THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 29 AUGUST 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976329
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: August 29, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006300360001-8
The President's Daily Brief
?ro-r-S-t-scet,_29 August 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
29 AUGUST 1968
1. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
2, South Vietnam
The Czechoslovak populace so far
has heeded the leadership's appeals
for order, although the people are
making no effort to hide the fact that
the pill is a bitter one. We still
anticipate some hostile encounters be-
tween Czechoslovak youth and Soviet
soldiers. Moscow moved more ground
troops into the country the first part
of this week.
Czech Premier Cernik has confirmed
that the foreign troops are to be with-
drawn in stages, but that the pace of
withdrawal is to be the subject of nego-
tiations between Prague and the inter-
ventionist states. We have no further
word on yesterday's Yugoslav press re-
port that the Czechs will meet the So-
viets and the Eastern European leaders
in Dresden in 10 or 15 days.
Although the Czech leaders seem
to have quieted the first emotional re-
actions to the Moscow agreement, they
still have to get the formal endorse-
ment of the party and legislature.
Their first task is to deal with the
new central committee, elected by a se-
cret party congress early in the occu-
pation and promptly branded illegal by
the Soviets. This issue also illus-
trates the fundamental dilemma they
face--how to satisfy Moscow without be-
ing repudiated as quislings by their
vigilant compatriots.
A forward element of COSVN may
have moved from the Cambodian border
to within about 20 miles of Saigon.
This element made a similar move at the
time of the Tet offensive. There are
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of moves which would be preliminary to
a major attack on Saigon.
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3. Bulgaria-Rumania
4. Mexico
5, Guatemala
The government, which had been
bending over backward to avoid a con-
frontation with the students, got
tough yesterday. Word came down from
Diaz Ordaz that student disorders must
be stopped, and several demonstrators
were injured in clashes with the se-
curity forces.
If the students run true to type,
these measures will merely whet their
appetite for combat. The government ex-
pects more trouble/
The embassy reported earlier yes-
terday that Mexican labor leaders fear
they may not be able to keep the work-
ers from joining the students if the
unrest continues much longer.
Ambassador Mein's assassins appar-
ently were members of the pro-Castro
terrorist organization in Guatemala
which has been trying to zero in on him
and other US officials for some time.
This time they may have been trying to
kidnap rather than to kill him. The
government has declared a state of
siege, but no significant leads have
turned up so far.
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6. Jordan-Israel
7. Soviet Union
8. Pakistan -
Soviet Union
Husayn:s brother, Prince Muhammad,
said yesterday that the Israelis have
moved over 100 tanks into Israeli-held
Syrian territory just north of Jordan.
If a force of this size attacks, he
added, Jordan will ask the other Arab
states for help.
The Jordanians clearly are worried
that Israel may try to seize strategic -
high ground which is now held by Jordan,
but we have no other word of an Israeli
buildup. Muhammad, who is minding the
store while Husayn is attending the
wedding of another brother in Pakistan,
is somewhat erratic and may have in-
flated the reports he has received of
Israeli activity.
Satellite photography indicates
that the Soviets may be building their
big Y-class ballistic missile submarine
at the Komsomolsk shipyard in eastern
Siberia. Until now this submarine has
been produced only at the Severodvinsk
yard in European Russia.
Ayub's defense minister has now
told Ambassador Oehlert that the Soviets
have agreed in principle to sell Pakis-
tan any military hardware it wants, in-
cluding tanks. The defense minister
says that Ayub is reluctant to buy So-
viet tanks but will do so if Pakistan's
two-year search for similar US equip-
ment does not bear fruit soon.
Ayub's reluctance to jeopardize a
potential supply source is apparent in
his mild criticism of Soviet interven-
tion in Czechoslovakia.
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9. Finland -
Soviet Union
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Top Secret
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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
29 August 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
29 August 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
* * *
* * *
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Truck Count Down: The number of trucks sighted
by US pilots south of the 19th parallel in North Viet-
nam during the week of 12-18 August,totaled 577, about
a 29 percent decrease from both the previous seven-
day period and the weekly average noted since 1 April.
This reduction is probably due, in large part, to the
poor weather conditions over southern North Vietnam
during the first half of the week which restricted US
aircraft coverage and hindered Communist truck opera-
tions.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Reply to Ambassador Harriman: In a direct comment
on the Democratic convention, Xuan Thuy charged in his
formal presentation yesterday that the administration's
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Vietnam policy was responsible for the magnitude of
the protest movement in Chicago. "US authorities,"
he said, "have had to use barbed wires and tens of
thousands of troops and police agents to cope with
the indignation of the American people." He added
that American youth protesting "No, no, we won't go
to Vietnam" had struck fear into the hearts of US
officials.
Despite all this, Xuan Thuy's press aide later
denied that Hanoi had ever interfered in US politics.
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?
Top Secret
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