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

2. Where was the war going badly, at the time when the White House was losing faith in Diem?
(a) In Pleiku.
(b) In the Mekong Delta.
(c) Around Saigon.
(d) In Quang Nam.

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

4. What does Halberstam say Americans were united about in the early 1960s?
(a) The need to fight Communism.
(b) The need to grant civil rights.
(c) The need to balance the budget.
(d) The need to establish military supremacy.

5. What issue did Joseph McCarthy use to energize voters?
(a) Communism conspiracies.
(b) Arms reduction.
(c) Tax cuts.
(d) Civil rights.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Kennedy become well known in Washington?

2. How did Kennedy's followers feel about Chester Bowles' ideas?

3. When did the problem with the Buddhist monks begin?

4. Which issue was NOT confronting the nation when the Kennedy administration took office?

5. What does Halberstam say McNamara had done while he was at Ford?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. What was the American government's relationship with Diem in 1961?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 848 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample