THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 13 JUNE 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976199
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: June 13, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
Tg4L13 June 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
13 JUNE 1968
1. South Vietnam
2. France
Ky has pulled in his horns another
notch. On 12 June he resigned from the
directorship of the People's Self-De-
fense Force. He has gone into seclu-
sion outside of Saigon and reportedly
plans to stay away from the capital at
least until the end of the week. There-
after he says he will confine himself
to the relatively innocuous duties as-
signed the vice president by the consti-
tution.
Ky apparently made public his de-
cision to leave this post without con-
sulting Thieu. He_is telling his
friends he is convinced Thieu will now
by-pass him on all important decisions.
His letter of resignation showed no
pique, however, and he assured Ambassa-
dor Bunker that he had no intention ,of
mounting a coup.
The government's ban on demonstra-
tions was respected in Paris last night,
but there were clashes between police
and student militants in several pro-
vincial cities.
In a further effort to break the
back of the militant movement, the po-
lice are making large-scale arrests,
and some foreign students are being ex-
pelled. One French official speculated
yesterday that at some stage the secu-
rity forces might try to clean out the
Sorbonne. He thought such a move could
produce a good many fatalities.
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3. Berlin
4. Cambodia
5. Pakistan -
Soviet Union
Kiesinger told the three Western
ambassadors yesterday that "not just
protests but countermeasures are
needed" in response to the latest East
German controls on Berlin access. He
said his government had not yet con-
sidered what steps Bonn and the allies
might take, but he said German position
papers would be made available.
The new East German restrictions
went into operation last night.
Sihanouk is still having little
success against internal dissidents.
A rebellion in the northeast, essen-
tially tribal in origin but probably
the recipient of some Communist sup-
port, seems to be spreading. The
troops Sihanouk sent against it last
month have been bogged down by rugged
terrain and cholera.
In the south, Communist bands have
recently made some harassing attacks on
government forces. The bands are still
small, but they seem to constitute the
beginning of a full-fledged insurgent
movement.
A delegation headed by the comman-
der-in-chief of the Pakistani Army is
leaving for Moscow on Saturday. We as-
sume the delegation will be trying to
get a firm Soviet commitment to supply
arms in general and high-performance
tactical aircraft in particular. We
believe Kosygin avoided making such a
commitment during his visit in May.
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6. Communist China
7. Czechoslovakia
The Czechs have published the re-
port of their investigation of the
Sejna defection case. The report comes
down hard on General Sejna's "criminal
activities"--embezzlement, for instance--
with Novotny. It also condemns "gross
shortcomings" in the defense ministry
which permitted him to continue his ac-
tivities and eventually to escape.
The report says the investigation
turned up no proof that Sejna had been
an agent of another government or that
his defection had been organized with
any outside assistance.
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8. Jordan
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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
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13 June 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
13 June 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
More on the Liberation Front and Outside Aid:
a Liberation Front
statement reviving theabout the possible
call for volunteers from outside South Vietnam. An
analysis of the Front's propaganda over the past few
years shows the subject was first raised in March
1965 and it became a regular drum beat that summer
with the expanded US troop commitment.
At that time the Front said it reserved the
right to call for volunteers and materiel from North
Vietnam and from other "friendly countries" whenever
it chose. Many Communist countries immediately re-
plied that they were ready to send volunteers when
the call came.
Hanoi's propaganda response to this appeal has
always been more cautious, however. It has talked
in terms of the South Vietnamese who were regrouped
to the North in 1954. These men, said Hanoi, were
ready to answer the call when and if it came.
That call has never been publicly issued by the
Front, and even the propaganda threat died down in
about a year. The Front has seldom referred to it
in the past two years, and only the most eager and
revolutionary Communists--the Chinese, the Cubans,
and the North Koreans--have kept the issue alive.
By raising this old ghost now, the Front is
playing to Hanoi's lead, the theme that Vietnam is
one country which all Vietnamese have a duty to de-
fend.
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* * *
Another Meeting on Vietnam: The "Stockholm Con-
ference on Vietnam" plans to hold a liaison committee
meeting in Rome next Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Unrest in Paris Delays Celebration of Ho's Birth-
day: The Vietnamese residents of Paris will celebrate
Ho Chi Minh's birthday on 15 June. This affair was
originally scheduled for 25 May but had to be post-
poned because of the student unrest and the general
transportation strike. Ho's birthday, however, was
on 19 May.
* * *
* * *
Front Moves In On Paris: Two advance men for
the Liberation Front arrived in Paris over the week-
end.
* * *
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( II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report.
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Top Secret
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