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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. Who testified to Congress in 1964 that "in the first hour [of all-out nuclear war] one hundred million Americans and one hundred million Russians would be killed" (104)?
(a) Thomas Schelling.
(b) Dwight D. Eisenhower.
(c) Robert McNamara.
(d) Theodore Sorensen.

2. At what time did the long and personal letter from Khrushchev come on October 26th?
(a) Midnight.
(b) Noon.
(c) 6AM.
(d) 6PM.

3. Who said "I am not going to follow a course which will allow anyone to write a comparable book about this time, The Missiles of October" (98)?
(a) Prince von Bulow.
(b) Robert.
(c) JFK.
(d) Barbara Tuchman.

4. What hit the U-2 plane that was flying reconnaissance over Cuba?
(a) Bullets.
(b) SAM.
(c) Torpedo.
(d) Starbursts.

5. Who did JFK believe should take public credit for the end of the missile crisis?
(a) Himself.
(b) The Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(c) Robert.
(d) Noone.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the "final lesson" (95) learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis?

2. What "committed American ground forces to what has become the longest war in our history" (102)?

3. Who said, "I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore I do not wish to answer a question that is put to me in the fashion in which a prosecutor puts questions" (58)?

4. Why does Khrushchev claim the Soviet Union has placed missiles in Cuba?

5. What was different about the letter received on the morning of October 27th from the letter received October 26th?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the letter received October 26th, what does Khrushchev claim is the reason he sent weapons to Cuba?

2. How does JFK view the military advisers recommending war? Why does he feel this way?

3. What does Robert tell is the final lesson learned in the Cuban Missile Crisis?

4. Why does Robert believe that a devil's advocate is necessary for the President?

5. In the letter drafted by Robert and Sorenson in response to Khrushchev's letter received October 26th, what is the "first ingredient" (79) to a peaceful arrangement? Why?

6. How was the official letter sent by the Soviets on October 27th different from the letter sent October 26th?

7. What made the prospect of war unbearable to JFK?

8. What does Robert mean when he says "that with respect to nuclear war there is an awesome crack between unlikelihood and impossibility" (105)?

9. While still in communications with Khrushchev, RFK writes that "both 'hawks' and 'doves' sensed that our combination of limited force and diplomatic efforts had been unsuccessful" (64). What do the symbolic terms "hawks" and "doves" stand for?

10. What is JFK referencing when he says that "we are now in an entirely new ball game" (74)? What has changed?

(see the answer keys)

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