THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974192
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: April 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: December 27, 1967

Approved for Release: 2019/03/29 005974192
The President's Daily Brief
Toi ecret 27 December 1967
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DAILY BRIEF
27 DECEMBER 1967
1. Communist China
2. Communist China
3. Cambodia
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Civil disorder and violence are
spreading. In some areas, local con-
ditions appear to be as bad as last
summer. There are an increasing num-
ber of reports that Red Guards are
again using machine guns and other
military weapons. The army seems to
be doing little or nothing to prevent
outbreaks, but intervenes only to
keep the violence from spreading.
The International Control Commis-
sion was unimpressed by its investiga-
tion of the Viet Cong camp reported by
two American correspondents.
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4. Soviet Union
5. Yemen
6. Aden
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Recent satellite photography has
given us a glimpse of the model (not
for certain an exact model) of the huge
space booster which the Soviets are ex-
pected to launch in the latter part of
1968. A vehicle about 320 feet tall
and 50 feet in diameter--a bit shorter
and fatter than Saturn V--was seen on
one of the two giant launch pads under
construction at Tyuratam.
The over-all size of this object,
probably an engineering mock-up to check
out the pads and their support facili-
ties, is quite close to what we had es-
timated. The setting up of this check-
out vehicle before structural portions
of the launch area are completed sug-
gests that the Soviets are wasting no
time in readying these facilities.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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27 December 1967
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
27 December 1967
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Giap Fails to Show: Preliminary news accounts
of the attendance at the 23 December celebrations in
Hanoi indicate that Defense Minister General Vo Nguyen
Giap was not present. Army Day is an occasion which
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General Giap not only normally attends, but on which
he speaks, and his absence is unusual. Hanoi has
not reported on Giap's activities since he was re-
ported returning from the Soviet anniversary cele-
brations in mid-November.
Hanoi Chary on Contacts Issue: The Vietnamese
Communists are still maintaining a cautious silence
on President Johnson's press interview comments
about possible contacts between the Thieu government
and the Liberation Front. On two recent occasions
authoritative Hanoi and Front spokesmen have avoided
specific comment on this particular subject when
the occasion presented itself. Hanoi issued two
propaganda attacks this past weekend in which the
President's five points were condemned in general
terms, and his joint statement with Thieu in Aus-
tralia and his pre-Christmas travels were described
as tricks and peace frauds. The issue of Thieu-Front
contacts was not discussed. The same reluctance to
openly discuss the issue of contacts between the
Liberation Front and the Thieu government was demon-
strated by a Front representative in an interview for
a French newspaper.
II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
.ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Antiwar Protests Reported by Hanoi: In a 26 De-
cember English language broadcast, Hanoi noted with-
out comment a number of antiwar activities that took
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place during Christmas week in the US. A "stirring
demonstration" near the UN building on 21 December
was reported as well as a press conference by Har-
yard Professor H. Stuart Hughes on the same date,
in which Hughes called for an "immediate end to the
bombings of North Vietnam."
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To ecret
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