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

2. Upon whom does Isaacson claim that Stimson relied to help him achieve his goal regarding the control of the atom bomb?

3. Who was the Republican upon whom the Truman Administration focused to win support for the Marshall Plan, according to Isaacson?

4. What were the three questions President Truman wrote regarding America's confrontation with Soviet aggression?

5. Who did President Eisenhower choose for his Ambassador to Russia, according to Isaacson?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Who were the first two of the "Six Wise Men" to remove themselves from advising President Johnson because they could no longer support America's involvement in Vietnam, according to Isaacson?

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. How did President Truman respond to the North Korean invasion of South Korea on June 24, 1950, according to Isaacson?

5. 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?

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

7. Why did Truman's most trusted foreign advisers, including Robert Lovett, George Kennan, Chip Bohlen, and Dean Acheson, oppose the formation of a Jewish State in Palestine, according to Isaacson?

8. Who does Isaacson claim that Dean Acheson supported for the 1960 Democrat Presidential nomination over John F. Kennedy?

9. What does Isaacson claim to be the North Vietnamese offensive that made the Johnson Administration realize America needed to get out of the Vietnam War?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

The Truman Administration was at odds with General Douglas MacArthur even before he took command over the UN troops in Korea. The attitudes of the administration demonstrated themselves with the order to MacArthur forbidding him from bombing bridges between China and Korea across which Chinese soldiers and equipment were traveling to support North Koreans. Was the conduct of the Truman Administration and the "Wise Men" an extension of President Truman's spoken disdain for MacArthur, or did MacArthur cause his own problems with the Truman Administration. Use comments and decisions by members of the Truman Administration and the "Wise Men" pertaining to or directed at MacArthur as well as MacArthur's actions and statements to support your position.

Essay Topic 3

The "Wise Men" joined President Johnson in taking a hard line on Vietnam and committing more than 500,000 combat soldiers to that war. Why did Vietnam cause the social and political turmoil that overtook the U.S.? What were the human and economic costs of the Vietnam war to the U.S.? Were the positions the "Wise Men" took regarding Vietnam consistent with their record or had they lost some foresightedness of how the war would affect the rest of the country? Use information from the book and outside sources to support your position.

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