THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 20 OCTOBER 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974074
• 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 20, 1967

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The President's Daily Brief
20 October 1967
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DAILY BRIEF
20 OCTOBER 1967
1, South Vietnam
. Vietnam
Demonstrations
In a talk with.Ambassador-Bunker
yesterday, Ky expressed growing impa-
tience with what he regards as Thieu's
overcautious approach to the formation
of the new government. .Ky is especial-
ly put off by Thieu's delay in deciding
on the cabinet and getting it in place.
The world-wide demonstrations this
weekend, in support of those in the US,
are unlikely to generate much popular
lippOrt. Planning for the marches is
fuzzy, and security officials in most
Free World countries feel they can pre-
vent damage to US installations. In
Communist countries, the demonstrations
will probably be tightly controlled,
but there will be room for bombastic
anti-US diatribes in Havana.
Two possible hot points are Tokyo
and West Berlin. The Japanese trade
organization, the Communists, and the
Socialists together may get tens of
thousands into the streets/
West Berlin police expect some 6,000 to
demonstrate, led by leftist students.
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3. Vietnam
4. Communist China
5. Nigeria
6. Greece
The Viet Cong radio broadcast a
commentary late Wednesday ridiculing
president-elect Thieu's "babbling
statements about peace negotiations.."
Since US leaders "cannot deceive any-
one" on this issue, "what can the vile
lackeys do?" the broadcast asked.
Peking appears to be making an ef-
fort to put its governmental and party
machinery, badly battered by the Cul-
tural Revolution, back into working
condition. References to the party are
becoming more frequent, and important
leaders who were reduced in the press
and radio to faceless "responsible of-
ficials" at the height of the revolu-
tion, now generally rate a full listing
of their party and governmental titles.
Stiffened resistance by the Biaf-
rans, who seemed to be on the ropes a
week ago, is producing the bloodiest
fighting so far. (Some 1,000 federals
were killed in one night late last
week.) Ojukwu, meanwhile, seems to be
backing away from the projected "peace
talks" in London,
The King and junta leader Papadop-
oulos still seem to be trying to stare
each other down--or wait each other
out--on the issue of Papadopoulos be-
coming deputy prime minister. We be-
lieve they are likely to postpone the
confrontation neither wants right now
by a relatively harmless reshuffling
of the cabinet.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secret
17
20 October 1967
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
20 October 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
US Pacifists Report on Hanoi Trip: Another dis-
patch from Australian Communist journalist Wilfred
Burchett filed prior to his leaving Hanoi on 18 Octo-
ber reports the views of seven Americans who have been
in Hanoi for the past 18 days. The group reportedly
came away feeling that Hanoi was prepared for a long
war involving great sacrifices and that the regime
was confident of its ability to-endure and to achieve
ultimate victory. Burchett reported that the Ameri-
cans accepted Hanoi's contention that if the bombings
are stopped there could be talks, and found the Viet-
namese definitely not holding out for "a 1968 repudia-
tion of Johnson" before negotiating.
?The press dispatch also stated that the Americans
talked with three US prisoners of war and carried away
letters to the families of 30 others. Finally, Bur-
chett reported that the group has been given a message
of greetings to the US antiwar movement by Premier Pham
Van Dong which will be read at the 21 October protest
demonstration in Washington.
More North Vietnamese Comments on War: Mai Van
Bo, North Vietnam's chief representative in France
and probably the most authoritative Vietnamese Commu-
nist spokesman in the West, said recently that he
does not believe the US will risk an invasion of
North Vietnam, but he warned that if this took place,
the US would encounter guerrilla action which would
tie down large numbers of American soldiers. The US
would be "surrounded, isolated and destroyed," and
Hanoi would not have to call for foreign volunteers
if the US attempted even to occupy only a limited sec-
tion of the North.
Bo also stressed that the North Vietnamese re-
gime is bent on carrying on "until final victory" as
expressed in General Giap's latest article. ?However,
he acknowledged that while the majority of the people
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in the North share the government's determination,
there are "a few individuals who are becoming weary
of the war and would like to see it end at almost
any price."
* * *
Hanoi Condemns US Statement on the War: 'Hanoi
has published a rejection of Secretary of State Rusk's
press conference of 12 October as well .as a general
condemnation of other recent US statements on the
war. An authoritative Nhan Dan article broadcast by
Hanoi on 19 October claimed that Rusk's statements
in effect conceded that the American people were de-
manding an end to the, war. The article ridiculed
Rusk's ?reference to the "American commitment in Viet-
nam"-and rejected his suggestion that there are two
Vietnams. Taking note of the current antiwar move-
ment in the US, Nhan Dan claimed that this week's
protests show that the American antiwar movement is
making progress.
- The broadcast asserted that everyone has seen
that all recent US statements on the war. are "sheer
deception" and pointed to the recent call for an end
to the bombing by many delegates at the United Nations
as evidence of growing US isolation. It closed with
a prediction that a continuation of the present "re-
actionary" policy would only lead to heavier military
and political setbacks for the US.
* * *
--Chinese Anti-Soviet Tirade Embarrasses Hanoi
-Leaders: Top North Vietnamese leaders were visibly
TEFEFFFssed by a blatantly anti-Soviet speech de-
livered by the Chinese charge d'affaires during the
Chinese National Day reception on 29 September.
Premier Pham Van Dong was even seen to sink his head
in his hands during the tirade. Ho Chi_Minh,.Le Duan,
and General_Giap were also present. The Soviet rep-
resentative and his East European friends walked
out early in the speech, but not the Rumanian, who
remained "smiling narrowly."[
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More from David Schoenbrun: U Thant says he
has talked with David Schoenbrun recently and is now
more than ever convinced that the National.Libera-
tion Front of South Vietnam is "very independent" of
Hanoi. Thant told, Ambassador Goldberg that Schoen-
brun had been even more explicit on this than Harri-
son Salisbury had been.
Hanoi's Comment on "Che" Guevara: Hanoi has
paid its tribute to the late guerrilla leader. Ac-
cording to a Hanoi international broadcast on 19 Oc-
tober, that day's issue of the party daily, Nhan Dan,
front-paged his portrait and biography and contained
a message of condolence from the Vietnam Workers
Party to the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist
Party.
-Nhan Dan described Guevara as a "staunch revolu-
tionary," claiming that he set a shining example of
high revolutionary, ardor. The paper asserted that the
entire Vietnamese armed forces and people are resolved
to."turn their hatred for the US imperialists and
their lackeys who have murdered comrade Guevara into
strength to defeat the US aggressors and the.Thieu-
Ky traitors."
* * *
Russian Correspondent on Conditions.in.North
Vietnam: A Pravda correspondent, in Laos on a holi-
day from Hanoi, gave a US Embassy official there some
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reflections on conditions in Hanoi. (Incidentally,
he arrived in Vientiane on 17 October via the In-
ternational Control Commission plane from Hanoi,
which seems to be running on schedule again.) 'The
correspondent claimed morale was high and determin-
ation unshaken despite hardships of bombing. As
for the bombing, he claimed the military effects
are "one tenth" of what the US thinks, and civilian
damage and loss of life higher than Hanoi admits.
He noted that pellet antipersonnel bombs with de-
layed fuses cause "particular horror" in cities.
The correspondent added that,he had filed an
eyewitness dispatch.to,Pravda about the destruction
of a village by bombing which, to judge by his de-
scription, was a juicy "atrocity" story. For reasons
unknown to him, Pravda did not publish the story.
NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS .OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
-Hanoi Reports Antiwar Activities of US Negroes:-A
Hanoi Vietnamese language broadcast of 15 October cites
a US news service article stating that the antiwar
movement by US Negroes is developing on an "unprece-
dented scale." The article asserts that "progressive"
Negroes in the US have strengthened their relations
with "patriots" in the US and the world, and that
the antidraft movement among Negroes has caused draft
officials to ignore hundreds of cases of refusal to
submit to medical examinations for military service.
In addition, the morale of Negroes serving in Vietnam
As said to be "very low."
More Comments on US Antiwar Pressures:. Mai Van
Bo, Hanoi's man in'Paris whose comments were summar-
ized earlier in this paper, also had something to
say about antiwar pressures in the US and the Free
World. He said the war is "less and less popular"'in
the US and pointed to recent speeches in the United
Nations as proof of "many countries demanding peace."
These factors, Bo went on, "create disquiet in the
American electorate" and lead to the conclusion that
"seine day Washington will give up." Bo said the main
Communist hope for eventual victory, however, lies in
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frustrating the US military effort and in waiting
."perhaps for a long time," for a political victory.
* * *
More on Immolations in the US: Yesterday Hanoi
radio returned to the US burnings, noting that "in
only four days, two US citizens immolated themselves
to oppose Johnson's war in Vietnam." From this
Hanoi generalizes that "the American people have
realized more and more clearly that the war conducted
by the US administration in a country thousands of
miles away, which has no enmity toward them, is only
a dirty colonialist war. This war is against the in-
dependence and freedom of the Vietnamese people,
against peace and justice, and runs counter to the
genuine interests of the American people. It has
wasted thousands of American lives and its burden is
weighing heavily on the American taxpayers. It be-
trays the tradition of democracy of the American
people and ruins the US reputation."
In conclusion, the broadcast said, "the Vietnam-
ese people bow in respect before the sacrifices of
Miss Hiroko and Mrs. Beaumont. They highly appreciate
the American people's movement to end the.Johnson war
in Vietnam."
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