THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF - 1968/01/17

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974228
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

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The President's Daily Brief
re t 17 January 1968
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DAILY BRIEF
17 JANUARY 1968
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2. South Vietnam
3.
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All strikes are to be called off
for the time being. This respite is
the product of a bargaining session be-
tween the government and union leaders
Monday night. The government agreed to
give electrical workers a retroactive '
cost-of-living allowance in exchange
for the temporary back-to-work order
from the union.
The no-strike pledge is good only
through Tet, however, and problems
could develop unless the government
moves toward a more permanent accommo-
dation--including release of jailed
union leaders.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
17 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Reaction to the War:
in groups the Vietnamese continually
voice their pride in their nation, in its history of
resisting aggression, and in the fact that it is now
"defeating" the most powerful nation on earth. Work-
ers, however, have tended to become corrupted by
the war and are engaging in petty theft and black
marketeering. P � ort is given to keeping
safe and alive. American leaflets on how
to build small bom ers were picked up and used
extensively.) In private, some of the Vietnamese
voice sentiments about peace, the happiness it would
bring, and the horror of the air raids.
in
spite ot a deep longing for peace and considerable
depression over economic difficulties and personal
hardships, no one contemplated even for a moment try-
ing to do anything against the will of the government.
A fatalistic attitude, "as if the war were a flood or
a hurricane to be survived," seemed to be quite com-
mon.
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Tighter Security: North Vietnam is �tightening
even further the already rigid security controls
that grip the cities. The party daily, Nhan Dan,
has called for greater efforts to keep fET�UiEFFI
population in line and thus implies the regime is
having some security problems. The article pointed
out that watching for enemies of the state is not
just the work of security police--all citizens were
urged to lend a hand in spying on their neighbors
to expose "espionage agents and counterrevolution-
aries." This means anyone, in short, who might be
expressing less than wholehearted enthusiasm for
the war effort. There also was a strong hint in
the article that a crackdown is coming on black mar-
keteers.
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French Left Raises Funds for Hanoi: Various
Communist and leftist-oriented organizations in
France have joined together in a project termed
"Ship for Vietnam," designed to raise at least one
half million dollars in goods and money to be
shipped to North Vietnam. The French Communist
Party has pledged to raise the lion's share of the
amount with other groups contributing according to
their means.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
US Being Made Ogre on Talks Issue: North Viet-
nam and its European bloc allies continue to stress
the importance of Foreign Minister Trinh's offer of
talks with the US in return for an end to the bomb-
ing. This propaganda is keyed to the theme that
the US is rejecting peace overtures.
In an unusually detailed broadcast beamed in
English to US servicemen in South Vietnam on 15 Janu-
ary, Hanoi reported both the national and interna-
tional figures who have called upon the administra-
tion to respond to the Trinh statement. The broad-
cast listed Senators Robert Kennedy, McCarthy, Ful-
bright, and Cooper as leaders on the domestic scene
demanding an end to the bombing, and quoted a num-
ber of editorials in leading US papers to that effect.
Remarks by leaders of several NATO countries calling
for an end to the air raids also were quoted.
Bloc comment has been generally cautious in
treating Trinh's statement, but has been uniform in
claiming that the US has failed to respond. A Hun-
garian broadcast on 15 January is typical. It claimed
that Washington had given no sign of interest in ne-
gotiations and quoted recent remarks by US officials
to demonstrate an uncompromising US position on set-
tlement of the war. Like the Hanoi broadcast, that
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from Budapest listed the NATO countries which have
voiced support for a cessation of the bombing and
noted remarks by Senator Mansfield.
* * *
Hanoi Ballyhoos Deserters: Hanoi in an inter-
national broadcast on 16 January reported that three
more "antiwar" American soldiers have sought politi-
cal asylum in Sweden. The broadcast went on to wrap
up previous reports on the 13 other recent defectors
to Sweden and to report the protest at the Justice
Department on 12 January.
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