THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF - 1968/01/29

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05974249
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

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The President's President's Daily Brief
January 1968
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2. North Vietnam
3. South Vietnam
4.
5.
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Hanoi may intend to use the jet
airfield it is trying to re-establish
at Vinh for operations against US B-52
bombers around the Demilitarized Zone.
Communications between Hanoi and Vinh
have recently included messages perti-
nent to B-52 strike operations. More-
over, the North Vietnamese recently used
two of their top pilots for MIG-21
flights to the Vinh area.
Communist attempts to shoot down
B-52s near the zone with surface-to-
air missiles have so far been unsuccess-
ful.
Enemy military activity has not
been reduced significantly since the be-
ginning of the Viet Cong - announced
cease-fire period three days ago. North
Vietnamese main force units in the west-
ern highlands of Pleiku and Kontum prov-
inces are completing battle preparations.
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FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
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29 January 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
29 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
French Press Agency on Hanoi Reaction to the
Pueblo Incident: Yesterday Paris broadcast in Eng-
lish a dispatch from the French correspondent in
�Hanoi. According to this piece, North Vietnam re-
gards the Pueblo incident as part of widespread hos-
tile American action against Asian countries, "domin-
ated by the Vietnamese conflict." Hanoi, it said,
lumps the American ship's operations off North Ko-
rea with violation of the Cambodian frontier, the
bombing of Laos, violation of Chinese air space,
and increasing American air and advisory activities
against the Pathet Lao.
The French dispatch goes on to quote the North
Vietnamese army journal as saying that the seizure
of the Pueblo "is a legitimate action that absolutely
no one can distort. But the Americans do not know how
to be contrite. They fall back on gangsters' remarks
and, while trying to resolve their crises, they re-
sort to cunning." The army journal concludes by say-
ing that "elbow to elbow with our Korean brothers
there is the powerful socialist camp and the whole
of progressive humanity."
* * *
Hanoi on "Decept ive",US Peace Posture: Hanoi con-
tinues to place full responsibility for prolongation
of the war on the US. An authoritative "Commentator"
article in the 28 January Hanoi daily Nhan Dan as-
serts that US "ruling circles" continued to�ffRaintain
a stubborn attitude" even after Foreign Minister
Trinh's recent statement that talks between Hanoi and
the US "would" begin after the US unconditionally
stopped the bombing of North Vietnam. The article
noted that many people and governments and even some
"American political circles" have demanded that the
US stop the bombing.
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President Johnson's remarks on Vietnam in his
State of the Union address were merely a repetition
of earlier US statements, according to the "Commen-
tator" article. Hanoi claims that the call for
reciprocity in exchange for an end to the bombing is
a "trick to confuse right and wrong" and that the US
is seeking a pretext to expand the war. The article
closed with a standard North Vietnamese assertion
that they are determined to fight "till final vic-
tory" to defeat the US.
�Hanoi Protests Barrier in Laos: Hanoi interna-
tional service in English on 26 January quotes the
Nhan Dan issue of the same date as denouncing "the US
=-einT-To establish a mechanical warning system in
Laos as a most cynical violation of the 1962 Geneva
agreements." Nhan Dan goes on to state that "this
barrier is des-iTEFd-ag a supplement to the barbed
wire and structural barriers to be built along the
Demilitarized Zone in Vietnam and will consist of
elaborate mechanical gadgets."
The newspaper further charged that "the mechani-
cal warning system project in Laos constitutes a new
step-up in the US plan to send ground forces to cen-
tral and lower Laos." The broadcast concluded by
saying that "the system, just as any other adventurous
plan of the Pentagon, will certainly be frustrated
by the Laotian people," led, of course, by the Pathet
Lao. Hanoi did not state, however, that it will
assist the Lao patriots, as it almost always does
when speaking of Cambodia.
* * *
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North Vietnamese Television Studio: Hanoi has
announcea that it has set up a television film
studio, according to a French Press Agency report
from the North Vietnamese capital. Films will be
produced for showing abroad and will depict the
fight against the US and the "building of social-
ism." According to the French report, Hanoi hopes
the Studio will hasten the introduction of tele-
vision generally in North Vietnam.
* * *
Release of US Prisoners: Hanoi's announced
decision to release three captured US airmen held
in North Vietnam appears designed for propaganda
purposes. In a 27 January broadcast, the North
Vietnamese stated that the men would be released
in honor of Tet, due to Hanoi's "humanitarian and
lenient" policy. The broadcast also noted that the
three have displayed a "repentant attitude." North
Vietnam has not yet stated when or where they will -
be freed, but has identified them as Major Morris
Overly, Captain Jon Black, and Ensign Paul Metheny.
All three were captured during September and October
last year.
* * *
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi on US Antiwar Protests: A 27 January
Hanoi International Service broadcast in English .
quoted Western reports of demonstrations in front
of two New York hotels on 24 January, when Vice
President Humphrey and other "warmongers" were due
to appear. The broadcast noted that many demon-
strators were dressed in Vietnamese peasant costumes
to express support for "the Vietnamese people's
struggle."
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