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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 15-16.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Halberstam say was the problem with the Kennedy administration's pragmatism?
(a) There were too many crises at once.
(b) It did not have real-world experience.
(c) It was grounded in academic theory.
(d) It was not backed with muscular diplomacy.

2. What had happened to reduce the Communism threat by the time McNamara took over as Secretary of Defense?
(a) Russia and China had split.
(b) Cuba had instituted its own version of Communism.
(c) McCarthy had purged Communists from American politics.
(d) Communism had failed in North Korea.

3. When did Kennedy become well known in Washington?
(a) In his race for Senate.
(b) In the 1960 campaign.
(c) When he first entered politics.
(d) During the Cuban Missile Crisis.

4. What does Halberstam say was the sense in the Kennedy administration as they came into office?
(a) They were going to institute a new era of peace.
(b) They were going to continue the country's prosperity.
(c) They were going to get the country moving again.
(d) They were going to conquer the Russians.

5. What committee had Kennedy served on in the Senate?
(a) Foreign Relations Committee.
(b) Banking and Finance Committee.
(c) Judiciary Committee.
(d) Military Affairs Committee.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where was the war going badly, at the time when the White House was losing faith in Diem?

2. Why didn't Kennedy offer the position of Secretary of State to McGeorge Bundy?

3. How did the Kennedy administration see the war in Vietnam?

4. What was the logic behind the U.S.'s actions after the 1961 fact-finding mission?

5. What does Halberstam say McNamara learned that he had to do in order to argue against nuclear weapons?

(see the answer key)

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