View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Isaacson claim MacArthur's plans were blocked?
(a) Because the bombing of the bridges might provoke the Chinese to take harsher actions.
(b) Because the foreign policy elite feared losing influence if a military success ended the conflict in Korea.
(c) Because the Administration feared communist aggression within the continental United States.
(d) Because the Administration had a strict policy of keeping American soldiers within the boundaries of South Korea.

2. How does Isaacson detail how the last of the "Six Wise Men" whom President-Elect Kennedy called affected Kennedy's decision for Secretary of State?
(a) He rejected Kennedy's offer for the position.
(b) He suggested that President-Elect Kennedy read an article in Foreign Affairs that one of the candidates for Secretary of State wrote.
(c) He wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times expressing the qualities of Kennedy's eventual nominee.
(d) He detailed how each of his candidates had helped to direct the policies that were made to confront the Soviet menace in the immediate period following WWII.

3. What does Isaacson claim to be the the Soviet's view of keeping security?
(a) The Soviets viewed security in terms of dominating and occupying as much territory as possible.
(b) The Soviets viewed security in terms of seeing everyone as a potential threat.
(c) The Soviets saw security as the primary goal of all of its imperial efforts.
(d) The Soviets saw massive military buildups as the primary method of achieving security.

4. How does Isaacson report that Clark Clifford understood the rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union had to be framed to make the general public support confronting the Communists?
(a) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a contest between the forces of darkness and light."
(b) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a potential threat to the freedom and security of every individual in the country."
(c) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as fearfully as possible to cajole the general public to put unquestioning support for the wisdom of its government."
(d) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a personal cause of free American talent overcoming international slavery."

5. Who does Isaacson claim that Dean Acheson, Robert Lovett, and John McCloy suggested for President-Elect Kennedy's Secretary of State?
(a) Dean Rusk.
(b) David Bruce.
(c) Paul Nitze.
(d) Bill Fulbright.

Short Answer Questions

1. What concern does Isaacson claim motivated Under Secretary of State Dean Acheson to encourage America's financial support for Greece?

2. What office did President-Elect Kennedy offer to the first of the "Six Wise Men" whose counsel he sought?

3. After Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, who does Isaacson state became Secretary of State?

4. What does Isaacson suggest to be the result of George Kennan's "Long Telegram"?

5. Who does Isaacson report to be the last of the "Six Wise Men" whom President-Elect Kennedy called before he made his choice for Secretary of State?

Short Essay Questions

1. What organization did John McCloy help to form that became the precursor to the European Common Market, according to Isaacson?

2. What scandal does Isaacson report to have come to the Truman Administration's state department in January 1950?

3. What did Isaacson identify as George Kennan's recommended next phase for dealing with communist expansionism after he felt that his plan for containment was working?

4. What was the suggestion that Dean Acheson made regarding the future of freedom if Turkey and Greece fell into the influence of Soviet Communism, according to Isaacson?

5. What does Isaacson report to be the concern of Robert Lovett regarding the operations of the CIA under President Eisenhower?

6. What does Isaacson claim Clark Clifford wrote in a campaign strategy memo regarding the affect of the Soviet clampdown on Czechoslovakia on the reelection chances of President Truman?

7. According to Isaacson, what caused President Truman to remove General Douglas MacArthur from his command over the conduct of South Korean forces in the Korean War?

8. What Southeast Asian country did President Eisenhower tell President-Elect Kennedy was the "key" to keeping communism from overtaking all of Southeast Asia according to Isaacson?

9. What does Isaacson claim to be Stalin's reaction to the Marshall Plan?

10. What was Dean Acheson's view regarding America's involvement in Vietnam, according to Isaacson?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,100 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample