THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 23 JANUARY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974238
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: January 23, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 The President's Daily Brief S c t 23 January 1968 23 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 - USS 'Pueblo' Boarding Incident 0 I_,7( 7 .7-j--- I \ ( . CHINA , f ) . ./. STATUTE MILES 100 y/ . f,......_ . 0.......r, ��tiV c . ./ 1) e"... \. .) .., � -......., .. . OS' \ � / � I .."' n , t ,.....0�,:d :\< 4 aw 1 .. O T 0 . NR ..)4 . v., rf------ . SE A /i._). �. ' X ' OF . . Site of Boarding .vionsan.<.\_'' _ Incident IA PA N YONGYANg.: K 0 RE1 )A - ' ( f �, N .9 9 . CATION NE f., DEMAR LI 1 \ / --I'C '1 --------- ., 1 6::��� r-s, crA-,,, ?1,? .ii - vSE-f _., SOUTH YELLOW SEA KOREA - ...\ , . ;..:C)'\1\...? A � �., \ . >1 �c, � o.v. i - ..., � - \'1 ) ' -�.i.i.A-i--\'' 'NJ \_./ ' � 69377 1-68 CIA Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 DAILY BRIEF 23 JANUARY 1968 . North Korea 2. Korea The USS Pueblo, a --gRip patrolling just outside North Korea's twelve-mile limit, was seized by North Korean patrol boats early today and taken to the port of Wonsan. Four US crewmen were injured, one critically, by Communist gunfire prior to the boarding. The North Koreans have long shown extreme sensitivity to US and South Ko- rean "spy ships" operating in the area. Pyongyang's propaganda during the past few weeks has taken a particularly harsh line against the US. The bold attempt by North Korean infiltrators to attack President Pak's official residence may be only the be- ginning. The North Koreans have been putting considerable effort during the past two years into their apparatus for armed harassment of the South, and we expect them to use it. The idea, of course, is to make the resulting ter- rorism and sabotage appear to be an indigenous struggle against the Seoul government. 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 3. Communist China 4. Denmark 5. Soviet Union Rival factions continue fighting it out in a number of provinces as lead- ers in Peking keep on calling ineffec- tually for reconciliation. A dozen or so cities and provinces have been af- fected in the past two weeks and there is no end in sight. The regular mili- tary has become more deeply embroiled since early last month in at least the two most seriously affected provinces. Reaction to the US bomber crash in Greenland probably will not greatly af- fect today's election. The government has moved quickly to limit leftist ex- ploitation of the event by stressing its long-standing public position that Danish law prohibits activity involving nuclear weapons at US bases in Green- land or in Greenland airspace. Never- theless, there has already been one protest demonstration in front of the US Embassy, and more can be expected. Kosygin confirmed to Ambassador Thompson yesterday that his on again, off again visit to India is now on. Right now is a very busy, period, he said, and he would be in India just "a few days." When he gets to India on Thursday, Kosygin will find President Tito wait- ing for him alongside Mrs. Gandhi. Tito has extended his Indian visit and the three leaders will have a good oppor- tunity to talk over a number of world issues. 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 6. Dominican Republic General Wessin y Wessin, front man for a well-financed and strongly conser- vative political party that has just been formally legalized, is pressing hard for permission to return home from exile in New York. Balaguer will be hard put to keep him out now, even though he regards him as a real threat to the government. This is just one more unsettling factor in the country's growing political restiveness. 7. Bahamas Premier Pindling-is pressing harder . and harder for more self-government. If the .British continue resisting--and signs point to just this--Pindling may well demand, and get, completeAndepen- dence. In the meantime, he is consider- ing, an early .election to strengthen his mandate. His Negro countrymen, who dur- ing .the past year have enjoyed their first taste of real political power, .would likely increase the government's present slim majority. Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Top Secret Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Declassified in ,Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Top Secret FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY Special Daily Report on North Vietnam Top Secret 50X1 1B 23 January 1968 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 .-/l/" I Special Daily Report on North Vietnam for the President's Eires Only 23 January 1968 I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION Canadians to Hanoi: In a public statement on the 19th, Prime Min- ister Pearson revealed that Ormond Dier, senior Canadian delegate on the ICC had gone to Hanoi. His purpose, Pearson said, was to investigate Foreign Minister Trinh's "will talk" statement of 29 Decem- ber. * * * 50X1 50X50X1 50X1 50X1 50X1 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0,1 Although Hanoi is being careful to make sure that its intentions are not distorted, the North Vietnamese are continuing to publicize their "will talk" offer. The North Vietnamese ambassador in Cairo, for example, lost no time in calling on the Egyptian Foreign Ministry shortly after his return to Cairo from Hanoi. A press release on 20 January described the ambassador as just having returned from important consultations with his gov- ernment on the present situation in Vietnam and the "possibility of talks between the North Vietnamese and the US." * * * Problems for the British: Increasing restric- tions and harassments are greatly reducing the use- fulness of the British Consulate in Hanoi, accord- ing to information passed to the US Embassy in London Any kind of travel 50X6 by the two officers at the mission has been severely limited. They are prohibited from going to the for- eign community center, and their limited gasoline ration prevents them from going to the airport. The British also cannot use the North Vietnamese telegraph to send encrypted messages, although they can use the Canadian diplomatic pouch. 50X1 Despite these limitations, the US Embassy in London feels that, as long as the consul general is able to make use of the Canadians to get his reports out, the British will maintain the mission. * * * 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0,1 * * * II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL ATTITUDES ON THE WAR Hanoi on Eartha Kitt: Hanoi's initial comment on remarks made by Eartha Kitt at a recent White House luncheon was contained in an English language broadcast on 21 January. The broadcast quoted West- ern news reports in claiming that Miss Kitt "angrily pointed a finger at President Johnson's wife and delivered an emotional tirade against the US war in Vietnam." The broadcast claimed that "only the shrill voice of anger and discord was heard." The Hanoi statement contained no comment of its own. * * * More on the State of the Union: Hanoi in a broadcast yesterday claimed that the "more of the same" kind of obstinacy, about the war in the Presi- dent's State of the Union address had been strongly condemned by public opinion in the US. The broad- cast quoted an American Broadcasting Company tele- vision commentary which claimed the speech meant "another year of troubles for the Americans." Roger Hilsman in a National Broadcasting Company interview was quoted as saying that the message "gave rise to deception, and that what we need in Vietnam is a radical change of policy." Finally, -3- 50X1 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 .-/l/" I John Kenneth Galbraith's statement that he was "greatly disappointed by Johnson's message" and Senator Vance Hartke's claim that he "did not see any prospects for a settlement of our prob- lems" were reported. * * * Antiwar Activity: Hanoi on Saturday reported on several groups in the US which are opposed to US involvement in Vietnam. Members of the Hawaii Committee to End the US War in Vietnam, for example, are said to have sent a message to the Liberation Front expressing their militant solidarity with the Front, and stating that the committee's stand is to demand an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. �The students at Harvard University were reported to have sent a message to the President demanding an end to the war. Several antidraft ac- tivities were also reported without comment in the broadcast. -4- � 50X1 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0 Top Secret Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/08/12 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800030001-0