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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 9-10.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why didn't Kennedy offer the position of Secretary of State to McGeorge Bundy?
(a) Bundy was a Republican and too young.
(b) Bundy had a reputation for saying damaging things off the cuff.
(c) Bundy was too old and conservative.
(d) Bundy did not have the support of the Jews.

2. Who was named to head the U.S. command in Saigon in January 1962?
(a) Robert McNamara.
(b) Paul Harkins.
(c) Maxwell Taylor.
(d) Chester Bowles.

3. What did the Geneva Convention decide in Vietnam?
(a) It established a procedure for holding elections.
(b) It determined how prisoners of war would be exchanged.
(c) It divided the country in two, a north and a south.
(d) It sanctioned the north for its attacks on the south.

4. How big a margin did Kennedy win the presidency by?
(a) 1,000,000 votes.
(b) 1.5 million votes.
(c) 100,000 votes.
(d) 500,000 votes.

5. Whose input did the French and Americans ignore about Vietnam, in Halberstam's account?
(a) Military advisers.
(b) Diplomats.
(c) Generals.
(d) Lower-level officers.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which situation had the biggest effect on the Kennedy administration in 1961?

2. What policies had Robert Lovett been involved in crafting?

3. When Kennedy did not authorize more troops, what does Halberstam say he told the Pentagon?

4. What does Halberstam say was the problem with the Kennedy administration's pragmatism?

5. What was Kennedy in the process of doing at the beginning of the book?

(see the answer key)

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