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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When did Kennedy first send advisers to Vietnam?
(a) October 1961.
(b) May 1962.
(c) June 1963.
(d) February 1962.

2. How does Halberstam say Dean Rusk felt in the Kennedy administration?
(a) He felt like the spokesman of the party.
(b) He felt like a new kid without enough respect.
(c) He always felt like an outsider.
(d) He felt like the smartest of the bunch.

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

4. What does Halberstam say was Robert McNamara's role in the White House policy discussions?
(a) McNamara followed the will of the other advisers.
(b) McNamara filled in the details of others' plans.
(c) McNamara enforced Kennedy's will.
(d) McNamara dominated discussions.

5. Why hadn't Roosevelt stopped the French from returning to Indochina after the war, in Halberstam's account?
(a) There was no post-war plan to prevent them.
(b) He could not get a censure from the United Nations.
(c) He did not have the authority to.
(d) He needed France for its support of American monetary policy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What position had Robert Lovett been appointed to in 1947?

2. What issue did Joseph McCarthy use to energize voters?

3. What committee had Kennedy served on in the Senate?

4. Why did the Americans back down on demands for reform in Vietnam in 1962, in Halberstam's account?

5. What does Halberstam say was the state of tensions within the White House as involvement in Vietnam escalated?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the Kennedy administration's stance with regard to Russia?

2. Why didn't the U.S. gain the loyalty of the Vietnamese peasants?

3. What does Halberstam say Kennedy was confronted with at the beginning of "The Best and the Brightest"?

4. Why does Halberstam say Chester Bowles' popularity faded?

5. What crises confronted the Kennedy administration in 1961?

6. What was the American government's relationship with Diem in 1961?

7. Who was Frederick Nolting, and what was his role in Vietnam?

8. What was McNamara's stance with regard to nuclear weapons?

9. Describe Vietnam's problems with the Buddhist monks.

10. How did the fall of China and the Cold War affect the Kennedy administration?

(see the answer keys)

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