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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What had McNamara done by the time he took over as Secretary of Defense?
(a) Consulted with Kennedy about his goals and methods.
(b) Instituted successful reforms at Ford.
(c) Reviewed American foreign policy.
(d) Studied and identified the problems at the Pentagon.

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

4. Why did the Americans back down on demands for reform in Vietnam in 1962, in Halberstam's account?
(a) Diem had begun to renege on his promises.
(b) Reforms had already been accomplished.
(c) Diem could not afford reforms.
(d) They lost confidence that reforms could be implemented.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Kennedy represent to Eleanor Roosevelt's followers?

2. Whom did Kennedy want to act as Secretary of State?

3. What family was McGeorge Bundy descended from?

4. What issue had Kennedy and Dean Rusk had to discuss when Dean Rusk was offered the Secretary of State job?

5. Where does Halberstam say McNamara found people to work under him as Secretary of Defense?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the meeting between Lovett and Kennedy play in the press?

2. What was the Kennedy administration's image with the American people?

3. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

4. What does Halberstam say was McNamara's relationship with Kennedy?

5. What did Kennedy's representatives report back after their 1961 fact-finding mission?

6. What did Lovett and Kennedy discuss during their meeting?

7. What three plans does Halberstam say the U.S. was considering in Vietnam in 1961?

8. Describe U.S. engagements in Vietnam in the 1950s.

9. What does Halberstam say Kennedy was confronted with at the beginning of "The Best and the Brightest"?

10. Who was Chester Bowles, and what did Kennedy get by tapping Bowles to be an adviser?

(see the answer keys)

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