THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 NOVEMBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976472
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: November 20, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600010001-3
The President's Daily Brief
November 1968
23
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THE PRESIDENT'S
'DAILY BRIEF .
20 NOVEMBER .196$
. France
2. France
3. Czechoslovakia
The speculators were not impressedi
either by Couve's interviewHon Monday
or by the German measures announced
yesterday. We estimate that by closing
time yesterday, French reserves had
fallen to about $3.2 billion. Another
ten days of heavy losses would practi-
cally eliminate the reserves; further
decisive action would have to be taken
well before such .a point was reached.
Lubomir Strougal looks like.Mos-
cow's future candidate for a successor
to Dubcek. Over the weekend, Strougal
gained four important party posts from
which he can maneuver against the party
first secretary. Moscow's man inside
the Czechoslovak leadership is discussed
at Annex.
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4. Hungary -
Soviet Union
5.? Italy
Gromyko worked out a unique cultur-
al agreement with the Hungarians during
his recent visit to Budapest. The agree-
ment, although it broadens the ties be-
tween the two countries, seems to be legs
rigid than previous pacts. It also gives
the Hungarians more of a voice in the ex-
change process. They are to be permitted
to scrutinize Soviet textbooks on Hungarly,
for instance,.and the Soviets have agreod
to loosen their controls over exchange
visits. After years of literary pirating,
Moscow has also agreed to copyright ar-
rangements.
The Soviets extracted a price, of
course--the two countries ,will be co-
ordinating their positions even more
closely in international cultural forums
Even so, if Moscow lives up.to its com-
mitments, the accord should lessen the
Hungarians' resentment over their client
status.
The Christian120eMocrats.and.the
So-
cialists still,seem far.from agreement '
on,a new. government, and the Christian
Democratic interim_cabinet.which.re-6
-signed yesterday'may:be'succeeded.by,an-
other one of.similar.Stripe.
6. Egypt-Israel We are not the only ones looking for
Soviet missiles in Egypt.
Israeli planes have conduct-
ed an intensive reconnaissance of the
canal area.
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7. Japan
8. Mali
Yesterday's B-52 crash in Okinawa
is being exploited to the hilt by the
Japanese press. From now on the gov-
ernment will be under even greater pres-
sure to seek removal of the bombers and
to stiffen Japan's position on the
status of the bases after Okinawa re-
verts to Japan.
The crash may produce some politi-
cal fallout for Sato, even though he
still seems a shoo-in in next week's
elections for the presidency of his
party. He has been trying to duck the
whole reversion issue, but his two
challengers have been pushing for tight-
er controls on US military activity in
Okinawa.
The newly elected Okinawan chief
executive has reiterated that he will
demand removal of the bombers.
Yesterday's army coup seems to
? have been triggered by friction betweenf
the army and the governing party's para-
military arm
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A006600010001-3
- TOP SECRET - CONTAINS SIGINT AND KEYHOLE MATERIAL
(
ANNEX
Lubomir Strougal: Czechoslovakia's
New Eminence Grise
? -Lubomir Strougal, elevated over the weekend to;
_four top party posts, is not a fanatical Stalinist,
but he is a heavy-handed conservative
. A personal friend of former party boss
Novotny, Strougal nevertheless turned on him last
winter and helped remove Novotny from power. He I
was paid off with-a deputy premiership, a position
he still holds.
Strougal was arrested by the Soviets on 21 Au-
gust. Perhaps because of this, he initially (and um-
characteristically) condemned the invasion as illegal.
Strougal, however, quickly saw the error of his wayis
and subsequently stated the intervention was necessi-
tated by "serious mistakes" on the part of the
Dubcek regime. Such agility has earned the 44-year-
old Strougal a reputation for being a consistent
winner in the internecine struggles that pass for
politics in Czechoslovakia.
The son of a cement worker from Bohemia,
Strougal holds a law degree. He seldom travels and
he has been outside the Communist bloc only once, r
on a trip to Finland.
Along with Machiavellian pragmatism, Strougal
has ability and energy; he is not a flamboyant polik-
ical figure. All these are characteristics which "
would serve him well as Moscow's man inside the
Czechoslovak leadership--and there is little doubt
Strougal is exactly that. He now holds four key
jobs: membership on the new (potentially all-power-
-ful) Executive Committee of the party presidium,
membership in the policy-making presidium itself,
membership in the secretariat (which implements poliL-
cy), and the chairmanship of the party's new bureau
for the Czech lands (a counterpart of the Slovak '
party organization). .Strougal has been in touch
since the invasion with Deputy Foreign Minister.
Vasily Kuznetsov, Moscow's on-the-scene architect
of "normalization."
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TOP SECRET - CONTAINS SIGINT AND KEYHOLE MATERIAL
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If the Soviets keep heavy pressure on the Czecho-
slovak regime, Strougal is in .a good position to
challenge Dubcek for the party leadership, perhaps
as early as the next party congress in 1969. He is
clearly the type of Communist about whom Moscow would
feel confident. In the meantime, he presumably will
continue to enjoy Soviet support and be in a posi-
tion to bring other conservatives into positions of
power and influence.
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()
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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
20 November 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
20 November 1968
I. NOTES .ON THE SITUATION
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Xuan Thuy Interview: Xuan Thuy's remarks to UPI
yesterday, in which he demanded an "independent" role
for the Front and rejected a "two-party conference,"
contained nothing new and do not, in themselves, fore-
shadow a procedural stalemate in Paris.
These points were also made in the North Vietnam-
ese Foreign Ministry? statement on 16 November. They
may well be intended to aggravate differences between
Saigon and Washington and to make it more difficult
for the South Vietnamese to move to Paris. On this
and other issues raised by the bombing cessation,
Hanoi feels free to adopt the toughest possible public
stance, but it still avoids raising any new conditions
for moving on in the talks.
* * *
Rail Progress: Dual gauging of the main China-
North Vietnam rail line is probably completed to Hanoi.
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Vietnamese, however, have had ample time to finish the
15 or so miles of dual gauge construction remaining
between Dong Dang and Hanoi as of June 1968. There has
been no indication, however, of dual gauge construction
south of Hanoi or on the line from Lao Cai.
The Communists have constantly repaired and im-
proved the Dong Dang - Hanoi line since bombing be-
gan in 1965. The many improvements have included dual
tracking, building of multiple crossings at main water
obstacles, and opening of an alternate to the main
rail line from China via Kep, Thai. Nguyen, and Dong Anh.
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:II, NORTH .VIETNAMESE?REFLECTIONS. OF. US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR .
:There is nothing of significance to report to-
day.
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Top Secret
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