View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which general replaces General Harkins as the supreme commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam?

2. In what year does the Vann family move to Atlantic City?

3. What does John Paul Vann find out about the numbers of the Regional Forces in Hau Nghia?

4. Which province does John Paul Vann and his friend conspire to re-take?

5. For how many years during his childhood was John Paul Vann bounced between his two aunts and other friends and relatives?

Short Essay Questions

1. By this time, what was the political situation in Saigon?

2. What was John Paul Vann's strategy for turning the war in the United States' favor? How did this differ from the U.S. policy at the time?

3. What did this situation make John Paul Vann realize?

4. When did Myrtle Lee Tripp's second husband, Frank Vann, finally adopt John Paul Vann as his son? Why did it take so long?

5. What word best describes John Paul Vann's mother, Myrtle Lee Tripp? Provide a justification for your answer.

6. What media figure befriends John Paul Vann and is responsible for stealing and leaking the "Pentagon Papers" to the U.S. media? What strategy of John Paul Vann's did this person find most appealing?

7. In 1963, President Diem set off what was known as the "Buddhist Crisis". What was this and what was the eventual result of it?

8. Who was the most influential and first real friend that John Paul Vann had? Why did this person have such an impact on John Paul Vann's life?

9. Which parent did the majority of the household chores in the Vann home? Why?

10. What do we know about John Paul Vann's lineage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What were some of John Paul Vann's specific duties and responsibilities as a civilian member of the Agency for International Development (AID) in Vietnam? How did the efforts of this agency improve the conditions of the war for combatants and innocents alike? Was John Paul Vann satisfied with the scope of his AID directives? If not, why not? What more did he feel he needed to do?

Essay Topic 2

When Richard M. Nixon was elected president in 1968, what actions did he take with regard to the war in Vietnam? Provide 2-3 examples, along with your analysis of whether or not these actions helped or hindered the war effort. Also, how did Nixon's policies mesh or differ with the views espoused throughout the book by John Paul Vann?

Essay Topic 3

There were many reasons why the United States decided to directly involve our military in Vietnam. Chief among them was the performance of the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN). Briefly describe the condition of the ARVN that prompted many American advisers and military intelligence personnel to recommend "sending in the Marines"? If the United States hadn't sent in fighting men and women, how do you think South Vietnam might have fared on its own?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 935 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample