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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. According to Robert in "The importance of placing ourselves in the other country's shoes," why was JFK reluctant to attack the missile sites after a U.S. U-2 was shot down?

2. What possibility does JFK say everyone must accept if there is an invasion of Cuba?

3. 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)?

4. Who was the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

5. What is the crisis a microcosm for according to the authors of the Afterword?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did JFK choose the Marucla for the first vessel to be boarded?

2. What did RFK believe was wrong with the letter drafted by the State Department that was written in response to the letter received October 27th, and what did he suggest they write instead?

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

4. Analyze the simile "the leaders who lived through the crisis felt what it was like to peer over the precipice" (104)?

5. Who did JFK seek advice from? Why?

6. After the Soviet's agree to a stand down, JFK makes an analogy between himself and Abraham Lincoln. What does he say and what does it mean?

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

8. What did the letter received October 23rd from Khrushchev imply about the U.S. and the repercussions the U.S. may expect?

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Because of Khrushchev's clandestine behavior and known desire to take over Berlin, a comparison is made between him and Hitler. In an essay, compare and contrast Khrushchev and Hitler. In what key ways are they different? Focus on the events in Cuba and Munich.

Essay Topic 2

The theme of understanding consequences is prevalent in Thirteen Days. Write an essay exploring this theme and its implication to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Essay Topic 3

Robert Kennedy believed that there were many lessons to be learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis. Identify three lessons that were learned from this incident and describe them in detail in an essay.

(see the answer keys)

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