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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. How did George Kennan develop his connection to Russia according to Isaacson?

2. Which of the "Wise Men," according to Isaacson, attended The Hill School in Philadelphia?

3. What was the ratio of students who passed the training for Kennan's chosen field to those who took the course, according to Isaacson?

4. Who does Isaacson report to have been the vice president the W. A. Harriman investment firm?

5. What event does Isaacson suggest brought calls to come out of its isolationism following WWI?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the major declarations of the Atlantic Charter, according to Isaacson?

2. What experience in John McCloy's background does Isaacson claim gave McCloy the exposure to Henry Stimson that eventually led to McCloy's appointment to the Department of War as a special consultant on German espionage?

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

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

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

6. What were the roles of George Kennan and Chip Bohlen in President Franklin Roosevelt's successful effort to open official diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1933, according to Isaacson?

7. What military action did Joseph Stalin demand from his British and American allies once the United States entered WWII, according to Isaacson?

8. As the Allied powers began to close in on Germany, what does Isaacson expose to be the main concern of the British and American governments for the post-war era?

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Soviet Union was an ally of Nazi Germany before the U.S. entered WWII, but sought out U.S. and British support after Germany invaded it. Use details from the book that suggest:

a. American support for enemies of Nazi Germany was bringing America to the brink of the European war.

b. The Soviets would manipulate the alliance with the U.S. and Britain for their own benefit.

c. How the war time alliance between the Soviet Union and the U.S. foretold conflict for the future.

Essay Topic 2

Averell Harriman and Robert Lovett established lucrative careers in rail roads, investment banking, shipping, and ship building, among other industries. Was the track these two took to influence government policy altruistic toward the benefit of the U.S., or followed for the benefit of the industries that made them powerful? Use details from the book to support your view.

Essay Topic 3

Joseph Stalin is very prominent in the development of American foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union. Was American foreign policy developed with regard to American interests or as reactions to Stalin's personality, demands, and aggression against domestic political enemies and satellite states to the Soviet Union? If you choose the answer that policy regarding Stalin's Soviet Union was made in defense of American interests, support your position with evidence from the book and outside sources. If you consider that foreign policy was made as a reaction to Stalin, support your position with evidence and suggest how the government could have acted more for the benefit of the nation.

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This section contains 910 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample