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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does Halberstam say Americans were disunited about in the early 1960s?
(a) How to balance the budget.
(b) How to reduce nuclear weapons.
(c) How to go about fighting Communism.
(d) How to establish peace.

3. What kind of reports does Halberstam say would come from the head of the U.S. command after his 1962 appointment?
(a) Pragmatic and diplomatic reports.
(b) Unrealistic reports.
(c) Highly detailed reports.
(d) Reports that were imperial propaganda.

4. What does Halberstam say was the state of tensions within the White House as involvement in Vietnam escalated?
(a) Long and open debates brought new ideas to the policies.
(b) Aides gathered around Kennedy's will.
(c) There were many disagreements.
(d) Anyone who disagreed with Kennedy was removed.

5. What does Halberstam say happened that strained the relationship between Diem and the Buddhists?
(a) The government seized land and temples from the Buddhists.
(b) The Buddhists martyred themselves in opposition to the government.
(c) The government raided the pagodas and blamed it on the army.
(d) The Buddhists instigated confrontations with the army.

6. What did Robert Lovett remember about Kennedy after the assassination?
(a) Kennedy's kindness and consideration.
(b) Kennedy's youth and inexperience.
(c) Kennedy's weakness in the face of challenges.
(d) Kennedy's romantic ideology.

7. What does Halberstam say McNamara tried to do with his fact-finding missions to Vietnam?
(a) Protect the President.
(b) Provide a forum for dissenting soldiers.
(c) Publish the truth.
(d) Conceal the deteriorating conditions.

8. How does Halberstam say Lyndon Johnson felt in the Kennedy administration?
(a) He felt like a teacher among his students.
(b) He felt like a socialist among capitalists.
(c) He felt like a midwesterner among East-coast men.
(d) He felt like a relic of previous administrations.

9. Why does Halberstam say Harkins had a hard time firing one of his people in the Mekong Delta?
(a) He was told that everything was under control there.
(b) He knew the person needing to be fired personally.
(c) He was told that there would be too many repercussions.
(d) He was discouraged from using his authority.

10. What were Eleanor Roosevelt's feelings about Kennedy?
(a) She admired his leadership.
(b) She did not entirely trust him.
(c) She resented his inexperience.
(d) She distrusted his Catholicism.

11. Which issue was NOT confronting the nation when the Kennedy administration took office?
(a) Missiles.
(b) China policy.
(c) Reconstruction.
(d) Civil rights.

12. What events does Halberstam say affected American perceptions of its global priorities?
(a) The revolution in Cuba.
(b) The agitation of labor unions in America and Europe.
(c) The tension over civil rights in America.
(d) The escalation of the Cold War and the fall of China.

13. How does Halberstam say Dean Rusk felt about his interview with Kennedy for the Secretary of State job?
(a) He did not know whether he could serve under Kennedy.
(b) He felt he had not been articulate enough.
(c) Not well.
(d) Superbly.

14. What state does Halberstam say the Vietcong were in when Kennedy sent the fact-finding mission in 1961?
(a) They were committed and had good leadership.
(b) They were fragmented and plagued with in-fighting.
(c) They had opposition in the civilian populace.
(d) They were using guerilla tactics ineffectively.

15. How long had Ho Chi Minh's communism associations been known to the U.S., in Halberstam's account?
(a) Since 1954.
(b) Since 1941.
(c) Since 1931.
(d) Since 1946.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why hadn't Roosevelt stopped the French from returning to Indochina after the war, in Halberstam's account?

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

3. What measures does Halberstam say Washington, D.C. took when the soldiers dissented over conditions?

4. What policy did Rostow support in Vietnam?

5. What was Kennedy in the process of doing at the beginning of the book?

(see the answer keys)

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