THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 10 OCTOBER 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974056
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: October 10, 1967

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The President's Daily Brief
10 October 1967
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DAILY BRIEF
10 OCTOBER 1967
. North Vietnam
2. Burma
3. Communist China
4. Nigeria
The Burmese are throwing out all
Chinese Communist aid technicians. This
move follows months of diplomatic bom-
bast from Peking over anti-Chinese riots
in Rangoon last summer. The Chinese,
who now describe Ne Win in terms usually
reserved only for US and Soviet leaders,
will undoubtedly become even more shrill
and perhaps will step up their public
support for Burma's Communists.
Biafran leaders show no signs of
giving up. A few Biafrans are still
holding out in their capital of Enugu
and Biafran troops have mounted small
attacks elsewhere.'
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5. Uruguay
6. Czechoslovakia
At a late cabinet meeting last
night, President Gestido finally moved
to combat the Communist-inspired labor
trouble plaguing Uruguay. Gestido de-
clared a limited state of siege and
took other security measures. Four
cabinet members resigned in protest.
Gestido has made a good first
step, but if he hopes to halt the coun-
try's decline, he will have to follow
it up with politically unattractive and
sorely needed economic reforms.
The Czech Government and party
leadership continues to deal ineffectu-
ally with a multitude of economic prob-
lems, intellectual discontent, and even
some rumblings from the public.
Urban Czech youth and intellectuals
are pushing for more freedom and in some
instances virtually defying the govern-
ment do do anything about it. The cur-
rent fashion among the long-haired set
in Prague, for example, is to wear US
Army jackets complete with divisional
insignia. Thunderings about "social-
ist morality" from above seem only to
result in raising the mini-skirt level
and in reducing the number of baths.
Solutions for these and other prob-
lems will be hard to find because the
country's leaders are divided on how
to deal with them. Party boss Novotny,
who it is rumored will lose his party
chairmanship , is fearful of an open
fight in the party and has hesitated to
initiate repressive measures that would
upset the delicate balance between liberal
and conservative elements within his re- -
gime.
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TOP SECRET
1 0 OCT 1967
SPECIAL DAILY REPORT ON NORTH VIETNAM
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only*
10 October 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
The Hard Life of a North Vietnamese Soldier:
The-personal history statement of a North Vietnamese
Soldier who recently rallied to the South Vietnamese'
Government in Quang Ngai Province provides what is
probably a typical vignette of the hardships and
anxieties borne by individual North Vietnamese who
are sent to South Vietnam.
The soldier recounted that in early 1965 he was
"very unhappy" when informed that he would have to go
.South to fight, chiefly because he felt that he might
not return. Efforts by his family to have the assign-
ment changed resulted only in his being accused of
having "weak ideology." After a farewell visit to
his family, which was."as sad as a funeral," the sol-
dier left on his assignment.
While enroute to the South, the soldier received
the impression that any fight there would be brief
since he had been told that four-fifths of the coun-
try and three-fourths of the people had been liber-
ated; ?His group was not warned of the potential hard-
ships during the trek South. The long marches and
constant rain were a great strain, especially while
carrying a 65-pound pack. Many in the group, including
this soldier, suffered from malaria from which three
died and 12 had to be left behind.
The troops were warned that if they tried to
desert, they would be sent back to the North where
they would be humiliated and their families' lives
probably affected. Nonetheless, four of the group
deserted. After reaching the South, the soldier ex-
perienced a shortage of food and noticed that the
"liberated area" was for the most part unpopulated
wild country. Most of his associates now do not ex-
pect to return to the North but are resigned to being
killed or maimed in combat.
*This report carries a second section on North Vietnam-
ese Reflections of US Political Attitudes Toward the War.
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;Sea Deliveries to North Vietnam in.September:
For the third month in a row, cargo deliveries to
North Vietnamese ports were lower than the unusually
high monthly average set during the first half of
the year. .The drop-off has permitted a further re-
duction in the backlog of ships waiting inliaiphong
to unload.
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s:-Treatment of Prisoners: A captured North Viet-
namese private whoinfiltrated.South Vietnam early
:this year said during his interrogation that American
.-prisoners in North Vietnam are generally well treated
? and receive -a ration allowance three times that ofa
_North:Vietnamese soldier. -The.soldier did say, how-
ever, there had been some cases of mistreatment by
local militia units making initial captures. All
? American pilots, he.said, were sent to Hanoi.
* * *
.Still More Bloc Aid: Yesterday Czechoslovakia
joined the parade of ommunist countries announcing
new economic agreements with North Vietnam. .Two
,agreements, one for trade and the other for aid, ?were
announced. The latter referred vaguely to "medical
and technical aid, machinery, and other supplies."
II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
.ATTITUDES TOWARD.THE WAR
;Viet Cong on,"AmericanNegroes' Struggle": A
30 September-Viet Cong clandestine broadcast aimed
at South Vietnamese Government troops cites the Ameri-
can Negroes' "struggle for democratic freedom" as an
example for the Vietnamese. The broadcast states
that recent uprisings in New-York,and Detroit show -
that the Negroes have already used and will continue
to use-violence to oppose their "barbarous repressions."
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?
The broadcast notes that the Negroes have endured
many:hardships and states that the Vietnamese "should
stand upand struggle for yonr own democratic free-
doms." Only. by resorting to "just force" as the .
American Negroes have done, according to the Viet
Cong, will the South Vietnamese be-able to "liberate"
themselves from US "repressive force."
.The "struggle" by the American Negroes "con-
siderably contributes" to a "further increase" in US
weakness, according to the Viet Cong. The broadcast
cites recent demonstrations in Milwaukee-and a pro-
test meeting in Chicago,as examples of the Negroes'
"struggle." Noting that the Negroes have continued
their efforts despite the "Johnson clique's farce"
of signing many civil rights laws, the broadcast
claims that many -Negroes still cannot attend the same
schools, take the same buses, go to the Same theaters',
or eat .at the same restaurants as whites.
.The broadcast also claims that Negro servicemen
in Vietnam are not granted equal treatment. .Accord-
ing to the Viet Cong, "everyone knows that American
Negro youths are the first to be rushed to the South
Vietnam battlefront." In addition, the broadcast
asserts that "a nnmber of Negro troops have been
chained to their armored vehicles so they cannot es-.
cape death when their vehicles are set ablaze."
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TOP SECRET*
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