THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 19 OCTOBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976417
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: October 19, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
7-OPSIel4a.Q9 October 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
19 OCTOBER 1968
1. Czechoslovakia -
Soviet Union
2. Vietnam
Premier Cernik yesterday, gave the
Czechoslovak legislature an elaborate
rationalization for the status-of-forces
agreement with Moscow, but the legisla-
tors succeeded in making their unhappi-
ness plain before voting the required
approval. No such indecorum was evident
in Moscow, where the Soviets also went
through the motions of getting legisla-
tive sanction for the treaty.
As described by Cernik, the agree-
ment resembles Soviet-Polish and Soviet-
Hungarian treaties already on the.books.
There still seem to be some points
which will require further negotiation,
however, and the rumor mills are buzz-
ing with speculation about secret
clauses. One rumor has it that the
Czechoslovaks will be allowed only low-
key celebrations of their national day
on 28 October, while the conservatives
will be encouraged to make as much as
they can of the Soviet national holiday
on 7 November.
If Cernik's interpretation of the
treaty.hoids up, most of the occupying
forces could be out of Czechoslovakia
by mid-December. SomeWarsaw.Pact
forces have in fact been noted withdraw-
ing from their positions in and near.
Czechoslovakia.. One Soviet unit, either
for logistical reasons or to show the
flag, seems to be moving to its home
.base via the Berlin area.
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3. Panama
4. Brazil
The junta apparently favors a re-
turn to constitutionality but has not
decided how to go about it. Junta mem-
bers feel their ?job is not made any
easier by Arias' presence ?in the Canal
Zone. Arias has passed the word to US
officials that he will leave the Zone
only if compelled to do so.
Student unrest shows no sign of
petering out. Demonstrations have now
hit ten Brazilian cities. Machinegun
toting rightist students turned up in
Rio earlier this week, enlivening the
already explosive atmosphere with such
slogans as "for every democrat killed,
five Communists will die."
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Military and civilian hardliners 50X1
in the government think a unique oppor-
tunity has presented itself to smash
the militant movement, but Costa e
Silva is taking a gentler line. Most
of the students arrested last weekend
apparently are being turned over to
authorities in the states, who will
probably set them free,
many military
officers are now highly irritated with
the government in general and Costa e
Silva in particular.
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5, Arab States -
Israel
6, Israel-Egypt
7. Greece
Eban has given Jarring a long
document detailing Tel Aviv's views
on a settlement with Egypt. We have
not yet seen the document, but Egyp-
tian Foreign MinisterRiyad told
?Jarring it was "very long and de-
pressing." He promised a written
reply, however, and another high
Egyptian official told US officials
that Cairo wanted to keep the Jarring
mission going.
Former prime minister Karamanlis
apparently is trying to bring various
exiled Greek politicians together in
an effort to bring down the junta.
He says he expects broad public sup-
port when his plans are announced in
Greece.
Karamanlis himself may be accept-
able to the junta, but some of his
prospective associates--including
Andreas Papandreou--are not. Karaman-
lis will have trouble enough just
keeping his disputatious friends united.
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Thai Communists Seen Expanding Insurgency in North
162
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J.---...?/ NORTH
G'%.. VIETNAM
, ...?
LAOS ...N....
..
Northeast ?\
inhorgent '
stronghold i
GULF
OF
TONKIN
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Recent,Insurgent
Activity
5t-TL A N D
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SOUTIX
VIETNAM
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*BANGKOK
ANDA
SEA
CA ODIA
GULF OF
92450 10 68 CIA
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8. Thailand
Communist insurgents are now ac-
tive in three previously quiet prov-
inces in north-central Thailand. The
Communists have been recruiting for
some time in the three provinces,
which are strategically located be-
tween the insurgents' main stronghold
in the northeast and their smaller
base in the north.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
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16
19 October 1968
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...A-I,' I
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for ?the President's Eyes Only
19 October 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
North Vietnamese - Front Group May Not Be Allowed
in the Netherlands: The Dutch Communist Party paper
reports that a six-man joint North Vietnamese - Front
group will attend a one-day "truth festival" on 26 Oc-
tober in Amsterdam. The group may not get into the
country,. however. A Foreign Ministry official has
told us that though he is unaware of a final Dutch.
Government decision, it is doubtful that visas will be
issued to the group in.view of the possibility that it
will be involved in political activity and disturbances.
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...A-I,' I
.De Quirielle Finds Front Representative More
'Moderate: A French Foreign.Ministry official told
a.US Embassy officer on 18 October that on his way
back to Hanoi,,French representative De Quirielle
saw Front representative Hieu in Phnom .Penh around
10 October. Compared to previous meetings, De
Quirielle found Hieu making fewer inflated claims
about Front military victories in the South and.be-
ing more moderate as to Front military objectives.
.Hieu said that the Front objective now-was to."main-
tain military pressure but not to take the initia-
tive in new areas." .The French official wondered .
whether Hieu's line indicates that the Front is hurt-
ing. .
.The French have also informed us that1 De
Quirielle will probably meet soon with Pham Van
.Dong or Foreign Minister.Trinh to get a first-hand-
reading of North Vietnamese.thinking.
* * *
Front Representatives "Discreet" in Paris So
Far: The members of the newly opened Front informa-
tion office have been "ver discreet" since their
arrival in Paris last week
representatives of the new office
will probably be received by a member of the minis-
try's Asian Division or Press Division.
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* * *
US Captives Allegedly Denounce War: Radio Hanoi
broadcast on 16 October a bitter denunciation of US
Vietnam policy allegedly signed by seven US soldiers
and Marines taken prisoner in South Vietnam. The
broadcast, addressed in English to American service-
men in Vietnam, was in the form of a demand that the
US stop the bombing, stop supporting the Saigon gov-
ernment, and withdraw its forces and allied forces
from Vietnam.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
.ATTITUDES ON.THE WAR
Hanoi Attacks-LeMay: General. leMay's purpose
in Vietnam As to discuss intensification of the war
with US military.and Vietnamese officials, according
to a Radio Hanoi domestic broadcast on the 17th.' .
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The broadcast attacked LeMay as a "well-known
warmonger" who commanded US aircraft which dropped
nuclear weapons during World War II. Radio Hanoi
also recalled LeMay's earlier remarks about bombing
North Vietnam back to the stone age.
Citing statistics from Newsweek magazine, the
broadcast reported the US has doubled its B-52 force
used to bomb Vietnam since last year. This, and the
bombardments of the New Jersey,"fully, exposed the
Johnson clique's insidious arguments about de-escala-
tion," the broadcast concluded.
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,
-c:
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