THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 25 SEPTEMBER 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974030
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: September 25, 1967

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24: CIA-RDP79T00936A005400340001-0
The President's Daily Brief
25 September 1967
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DAILY BRIEF
25 SEPTEMBER 1967
1. -South Vietnam
2. Soviet Union
The militant Buddhists launched
their formal protest yesterday against
the recent elections. They, held a
press conference and pledged their sup-
port for the "heroic campaign" to force
the Provisional National Assembly to
invalidate the elections.
Tri Quang and other militant monks
were present, but the show :was stolen
by defeated "peace" candidate Truong
Dinh Dzu. .He left no doubt in his hard-
hitting speech that he is fully com-
mitted to the militant Buddhist posi-
tion on the elections.
A group of 200 students, also pro-
testing the elections, paraded through
Saigon yesterday. After a while, they
were quietly but effectively dispersed
by the police.
These were the first significant
public efforts to put pressure on the
Assemblymen who meet a week from today
to validate the elections. We still ex-
pect Thieu and Ky to be declared the
winners.
Kosygin's announcement on Saturday
of the new aid agreement with Hanoi
underlines again Moscow's central role
as economic and military,supplier to
the North Vietnamese war effort.
Soviet aid for North Vietnam--now
almost all free--will continue to rise,
but it does not represent a heavy bur-
den for the Soviet Union. We feel that
the estimates in the US press that the
Soviet aid figure has already reached a
billion dollars a year are exaggerations.
It will be more on the order of 700 mil-
lion when this year ends.
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3. Soviet Union
? Some Soviet officials are
dropping hints again on how we
about a settlement in Vietnam.
can bring
The key,
they say, would be US acceptance of the
idea that the regime ?in Hanoi and the
National Liberation Front in South Viet-
nam are distinct entities that do not al-
ways see eye to eye. A good first step,
they go on, would be the initiation of
secret talks between the Saigon govern-
ment and the Viet Cong. Then, talks
could begin between the US and the North
Vietnamese.
It would be difficult to start with
Hanoi, they, argue, since it.would be be-
traying an ally for.Hanoi to stop aid to
the Viet Cong just as it would be diffi-
. 'cult for.Moscow to stop helping Hanoi or
for the US to make a deal with the Viet
-Cong against Saigon's wishes.
Joseph Kraft, who stopped over in
.Moscow last week, believes that Brezhnev
at that time went out of his way pub-
licly to build up the image of the Na-
tional liberation Front and to stress
his hopes for a future "independent
South Vietnam." Kraft speculates that
Moscow was thus supporting an effort .by
Hanoi to give renewed emphasis to the
idea that there .are two wars going on
in Vietnam--one in the north and one in
the south, and that Hanoi is mainly con-
cerned with the former.
None of the Soviets, however, have ?
come up with an answer to the clincher--
'how to stop the fighting in the south
without a concurrent agreement about
arms ,and men from the north. Further-
more, Front leaders in thesouth have
continually insisted that they will never
deal with Thieu and Ky.
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4. Brazil
5. Panama
O. Guyana
7. Nigeria
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The coalition government set up in
1964 to keep pro-Communist Cheddi Jagan-
out of power is now falling apart. The
leader of the junior party in Prime Minis-
ter Burnham's two-party coalition intends
to resign today. This is the culmination
of a long feud which Ambassador Carlson
.likens to two goats butting each other on
the edge of a cliff.
Burnham could probably muddle along
for a while as head of a minority govern-
ment. .Prospects have definitely dimmed,
however, for effective administration .and
political stability,in this racially 50X1
divided country.
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Top Secret
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TOP SECRET
SPECIAL DAILY REPORT ON NORTH VIETNAM
FOR THE PRES! DENT'S EYES ONLY
TOP SECRET
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
25 Septethher 1967
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The Chinese in North Vietnam:
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There may be a growing coolness between the Chi-
nese and the North Vietnamese, but this has not been
reflected in Chinese military and logistics support
for North Vietnam.
Some of the Chinese activity seems to.serve
Chi-
nese purposes more ,than Vietnamese.
North Vietnamese Foreign Minister's Interview:
Trinh had little new to say. He
insisted that the Communists are winning the war,
and he rejected any United Nations' action to arrange
a settlement.
Trinh expressed himself somewhat more directly
than usual on the question of whether Hanoi would,
in fact, talk if the bombing is stopped. In response
to a question about the timing of US withdrawal from
South Vietnam, he said it is too soon to talk about
that and that first of all the US must stop bombing,
"then talks will follow."
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?
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