THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 3 APRIL 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974361
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: April 3, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
---TOP-Seget._ 3 April 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
3 APRIL 1968
1. Vietnam
2. Brazil
South Vietnam's chief of the gen-
eral staff, General Cao Van Vien, has
tendered his resignation, according to
a Saigon press report. There is no in-
dication yet whether Vien's resignation
will be accepted. He and several of
the corps commanders have been threaten-
ing to resign for several weeks. They
are disgruntled with Thieu's handling
of the government.
* * *
Evidence of heavy infiltration in-
to South Vietnam continues to mount.
North Vietnamese units above the Demili-
tarized Zone are disappearing from their
regular communications networks, a good
indication they are moving south. At
least 36 infiltration groups have now
been identified. A premium appears to
be on speed. Personnel of one North
Vietnamese regiment now in the central
highlands moved over 500 miles from
North to South Vietnam in about a month.
* * *
Ambassador Goldberg notes that re-
ports of air strikes near Thanh Hoa
have drawn some unfavorable comments
from non-Communist UN delegates.
Political tension is still high,
but student demonstrations have tapered
off. Trouble could flare up again to-
morrow when a mass will be held for a
youth killed by police in Rio. Student
leaders are beginning to bicker among
themselves, however, and this is limit-
ing their effectiveness to some extent.
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3. Jordan-Iran
4. Czechoslovakia
5. Communist China
The Iranians are requesting US re-
action to a proposed transfer of Ameri-
can-supplied tanks and artillery to
Jordan. Husayn asked the Shah for help
on an urgent basis after the Israeli at-
tack last month. Husayn feels he needs
the equipment now to fill in until simi-
lar hardware arrives under the recent
US-Jordanian agreement. The Iranians
are not sure yet whether they would sell
or loan the equipment, nor are any spe-
cific numbers being mentioned.
Dubcek continues to shake the old
hardliners out of the party tree. Mon-
day, Jiri Hendrych, the once-powerful
spokesman for the "neo-Stalinists," ad-
mitted his "past mistakes" and resigned
his posts on the presidium and the party
secretariat. Lesser men are going too.
One of the best indications of the
new wind blowing in Czechoslovakia was
a Prague domestic broadcast quoting the
Czech Washington correspondent on Presi-
dent Johnson's address: "In my view,"
he said, "it would be unjust and im-
proper to dismiss Johnson's speech as
another maneuver.... On the contrary,
it would be better for the socialist
countries to carry out a deep analysis
of the long-term consequences that John-
son's speech can have."
There is ample evidence that war-
ring members of the Politburo continue
to stalk one another. Three senior mili-
tary officers--one a Lin Piao prot?--
were purged last week; this week posters
have gone up attacking some of Chou En-
lai's followers.
In some provinces outside Peking,
the struggle for power is considerably
more direct and deadly. Bitter street
fighting between contending factions is
reported from several cities.)
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6. Panama
7. Guatemala
National Guard Commandant Valla-
rino is letting it be known that he
will not accept any decision by the
Supreme Court against Robles. Robles
expects a favorable decision today,
but Panamanian law provides enough
loopholes to let the court delay until
mid-April. Meanwhile, there are signs
that some of Arias' key backers feel
their money is on the wrong horse;
there is talk of dumping him for an-
other candidate, perhaps Vallarino him-
? self.
The first reports of military coup
plotting are coming in the wake of last
week's move by President Mendez to
shake up the army hierarchy.
So far the threat to Mendez does
not appear immediate. Much, however,
depends on how far Mendez tries to go
in curtailing the extralegal "counter-
insurgency" groups who range the coun-
tryside under army auspices hunting
leftists. If the President tries to
eliminate these vigilantes, then the
army may well move against him.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
2.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
Top Secret
16
3 April 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
3 April 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
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Foreign Shipping to North Vietnam in February:
Ship arrivals dropped sharply in February after the
record high in January. The 92,500 tons of seaborne
imports in February (on 29 foreign ships) were less
than half the January figure (on 46 ships).
North Vietnamese exports rose in February, a re-
flection of renewed coal exports from Cam Pha and Hon
Gay.
* * *
Hanoi Delegation Begins African Trip: The North
Vietnamese Foreign Ministry delegation headed by Vice
Foreign Minister Hoang Van Loi arrived in Algiers on
2 April on the first stop of a tour scheduled to in-
clude Egypt, Guinea, Mali, Congo Brazzaville, Tanzania,
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and Syria--all the countries in Africa and the Mid-
dle East where Hanoi currently has diplomatic repre-
sentatives. The trip is part of Hanoi's current attempt
to gain additional support for its position on nego-
tiations. In an airport reception in Algiers, Loi out-
lined his government's standard position on a settlement
of the war but refused to comment on President Johnson's
31 March statement.
Two North Vietnamese Diplomats in Eastern Europe
Have Left Their Posts, Perhaps for Home: US Embassy
officers in Bucharest and Sofia reported on 1 April
that North Vietnamese ambassadors in these cities are
absent. In Rumania, the Polish ambassador reported
that his North Vietnamese counterpart left for Hanoi
"hurriedly last week" without the usual notification
to his diplomatic colleagues. In Bulgaria, the local
press reported that Hanoi's ambassador was not in the
country. Both of these absences appear to predate
President Johnson's 31 March speech.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Reacts Cautiously to President's Speech:
Hanoi's initial press reactions to President Johnson's
31 March statement are negative and hostile, but the
regime has handled the matter cautiously in its radio
propaganda.
Both the party and the army newspapers on 2 April
carried general denunciations of US policy, but appar-
ently failed to address the President's move directly.
The army paper scored US unwillingness to halt the
bombing "finally and unconditionally" throughout North
Vietnam, according to the Soviet news agency. The party
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paper talked of a "new plot" and a "fraudulent pro-
posal," according to French and Japanese accounts.
Neither item has been broadcast by Hanoi radio,
which seems to have limited itself to quotes of So-
viet accounts charging that the bombing halt is not
in accordance with North Vietnam's conditions.
* * *
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