View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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) Communism had failed in North Korea.
(c) McCarthy had purged Communists from American politics.
(d) Cuba had instituted its own version of Communism.

3. What was the recommendation that came out of the fact-finding mission of 1961?
(a) That the U.S. commit military advisers.
(b) That the U.S. send 100,000 troops.
(c) That the U.S. send 8,000 troops.
(d) That the U.S. commit 20,000 troops.

4. What does Halberstam say the U.S. government had to rely on once it had advisers in Vietnam?
(a) Reporters and aid workers.
(b) Diplomatic accounts from Vietnam.
(c) Strategists in the Pentagon.
(d) Reports from the military.

5. Why didn't Kennedy offer the position of Secretary of State to J. William Fulbright?
(a) Fulbright was too old and conservative.
(b) Fulbright did not have the support of Negroes or Jews.
(c) Fublright was too young and inexperienced.
(d) Fulbright had some unresolved scandals in his past.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Robert Lovett represent for Kennedy?

2. Whom did Robert Lovett recommend to Kennedy for Secretary of State?

3. What policies had Robert Lovett been involved in crafting?

4. Which problem did NOT arise for the Kennedy administration during 1961?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Dean Rusk, and what was his role and place in the Kennedy administration?

2. What was McNamara's stance with regard to nuclear weapons?

3. What crises confronted the Kennedy administration in 1961?

4. What was the Kennedy administration's stance with regard to Russia?

5. Who was Frederick Nolting, and what was his role in Vietnam?

6. What does Halberstam say was Robert McNamara's background before becoming Secretary of Defense?

7. Why does Halberstam say Chester Bowles' popularity faded?

8. How did the fall of China and the Cold War affect the Kennedy administration?

9. Who was McGeorge Bundy, and what was his role in the Kennedy administration?

10. Describe the confrontation in Laos.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 875 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample