THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 15 MAY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976148
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: May 15, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
15 May 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
15 MAY 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Czechoslovakia
who de-
fected near Saigon says
that the first reaction of enemy forces
to the Paris talks probably will be to
fight harder to achieve the most favor-
able bargaining position possible. He
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are increasingly war weary and that
their morale will probably sag if the
talks are dragged out.
Both Prague and Moscow now seem to
be trying to ease the tension. The
press and radio on the Czech side give
the impression that Dubcek has decided
to move against the extreme liberals who
have been irritating Moscow while at
the same time pushing forward his re-
form program. As for the Russians,
their activity near the Czech border
continues to taper off.
3. Panama Both sides are still claiming vic-
tory in Sunday's elections,
the electoral tribunal will be unable to
certify the results before June or July,
but when it does, "Samudio will win by
about six thousand votes."
Arias intends to ask the tribunal
to declare him the winner at once. If
it refuses, Arias claims, his followers
will be told "to act as they see best."
In this situation, extremists support-
ing Arias would probably try to provoke
new disorders against the government.
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4. United Kingdom
5. Middle East
6. Nepal
The British press generally agrees
that the Wilson government may have lost
its will and capacity to govern, and
that the Labor Party ought to consider
over the next several months whether a
change of leadership might be advisable.
Most papers, however, are not calling
for Wilson's immediate resignation; in
fact, the slashing attacks on the prime
minister by the King newspaper chain
seem to have united Labor supporters be-
hind Wilson, at least for the short term.
Of more importance for the long run
is the view expressed by several papers
that if another economic crisis inter-
venes, a majority of the cabinet will al-
most certainly consider Wilson too great
a liability and will ask him to resign.
In a cable in this morning, Ambas-
sador Bruce reaches similar conclusions.
He says that any new sterling crisis
would almost certainly force drastic
action. He comments that "the person of
the prime minister is almost the only
thing left to throw out of the boat to
keep sterling afloat." It would not be
a question of a cabinet plot or personal
ambition, but of the necessity for the
prime minister to sacrifice himself to
save the country.
Thanks to massive Soviet military
deliveries to Egypt, Iraq, and Syria
since the June war, the Arab stocks of
military equipment now outweigh those
of Israel almost as much as they did
just before the war broke out. This is
discussed in greater detail in today's
Annex.
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ANNEX
The Status of Soviet Military Aid to the Arabs
By the end of last month, the Soviet Union had
replaced about $350 million of the estimated $450
million worth of military equipment lost by the Arabs
in the June war, There are still sizable support
equipment losses to be made good, but we expect the
Soviets to correct this deficiency in the coming
months.
In concrete terms, ? the Soviet, resupply effort
has:
--Restored Egypt's air and ground force inven-
tories of major combat equipment to between 80 and
90 percent of prewar holdings;
--Replaced most of Syria's losses of major mili-
tary equipment;
--Continued the delivery of aircraft and other
equipment to Iraq, in line with a prewar agreement,
so that Iraq's holdings are now well above 1967
levels;
--Made offsetting deliveries to Algeria to com-
pensate for the aircraft which that country turned
over to Egypt during the war.
,Jordan, of course, has not received Soviet mili-
taryaid. Even so, the stocks of Egypt, Iraq, Syria,
and Jordan relative to those of Israel are impressive.
--These Arab states now have a 4 to 1 advantage
over Israel in high performance (MACH 2) jet fighters;
--A 2 to 1 advantage in tanks and self-propelled
guns; and
--A 4 to 1 superiority in total artillery pieces.
The Arab superiority in military hardware is
likely to grow--particularly if Israel fails in its
current effort to get new high performance jet fighters.
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The galling thing ?about all this to the Soviets,
however, is that the Israeli soldier remains far out
in front of his Arab counterpart in motivation,
training, and leadership. Nothing the Soviets can
do will close this all-important gap in the foresee-
able future.
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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
Top Secret
16
15 May 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
15 May 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
The North Vietnamese in Paris: Hanoi diplomats
in Paris are geting excellent marks in press and pub-
lic relations. They, are projecting an image of firm
confidence mixed with reasonableness, even under the
pressure of persistent and sometimes irritating press
questioning. Nguyen Van Le's press conference on
13 May was apparently typical. As reported by the
French news agency, the North Vietnamese spokesman
simply and deftly turned aside questions that he
did not care to discuss in detail. Le was questioned
on what North Vietnam would do if the US refused to
stop the bombing. He neatly sidestepped the question.
When pressed harder, he dismissed the journalist by
telling him that the "reply" probably suited the ques-
tion. He said it with a smile, however.
Some of the flexibility is also evident in Xuan
Thuy's opening remarks. These, while faithful in all
significant respects to well established Communist
positions, appeared deliberately to avoid polemics.
Xuan Thuy used little of the harsh language which
Hanoi frequently employs in propaganda forums. On
the issue of the bombing, for example, instead of de-
manding a complete and immediate cessation as a sort
of ultimatum--as Hanoi has done in the past--Thuy said
only that the North Vietnamese Government wanted a
clear and positive answer to the demand that the bomb-
ing be stopped. He made no threat to break off the
talks, and his closing sentence avoided any sense of
urgency. He implied only that he wanted an answer
sometime during the course of "these official conversa-
tions."
* * *
Hanoi Press on Paris Talks: Yesterday morning's
newspapers in Hanoi gave heavy play to the Paris
talks, according to the French news agency man in the
North Vietnamese capital. Most of the coverage was
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devoted to Xuan Thuy's initial statement in Paris
on Hanoi's position; Governor Harriman's statement
was summarized in some 15 lines. The French report
did not say which portions of Harriman's statement
were included in the brief summary.
* * *
Hanoi Continues to Boast: An authoritative
article by "Victor" in the Hanoi army daily, broad-
cast on 13 May in English on the international serv-
ice, stressed that the recent series of attacks had
successfully combined popular uprisings with effective
strikes at the heart of allied military positions in
the urban areas. This "continuous revolutionary
struggle," it claimed, has clearly shifted the
balance of forces to the Communists and altered the
political situation in their favor as well. "Victor"
points to the "growing prestige" of the Liberation
Front and the establishment of the National Alliance
as evidence of the increased isolation of the Saigon
government. The recent attacks, the article con-
cludes, will be a major factor in forcing the US to
accept complete defeat.
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Front Responds to Ho Letter: The Liberation
Front has responded to Ho Chi Minh's letter of
8 May praising the renewed Communist offensive in
the South by pledging to score greater military suc-
cesses, especially while preparing to celebrate Ho's
birthday on 19 May. In a letter broadcast by Libera-
tion radio in Vietnamese on 14 May, Front leader
Nguyen Huu Tho rehashed Communist claims of victory
in the past several years and voiced the Front's de-
termination to press on with the struggle until the
South is liberated and the unity of Vietnam assured.
The statement made no mention of the US "peace hoax"
which was referred to in Ho's letter. So far, the
Liberation Front has made no public reference to
Hanoi's offer to meet with the US in Paris nor to
the subsequent opening of talks. A Hanoi broadcast,
however, claimed in general terms that the Front's
news agency had endorsed Hanoi's move.
* * *
Moscow Treatment of Paris Talks: The Soviet
press and radio gave a straightforward account of
the mechanics of Monday's meeting, but presented only
Hanoi's side of the dialogue. Scattered comment con-
tinued to reiterate that the US must stop the bomb-
ing, etc., before the talks can progress to a "seri-
ous stage."
* * *
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Results of 8 May Photographic Mission: A high
altitude photographic mission of 8 May brought back
some good pictures of several airfields in the Hanoi-
Haiphong area. No significant change is discernible
in the air order of battle, but the pictures do show
one badly damaged IL-28 bomber off the main runway
at Phuc Yen. This is the one that recently crashed
while trying to land.
The mission provided the most comprehensive
coverage since January of priority industrial tar-
gets. Five of the principal power plants in the na-
tional network are in partial operation, and
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construction at three of these is continuing.
The pictures show about 170 rail cars in the en-
virons of Haiphong--one of the highest levels ever
observed there.
able.
The Doumer bridge at Hanoi is still unservice-
* * *
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II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report.
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