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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 does Halberstam say was the military's opinion after the start of Rolling Thunder?

2. When does Halberstam say the Johnson administration realized that Bundy was necessary to their planning?

3. What plan was the U.S. government following by the end of 1964?

4. What did the U.S. embassy offer to Diem and Nhu when the coup began?

5. What was McNamara beginning to suspect in Vietnam?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Halberstam say Maxwell Taylor said were the three issues confronting the U.S. in its Vietnam planning?

2. What does Halberstam say McNamara found in Vietnam when the Johnson administration took over?

3. Who expressed doubt about the Vietnam war, and what happened to their opposition?

4. What was President Johnson's position with regard to bombing?

5. What happened during the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

6. What was the public story of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and what was the truth?

7. What issues were discussed as there started to be struggles over Vietnam strategy in mid-1965?

8. Who was interested in overthrowing Diem?

9. Describe what Halberstam calls 'the Bundy trip' to Vietnam.

10. What does Halberstam say began to change in early 1964?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the containment of the 1960s differ from the preemptive foreign policy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How has American foreign policy changed since the 1960s?

Essay Topic 2

How did the Vietnam war affect the U.S. government's bureaucratic organization? Analyze Halberstam's history and describe the changes that were made in the roles and structure of the government as a result of or in reaction to the situation in Vietnam. How did Kennedy and Johnson create special positions or grant special powers to individuals around them? How did the system of checks and balances work in relationship to the privacy and secrecy of the war planners?

Essay Topic 3

Write a critical review of "The Best and the Brightest": what does Halberstam do well, and what parts of the book are not well-executed? Considering recent revelations regarding the war, how prescient was Halberstam in his history?

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