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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 does Halberstam say General Westmoreland was asking President Johnson for, now that he was in control of Vietnam?

2. What evidence does Halberstam say the President was presented with to make the case for bombing?

3. What happened in the Gulf of Tonkin as a part of 34A?

4. What does Halberstam say was the effect of the Gulf of Tonkin incident on the U.S. government?

5. What does Halberstam say was the beginning of the 'credibility gap'?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was President Johnson's position with regard to bombing?

2. What was Dean Rusk's role in Vietnam after Kennedy's assassination?

3. What were the alternatives the staff in Vietnam laid out for Maxwell Taylor when he visited Vietnam in the fall of 1964?

4. What happened to Diem and Nhu during the coup?

5. What was the intelligence community's assessment of Rolling Thunder?

6. What does Halberstam say happened when Westmoreland assumed control?

7. What was Rolling Thunder and what was its purpose?

8. What does Halberstam say Maxwell Taylor said were the three issues confronting the U.S. in its Vietnam planning?

9. What does Halberstam say the effect of the Vietnam war on the American people was?

10. Describe what Halberstam calls 'the Bundy trip' to Vietnam.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the conditions that led to the coup against Diem and the credibility gap in America. Was the U.S. ripe for a coup the same way that the Diem regime was considered ripe for a coup? What forces were arguing for regime change in America? Why were they ultimately unsuccessful? (Was regime change ultimately what protesters in the U.S. wanted?)

Essay Topic 2

John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama share certain similarities, insofar as they were both young and charismatic leaders with relatively little experience, but represented a new way of doing things. Compare and contrast the early political careers and elections of these two presidents. How were they temperamentally similar? How did they relate to the old guard? How were their ascensions different?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Halberstam as a biographer and historian. What are his preoccupations? What does he not consider? What are his narrative techniques, and what literary techniques does he use to describe the people and actions that comprise "The Best and the Brightest"?

(see the answer keys)

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