THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 4 MARCH 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974309
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 4, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
Tm4gL 4 March 1968
23
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Panama
LATE ITEM
Word this morning from Panama
City is that National Guard Comman-
der General Vallarino has worked out
a compromise. The General has warned
both sides that if the agreement falls
through, he "will be forced to settle
the problem."
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DAILY BRIEF
4 MARCH 1968
1, South Vietnam
2. Panama
Renewed offensive operations by
allied forces in several sections of
South Vietnam have resulted in sharp
clashes with the enemy.,
Major actions initiated by enemy
forces yesterday were confined to a
rocket attack on several sections of
the Da Nang military complex. Reports
from Khe Sanh show that Communist
forces are continuing to tunnel and
test perimeter defenses under cover of
artillery fire.
The special session of the Nation-
al Assembly is still scheduled to con-
vene later in the day.
Although a last-minute compromise
is still possible, neither side is
backing away from a test in the streets.
Both.sides in fact are urging their fol-
lowers to gather outside the assembly
building before the legislature meets.
The likelihood that large numbers of
Arias supporters will come in from the
countryside greatly increases the
chances for trouble. At last report,
it was unclear what action, if any, the
National Guard commander intends to
take.
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3. Czechoslovakia
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munist aid to North Vietnam and on the
Czech internal scene:
--The Russians continue to provide
the overwhelming share--about 80 per-
cent--of the increasing amounts of mili-
tary aid to North Vietnam; they are
willing to sustain this at present or
even higher levels.
--There is no quantitative limit
to the types of assistance Moscow will
provide with the possible exception of
offensive weapons that could result in
a confrontation with the US.
--The Soviets have not been able
to use their aid programs to influence
Hanoi's conduct of the war. The Chi-
nese have a greater influence.
On internal Czech matters
--The political situation in Prague
is still fluid. Novotny indeed has been
trying to incite the workers against the
party liberals under Dubcek, the new
party secretary.
--The plans of the liberals are al-
together unacceptable to Moscow. If
Soviet political pressure fails to slow
Czech liberalization, the Russians may
well apply economic sanctions
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QUA]
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4. West Berlin The West Berlin Bundestag today
begins a series of committee meetings
in West Berlin, which have been held
there periodically. Soviet Ambassador
Tsarapkin, talking with Chancellor
Kiesinger on Friday, warned that the
meetings would create "a serious situ-
ation," but as yet there has been no
? harassment of the deputies who have
been arriving in West Berlin over the
? weekend.
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5. Soviet Union
6. Laos
The Soviets launched an unmanned
spacecraft on Saturday; it continues
to orbit the earth. Deployment of re-
covery aircraft means that the payload
will be brought down inside the Soviet
Union, probably to test a re-entry sys-
tem for manned lunar flights.
A primary purpose of the flight
undoubtedly is to check out the launch
vehicle.
Although Communist forces have
made no major gains in a week of heavy
fighting, a significant threat to Lao
government forces persists in widely
separated areas of the country. Gov-
ernment forces at Saravane and Attopeu
are virtually encircled, and a new wave
of attacks can be expected in the near
future. They probably could not hold
out against a concerted enemy thrust.
The offensive of the North Vietnam-
ese in the panhandle is closely related
to their effort in South Vietnam. It
has already resulted in an expansion
and consolidation of their defenses and
control of the infiltration corridor
and has succeeded in tying down a sub-
stantial number of government troops
to static defense.
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secrefoxi
16
4 March 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam 50X1
for the President's Eyes Only
4 March 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Conditions in Hanoi:
traveler who 50X1
left Hanoi says there was no 50X1
evidence that the people of the capital lacked
food. Workers were fed at mobile kitchens set up
along the streets of the city. Workers in a given
block received food at that block's 't lee. The
traveler nad ex- 50X1
perienced no serious shortage of electricity. Even
during the hot season, there was sufficient power
to run the air conditioners 50X1
the North Vietnam-
ese Government takes advantage of the suspension
of US air operations in the Hanoi area during ar-
rival and departure of the International Control
Commission flights tn MnVP he'nxiv transport in and
out of the city.
He had observed that
traffic was always much heavier in the city during
the periods encompassing the arrival and departure
of the ICC flights.
Concerning the effects of US bombing, the
traveler believed that the bombing as now con-
ducted is not too disruptive of civilian life.
Any aircraft over the city results in an alarm be-
ing sounded, with everyone seeking shelter regard-
less of whether bombs are dropped. The alerts are
usually of short duration, however, and as shel-
ters are close to places of work, the workers lose
little time from their jobs.
? The traveler received the impression that the
people of Hanoi have become inured to the present
hardships and accept their difficult existence with
little complaint. He said that almost all child-
ren and many women have been evacuated; men greatly
outnumbered women in the city.
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Juni
Chinese Statement: Peking's statement of
I March on Vietnam, the first official government
pronouncement since last November, was largely a
reiteration of China's standard propaganda line.
Again, Peking refrained from any specific commit-
ment to Hanoi offering only the "all-out support"
of the "Chinese Government and the 700 million
Chinese people."
The statement emphasized the Chinese conten-
tion that Hanoi and the Viet Cong can achieve
final victory if they will only persevere in the
fighting. The results of the Communist spring of-
fensive were cited as proof that "complete defeat"
for the US "is not far off." The statement warned,
however, that out of desperation the US would fur-
ther escalate the fighting while it engages in
"peace-talk plots" in collaboration with the So-
viet Union.
* * *
French Doctor Visits Hanoi: A French doctor,
the head of the Communist-front Franco-Vietnamese
Medical Association, is back in Paris after a trip
to Hanoi. He has told US officials that the bomb-
ing of Hanoi has damaged the city's water supply
system and that all water must be boiled. Wells
have been dug to supplement the system. The city
is not threatened by epidemic, however. The doc-
tor says he saw no indication that stepped-up
bombing would break the North Vietnamese will to
resist.
The doctor found the North Vietnamese inter-
ested in increased medical exchange with France,
and he thinks more French doctors will go to North
Vietnam for short visits. He says Hanoi no longer
needs malaria suppressants or antibiotics, which
are largely manufactured locally. It does need
surgical equipment and laboratory testing equipment.
The Frenchman had some contact with political
officials in Hanoi, but got nothing but the stand-
ard line on negotiations.
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Czechs Provide Diesel Generators: Czechoslo-
vakia will supply Hanoi with a 5760-0=kilowatt diesel
electric power station, the largest single diesel
electric power station North Vietnam has imported
since the bombing began. This is in addition to 14
diesel generators, with a combined capacity of 5,600
kw, which the Czechs said they could deliver late in
1968.
Since early 1965, Hanoi has imported about
3,000 diesel generating plants from Communist coun-
tries with a combined capacity of about 50,000 kw.
These plants can produce about 100 million to 120
million kilowatt hours of electricity annually,
about one-fifth of prebombing production. The
new generators will increase Hanoi's capacity, al-
ready sufficient to meet the demands of essential
consumers, by 20 percent.
* * *
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
There is nothing of significance to report.
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Top Secret
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