until 20 April to come
up with a solution. If it does not, he
may well seize consortium territory, in-
cluding producing oil wells, so Iran can
produce more on its own. He says he
must have the income for Iran's develop-
ment program.
President Frei does not have the
muscle to fight hard for his vital anti-
inflation program. His able new finance
minister resigned in protest last week-
end over the President's failure to back
him up in the face of heavy political
fire. The result could well be a new
surge of inflation and more budgetary
problems. This would only benefit the
Communist-Socialist coalition in the
coming congressional elections, now only
a year away.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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19 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
19 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Initial Hanoi Commentary on New Hampshire Pri-
mary: Hanoi's first reference to the 12 March pri-
mary election in New Hampshire--a commentary in the
Hanoi daily Nhan Dan which the Hanoi domestic serv-
ice broadcast on77�March--noted that President
Johnson led Senator McCarthy in the voting by a mar-
gin of less than five percent. It claimed this was
a "heavy blow" to the President's political prestige
and influence, and that McCarthy's "victory" reflected
the "disappointment of the American people with John-
son's conduct of the Vietnam war." The commentary
quoted Senator Robert Kennedy to the effect that the
vote reflected "a very strong antiwar feeling" in
the US. It noted that both Kennedy and Governor
Rockefeller were considering entering the presiden-
tial race. The broadcast concluded that "the heavy
losses suffered by the US aggressive troops in Viet-
nam will certainly be advantageous cards in the hands
of any Johnson opponent."
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