THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 JULY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976261
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: July 20, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
--ro:r-Srorre-t- 20 July 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
20 JULY 1968
1. Soviet Union -
Czechoslovakia
Dubcek impressively consolidated
his internal position yesterday when?
the Central Committee unanimously en-
dorsed the presidium's unyielding re-
sponse to the Warsaw letter. In his
speech to the committee, Dubcek said
the party is resolved not to depart from
the path it charted in January. He as-
serted that if the party reversed its
*course, socialism in Czechoslovakia and
the "international Communist movement"
would be discredited.
The next decision facing the Czechs
is a response to yesterday's proposal
from Moscow that there be a meeting of
ranking officials on Russian soil early
next week. Dubcek is not likely to
send the full presidium, as Moscow sug-
gested. ,He may counter the Soviets'
alternative suggestion of a "broad re-
presentation" by proposing that Soviet
leaders come to Czechoslovakia, possibly
today or tomorrow.
The Soviet press continues its at-
tacks on DubOek's policies. Izvestia
yesterday added its voice to warnings
of the consequences to all Warsaw Pact
countries of the Czech regime's failure
to suppress anti-socialist elements.
Soviet troop withdrawal apparently
is speeding up. Marshal Yakubovsky,
the Warsaw Pact commander, left last
night.
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2. Guatemala Guatemala City may be in for a new
Middle East
round of terrorismt
Several bombs were in fact set off
on 18 July at several Guatemalan build-
ings, including the national palace and
police headquarters. It is not clear,
however, whether these were the work of
the terrorists or of rightist elements.
In any case, the terrorists--who
have operated independently of the Com-
munist party since January--are hoping
that attacks will bring further govern-
ment repression of the party. They be-
lieve this could bring the more conserva-
tive party around to cooperating with
them in antigovernment actions.
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4.
Cambodia
Sihanouk, up to his old tricks, is
demanding one bulldozer as the ransom
for each of the US servicemen captured
with their landing craft Wednesday. He
says that in any event he will keep the
craft as a bonus.
5.
Soviet Union
We reported earlier on preliminary
weparations for an unmanned circumlunar
mission. Space support ships are now
nearing their stations, and we think the
launch will occur in about five days.
6.
Vietnam
The three American fliers, who
failed to arrive in Vientiane yesterday
on the Control Commission plane, appar-
ently are to held a while longer by
Hanoi.I
/They, are said to be expected
to arrive in Vientiane on the 26 July
flight of the commission's plane.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
16
20 July 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
20 July 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
The Emerging Line on the Liberation Front: Hanoi
has offered an additional incentive for US concessions
in Paris by spelling out its position on a political
settlement in terms designed to meet earlier US objec-
tions. In doing so, the Communists have furthered the
impression that they are steadily preparing for a pe-
riod of serious negotiations on the war.
The North Vietnamese Foreign Ministry memorandum
issued on 17 July seems to put a formal stamp on a
position toward which Hanoi has been moving for sev-
eral months. The change involves dropping the earlier
insistence that the internal affairs of South Vietnam
must be settled "in accordance with the program" of
the National Liberation Front. This is point three of
Hanoi's Four Points and has been blurred on many oc-
casions recently, although the North Vietnamese dele-
gation used the full formulation at the Paris talks
just this week.
The new memorandum, however, merely states that
point three "affirms the South Vietnamese people's
right to self-determination in their internal affairs,"
and drops the reference to the Front- This had been
done before, but Hanoi underscores the significance by
noting elsewhere that the Four Points remain the "basis"
for a "correct political solution" and they conform
to the "spirit" of the Front's political program.
For several months the Communists have been mut-
ing their former insistence that the Front is the "sole
genuine representative of the South Vietnamese people."
At the same time they have been developing the concept
embodied in the new peace alliance of a "third force"
which would serve as a bridge between Communist and
non-Communist elements in South Vietnam. The memoran-
dum suggests that Hanoi is now playing down the cen-
tral role of the Front in a political settlement.
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The Front Asks for More Hello In a statement
commemorating the signing of the Geneva accords on
20.July 1954, the Liberation Front called upon friends
and sympathizers around the world to give even stronger
support to its struggle for "national salvation."
The statement, which was dated. 14 July and broad-
cast over Hanoi Radio's'international service in Eng-
lish on 19 July, summarized at.length the history of
US "criminal aggression" in Vietnam since the signing
of the Geneva agreements. It concluded by thanking
foreign governments, organizations and the "progres-
sive people of the United States" for' their encourage-
ment and appealed to them for even greater support in
the future.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing significant to report today.
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