<. ( ,~ _,,,­ NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505 ~ MEMORANDUM FOR MR. W. W. ROSTOW '/ ( . SUBJECT: Lenart Visit fo Hanoi 7 We have little reliable information. The attached cable from Prague···· •••••••••••is nevertheless interesting. 1.!(c) ~nodoubt right that the Lenart visit was closely S.4~)(1) coordinated with the Soviets. 11111•.. orientation on such questions has been consistently to Moscow. It would be surprising if the Soviets used Lenart for a serious peace initiative, and there is no indication they are doing so. The Czechs have not been active in the past on Vietnam. North Vietnamese Deputy Premier Nghi has been touring Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and most recently Mos«!ow. Agreements for increased economic assistance have come out of this. Lenart1s visit will probably produce some such announcement. The Lenart delegation includes the Chairman of the Czechoslovakian State Committee for Technology, Vlasak. Other members of the delegation are Koucky, who is the No. Z ideologist, and General Prchlik, who is the "political commissar" in the Army. A Yugoslav correspondent in Moscow reported that the delegation was half­snubbed on its way to Peking --hardly surprising--and a Saigon cable this morning reported the Hanoi reception as friendly but riot as warm as that for the Romanian Bodnaras. The Yugoslav correspondent also speculated on the visit being connected with the Sino-Soviet rift and Chines_e interference with the transport of •id (an FBIS report of the Yugoslav•s story is attached). Lenazt1s own $tatement in Hanoi as reported from Saigon (also attached) adds some credence to this. Besides Bodnaras, the last high..level Eastern European visit was that of Hungarian Deputy Premier Fock last year. The Fock visit was not followed by any very obvious pay..off in the strategic sense. SANITIZE E.O, 12 NW 7