THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 7 SEPTEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976345
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: September 7, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
7 September 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
7 SEPTEMBER 1968
1. Soviet Union -
Czechoslovakia
2, United Nations
There is new evidence of Soviet
impatience with the pace of Prague's
return to orthodoxy. Yesterday Pravda
said that despite "serious successes"
in the Czech economy, changes in "po-
litical and public life" are "only in
the initial stages," and that a "cor-
rect understanding" of the "normaliza-
tion" is still lacking. To achieve
this "normalization," Prague was ad-
vised to drive out the "right-wing
antisocialist forces" completely.
To monitor on the spot the changes
which Moscow is calling for, the Soviets
have sent Vasily Kuznetsov, a deputy
foreign minister and central committee
member, to Prague as a special envoy.
Radio Prague's description of Kuznetsov's
initial meeting with President Svoboda
suggests that the Russian was not satis-
fied with Czech efforts so far.
Pressures to keep the Czech issue
alive at the UN are now centering on
the General Assembly. A number of mem-
bers, including Canada, Britain, Brazil,
Chile, and Yugoslavia are concerned
that the UN not appear paralyzed on the
matter.
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3. Communist China
4. Pakistan
5. Sudan
Local authorities all over China
are now trying hard to finish off the
Red Guards as a "revolutionary" force.
In many areas, the people in authority
are military men who had been under
heavy attack by the Red Guards during
the Cultural Revolution. These former
targets, now free to strike back for
the first time, are doing so with every-
thing they can muster.
First-hand reports from Dairen
and Canton say that former Red Guards
are being paraded, forced to carry
signs labeling them "counterrevolution-
ary," and sometimes beaten and whipped
in public. Reports from both cities
suggest that at times a lynching-party
atmosphere exists, with "the masses"
egged on to carry out executions on
their own.
The patchwork coalition government
in Khartoum is more unstable than ever;
the army may well be tempted before
long to step in.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
16
7 September 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
7 September 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
.Conditions in Hanoi?Area:
there was a rice shortage caused by cold
weather this spring. Although some rice reserves were
being released, most Vietnamese were forced to eat
bread as a substitute. The cold spell apparently had
not affected the supply of meat and vegetables, as
there were ample supplies of these items in Hanoi mar-.
kets.
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on US Election and Antiwar Sentiment:
?Hanoi media are keeping up a drumfire of propaganda
concerning the US elections and antiwar sentiment in
the United States. The essence of the message is
that the recent nominating conventions of the two
major parties proved nothing and that any American
president will eventually have to bow to those forces
opposing the war and find a way out. Chief negoti-
ator Xuan Thuy made an unusually explicit argument
along these lines at the formal session of the Paris
talks this week.
The latest propaganda piece taking this line is
a commentary in the party daily Nhan Dan on 6 September
which was broadcast over the international service in
English. Most of the editorial flayed the Democratic
Party and its platform plank on Vietnam, probably be-
cause the Chicago meetings generated such extensive
publicity for the antiwar protesters. The message of
the editorial, however, was that the "scramble for the
presidential chair" was unimportant--it was confined
to US "monopoly circles." The only important part of
the election process was the opportunity provided "pro-
gressive forces" opposing the war in Vietnam to press
their position on the candidates.
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Nhan Dan restated Hanoi's position on ending the
war by quoting Premier Pham Van Dong's national day
speech. This speech is being widely quoted as Hanoi's
latest authoritative statement, and Nhan Dan repeated
the Premier's peace terms in full--an immediate cessa-
tion.of the bombing, withdrawal of US troops, and recog-
nition of and negotiation with the-Liberation.Front on
problems of South Vietnam.
_3_
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Top Secret
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