THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 25 MARCH 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974345
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 25, 1968

- Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005900290001-1
The President's Daily Brief
Top Secret 25 March 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
25 MARCH 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Panama
Still more evidence that Hanoi is
embarked on a major new infiltration
effort into South Vietnam has appeared
in communications intelligence over
the weekend. The first units in the
new wave--ones that apparently set out
from North Vietnam in late January--
already seem to be turning up in an
enemy base area in South Vietnam's Quang
Tri Province.
Arnulfo Arias proclaimed a general
strike late last night after General
Vallarino announced his refusal to rec-
ognize Robles' impeachment until the
Supreme Court has ruled on the Assembly's
action.
Events took an ugly turn shortly
after midnight when the National Guard
stormed into Arias' party headquarters
with tear gas and made a number of ar-
rests. This could set the stage for
wider violence today.
Vallarino's forces are heavily de-
ployed at key points in the capital
and will probably be able to contain
serious violence there. They will be
hard pressed, however, if trouble spreads
to other cities.
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3. Eastern Europe
4. Poland
Brezhnev and Kosygin worked hard
in Dresden over the weekend to head off
further deIerioration in bloc solidar-
ity. It was hard going at times, and
the results are sure to be less than
they had hoped for.
Difficulty in reaching a consensus,
especially on economic matters, is evi-
dent in several portions of the communi-
qu?here it says simply that "views
were exchanged" on certain questions
The communiqu?oes say that the
participants agreed to take "immediate"
measures to "consolidate the Warsaw
Pact and its armed forces," and that
agreement was reached to hold a top-
level economic conference in the near
future.
What these plans may come to in a
practical way remains to be seen. The
Rumanians have already set the prece-
dent that attendance is no longer man-
datory at these meetings.
The Catholic hierarchy has jumped
into the fray with a statement condemn-
ing the government's "brutal use of
force" against student demonstrators.
The statement, signed by Cardinal
Wyszynski and all the other Polish
archbishops, was read during Sunday
services throughout the country.
This will further stimulate public
support for the student cause, but it
came too late to help the Warsaw stu-
dents who had already been forced into
abandoning their sit-ins.
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5. Arab States -
Israel_
6. South Yemen
7. Malaysia-
Philippines
Aden has been in turmoil most of
the past week as army leaders stepped
up their drive to eliminate extremists
from the ruling National Liberation
Front. The government apparently re-
fuses to back up the army effort
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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25 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
25 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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* *
Conditions in Hanoi:
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morale still
appeared to
be high
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among
the inhabitants of Hanoi.
the people 50X1
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LIZ' I
going about their work cheerfully and their atti-
tude toward controls as "disciplined." The Doumer
bridge was still down, With no work in progress, but
20 kilometers south, a new pontoon bridge permitted
a limited amount of alternating traffic to flow in
both directions.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Communist Commentary on General Westmoreland's
Transfer: Hanoi, with considerably more .speed than
usual, has already commented on the transfer of Gen-
eral Westmoreland. A Nhan Dan editorial on 24 March
claimed--predictably--that TET change in command was
another indication of the over-all failure of US
policy in Vietnam Westmoreland's removal, said
Nhan Dan, had nothing to do with his ability to com-
ETEU.--The main thrust of the editorial was an at-
tempt to discredit over-all US policy in Vietnam and
the US President in particular.
Hanoi, Notes Student Harassment of Secretary
Freeman; Hanoi propaganda has picked up Western
press reports of the student harassment of Secretary
Freeman in Wisconsin last week. In a broadcast in
English on 24 March, it described the students as
"angrily protesting" and frequently interrupting the
speaker. The same broadcast also cited several other
expressions of antiwar feeling in the US: a letter
protesting the war in the New York Times written by a
"former director of the economic aid program in Viet-
nam, Gardner"; a New.York Times interview with "four
businessmen connected with the Home Trade for Peace
in Vietnam Organization"; and a speech by "well-known
American writer (James) Michener in Caracas"--all de-
nouncing the US role in Vietnam.
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