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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 Averell Harriman join the most elite club at Yale according to Isaacson?
(a) 1912.
(b) 1911.
(c) 1917.
(d) 1914.

2. With whom did John McCloy and Robert Lovett serve as advisers to the Secretary of War, according to Isaacson?
(a) Dean Acheson and Averell Harriman.
(b) George Marshall and Erskine Hawkins.
(c) McGeorge Bundy and Henry Stimson.
(d) Robert Patterson and Harvey Bundy.

3. Under which president did Dean Acheson serve in the Attorney General's office?
(a) Herbert Hoover.
(b) Calvin Coolidge.
(c) Harry Truman.
(d) Franklin Roosevelt.

4. What does Isaacson claim the six men profiled in The Wise Men represent?
(a) New Democrats.
(b) The American Establishment.
(c) Moderate Republicans.
(d) Ivy League colleges.

5. What does Isaacson cite as the difference between Kennan's and Chip Bohlen's approach to preparing for their chosen field?
(a) Bohlen was very social and enjoyed drinking, but Kennan was studied in seclusion and was a tea-totaler.
(b) Kennan was academic, but Bohlen was impulsive.
(c) Kennan had analytic depth, but Bohlen had a more nimble mind.
(d) Kennan approached his preparations with anxiety but Bohlen enjoyed his time studying for the exams.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Bohlen's first assignment after he completed training in his field, according to Issacson?

2. What quality of Truman's does Isaacson claim was welcomed by the liaison between the State Department and the White House ?

3. What decision did Harriman influence Stalin to make, according to Isaacson, to get around the decision of Secretary Stettinius?

4. Who coined the term "Iron Curtain" in a cable to President Truman?

5. Where does Isaacson claim Averell Harriman was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Isaacson claim to be the "warning" issued through the Potsdam proclamation by the Allied Powers to Japan regarding the dropping of the atomic bomb?

2. What does Isaacson report to be a prerequisite for being tapped for Skull and Bones at Yale?

3. After WWI, how does Isaacson show Averell Harriman's process of making business deals with Leon Trotsky of Communist Russia?

4. What does Issacson suggest comes between 20th century isolationism and a utopian dream of a world order based on international law?

5. What does Isaacson claim motivated George Kennan to apply for a job with the foreign service?

6. Who does Isaacson identify as the two men that Secretary of War Henry Stimson called the "Heavenly Twins"?

7. What does Isaacson claim to be Averell Harriman's qualification for Skull and Bones?

8. What does Isaacson report to be Averell Harriman's first achievement after he was named as transportation adviser to the National Defense Advisory Commission by President Franklin Roosevelt?

9. What kind of jobs did John McCloy's mother find for him during his youth, according to Isaacson?

10. What does Isaacson report that George Kennan believed Marxism offered to Soviet Russian leaders?

(see the answer keys)

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