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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom did Robert Lovett recommend to Kennedy for Secretary of State?
(a) McGeorge Bundy.
(b) Dean Rusk.
(c) Robert McNamara.
(d) Chester Bowles.

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

3. Whom did Kennedy ask to be Secretary of State instead of Adlai Stevenson?
(a) Robert McNamara.
(b) Dean Rusk.
(c) Chester Bowles.
(d) McGeorge Bundy.

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

5. How did Kennedy's followers feel about Chester Bowles' ideas?
(a) They were looking for ways to follow them.
(b) They did not appreciate them.
(c) They were inspired by them.
(d) They were antithetical to them.

6. Why didn't Kennedy offer the position of Secretary of State to David Bruce?
(a) Bruce was felt to be too old.
(b) Bruce was felt to be too conservative.
(c) Bruce was felt to be too academic.
(d) Bruce was felt to be too young.

7. What did the fact-finding mission discover at about the time of the problem with the Buddhist monks?
(a) The North was expanding its recruitment.
(b) Vast corruption.
(c) The U.S. was unprepared for guerilla warfare.
(d) Diem was not on top of the situation.

8. How big a margin did Kennedy win the presidency by?
(a) 1.5 million votes.
(b) 500,000 votes.
(c) 100,000 votes.
(d) 1,000,000 votes.

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

10. What was Kennedy in the process of doing at the beginning of the book?
(a) Assembling an administration.
(b) Campaigning for president.
(c) Serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
(d) Winning the election for president.

11. How does Halberstam say McNamara learned about the affairs in Vietnam?
(a) By reading reports.
(b) By conducting academic studies.
(c) By seeing for himself.
(d) By talking to people.

12. When did Kennedy first send advisers to Vietnam?
(a) June 1963.
(b) October 1961.
(c) May 1962.
(d) February 1962.

13. What had Robert Lovett been before entering government?
(a) An automobile executive.
(b) A career military officer.
(c) An insurance salesman.
(d) An investment banker.

14. What rule does Halberstam say Kennedy was following in trying to appoint a Secretary of State?
(a) Someone who had not made many mistakes or offended too many people.
(b) Someone who had a strong intuition.
(c) Someone who had learned from his mistakes and had diplomatic experience.
(d) Someone who didn't look back at bad decisions, but plowed ahead.

15. What does Halberstam say happened that threatened the relationship between Diem and the Buddhists?
(a) Diem reneged on his promises.
(b) Diem and Nhu retreated into aristocratic aloofness.
(c) The people backed the Buddhists against Diem.
(d) The Buddhists expanded their protests.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the Kennedy administration represent to America?

2. What does Halberstam say Kennedy had done in response to the meeting with Russians in Vienna?

3. What were Diem and Nhu's politics relative to the Vietnamese population's politics?

4. What had happened to reduce the Communism threat by the time McNamara took over as Secretary of Defense?

5. Which cabinet member was opposed to the Bay of Pigs invasion?

(see the answer keys)

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