THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 18 APRIL 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974387
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: April 18, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
--Top-secitt- 18 April 1968
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Sierra Leone
LATE ITEM
One Sergeant-Major Amadu Rogers,
speaking over the national radio this
morning, announced that all senior
army and police officers were under
arrest and that Sierra Leone was now
being run by the "Anti-Corruption Revo-
lutionary Movement."
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DAILY BRIEF
18 APRIL 1968
1. South Vietnam
The South Vietnamese apparently
have been thinking out loud for sev-
eral days about proposing an allied
summit conference before bilateral
talks between Washington and Hanoi
get too far along. In the past ten
days, Foreign Minister Do has tried
the idea on the ambassadors from most
of the countries with troops in South
Vietnam.
If his talk with the Australian
ambassador is any example, Do's pitch
was a fairly strong one, although he
made it clear that he was just think-
ing about the proposal at the moment.
For instance, when the Australian tried
to introduce a note of caution about
the crowded schedules of government
leaders, Do said "We could all go
there" if President Johnson found it
hard to leave Washington.
? The South Vietnamese tell us that
the Thais and South Koreans are re-
ceptive to the idea of a summit. The
New Zealanders, on the other hand,
think the important thing is to get
US - North Vietnamese talks under way.
* * *
Increased Communist pressure
against Khe Sanh continued yesterday.
Elsewhere in South Vietnam there was
little significant contact with Com-
munist forces.
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2. South Vietnam
3. Cambodia
4. Yugoslavia
Phnom Penh, having just barely got-
ten dissidence in western Cambodia under
control, now faces a determined rebel-
lion by tribal guerrillas in the north-
east near the South Vietnamese border.
The tribesmen are using relatively so-
phisticated tactics and automatic weap-
ons. This leads us to suspect that they
are getting some help from the Vietnam-
ese Communists, who have long used the
area as a sanctuary and thus have rea-
sons of their own for blunting the gov-
ernment's current drive to expand its
presence there.
a plot is
afoot to remove Tito from power,
a group of party and government of-
ficials--principally Serbs want to kick
Tito upstairs.
behind it lies a great deal of
unhappiness over Tito's economic and for-
?eign policies.
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5. Chile
6. South Korea
7. Sierra Leone
Leftists in President Frei's own
party are thinking of adding themselves
to the many parties in the legislature
currently wooing the Communists. They
allegedly feel that Chile needs radical
change, including nationalization of
the US copper mines, and they think a
broad movement which would include the
Communists is the best way to get it.
The Communists' attractiveness to
the other parties lies in their large
and well organized delegation in the
legislature. They would doubtless, how-
ever, extract major concessions before
agreeing to join a leftist coalition.
Frei, of course, recently set the
precedent himself by making a one-time
deal with the Communists to get an im-
portant bill passed. In return the Com-
munists demanded and got the removal of
a key provision of his economic reform
program. This deal apparently is com-
ing home to haunt him.
The army rank-and-file, disgruntled
at not being cut into the proceeds from
the military regime's corruption,
mutinied early today in the capital.
Rumor has it that most of the junta has
been either arrested or shot. Leaders
of the mutiny are supposed to make a
statement soon. All US citizens are
safe.
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
18 April 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
North Vietnamese Imply Warsaw or Nothing: The
North Vietnamese are hinting broadly that they in-
tend to insist on Warsaw as a site for initial con-
tacts with the United States. They have not speci-
fically ruled out acceptance of another city, but
Hanoi's most recent propaganda carries an implicit
threat to forgo the contact if the US continues to
reject the North Vietnamese proposals.
Yesterday a Nhan Dan article kept up the bar-
rage of North VieTETRecommentary accusing the US
of deliberately delaying preliminary contacts. Like
other recent propaganda, the article reviewed the
bidding of the past two weeks and quoted liberally
from President Johnson's 31 March speech and other
statements about US willingness to meet with North
Vietnamese representatives. Recent US actions,
said the article, make it "amply clear" that the
United States is "not ready to go anywhere, at any
time," and that the US is "deliberately trying to
delay the contacts." Phnom Penh or Warsaw, said
Nhan Dan, provide a "very suitable venue" for the
airitaa-g. It warned that "if the United States keeps
rejecting either of these places, it only unmasks
its hypocrisy and must bear the full responsibility."
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* * *
Observations in Hanoi:
morale seems high in the North
Vietnamese capital, but there is an undercurrent of
war weariness and fear of the authorities.
many North Vietnamese are afraid to be seen
talking with foreigners.
Social activity is restricted to the evening
hours when Hanoi-ites stroll in the parks or go to
the movies. These are the usual tractor-driver-
meets-girl-worker type films produced in the bloc.
There is no curfew in Hanoi.
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the Hanoi cathedral is 50X1
often filled to standing room. Mass is said by a
Caucasian priest.
More Hanoi Commentary on General Abrams: Hanoi
propaganda media are continuing to portray the ap-
pointment of General Abrams as a clear sign of the
failure of American objectives in Vietnam. An article
in the Hanoi army daily, broadcast in English on 16
April, claimed that Abrams' appointment will only
"worsen the situation of the US aggressors." The
broadcast noted that Abrams has been charged with beef-
ing up the South Vietnamese forces, but insisted he
would not be able to shift the brunt of the fighting
onto the "puppet army." The paper discounted the pos-
sibility that the South Vietnamese forces would ever
become an effective fighting force, even if equipped
with more modern weapons.
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Applauds Antiwar
15 April message
the Vietnam Federation of Trade Unions
hailed those in the US who were opposing the draft,
the dispatch of American troops to Vietnam, and
those who are demanding that the US "end immediately
and unconditionally the bombings and war acts."
The message also thanked the "progressive Americans"
for their "precious support" of the Vietnamese
people.
Activity in US: In a
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