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

2. Which situation had the biggest effect on the Kennedy administration in 1961?
(a) The Gulf of Tonkin incident.
(b) The financial crisis.
(c) The Bay of Pigs.
(d) China policy.

3. How did Kennedy see Adlai Stevenson?
(a) He saw Adlai Stevenson as principled.
(b) He saw Adlai Stevenson as an ideologue.
(c) He saw Adlai Stevenson as indecisive.
(d) He saw Adlai Stevenson as lazy.

4. Whose theories had been used as the basis for expanded militarization in the late 1940s?
(a) George Kennan's.
(b) Chester Bowles'.
(c) McGeorge Bundy's.
(d) Robert McNamara's.

5. Why was Chester Bowles assigned to a different position?
(a) He had quarreled with Bobby Kennedy over who was in charge in Kennedy's absence.
(b) He had leaked confidential information to the press.
(c) He had disgraced himself by having an affair with one of his pages.
(d) He had been caught saying embarrassing things on an open mic.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was Kennedy's military analyst on the 1961 fact-finding mission?

2. What does Halberstam say Americans were united about in the early 1960s?

3. Whom did Kennedy ask to be Secretary of State instead of Adlai Stevenson?

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

5. What did the fact-finding mission discover at about the time of the problem with the Buddhist monks?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the atmosphere in America when Kennedy took office.

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

4. How did the White House eventually try to limit the military?

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

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

7. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

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

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

10. Why did Diem and the U.S. end up working together?

(see the answer keys)

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