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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the Geneva Convention decide in Vietnam?

2. When did the problem with the Buddhist monks begin?

3. How long had Ho Chi Minh's communism associations been known to the U.S., in Halberstam's account?

4. What mistake had the Kennedy administration made in the Bay of Pigs invasion?

5. What was Kennedy's relationship with the press during his presidential campaign?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the Kennedy administration's image with the American people?

2. How did the White House eventually try to limit the military?

3. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

4. What three plans does Halberstam say the U.S. was considering in Vietnam in 1961?

5. How did the meeting between Lovett and Kennedy play in the press?

6. Who was Dean Rusk, and what was his role and place in the Kennedy administration?

7. Describe the confrontation in Laos.

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

9. What kind of reports does Halberstam say the U.S. got from Vietnam?

10. Who was Kennedy, and how did he become well known?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How did the Vietnam war affect the U.S. government's bureaucratic organization? Analyze Halberstam's history and describe the changes that were made in the roles and structure of the government as a result of or in reaction to the situation in Vietnam. How did Kennedy and Johnson create special positions or grant special powers to individuals around them? How did the system of checks and balances work in relationship to the privacy and secrecy of the war planners?

Essay Topic 2

How does the containment of the 1960s differ from the preemptive foreign policy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How has American foreign policy changed since the 1960s?

Essay Topic 3

Write a critical review of "The Best and the Brightest": what does Halberstam do well, and what parts of the book are not well-executed? Considering recent revelations regarding the war, how prescient was Halberstam in his history?

(see the answer keys)

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