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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 hadn't Roosevelt stopped the French from returning to Indochina after the war, in Halberstam's account?
(a) There was no post-war plan to prevent them.
(b) He could not get a censure from the United Nations.
(c) He did not have the authority to.
(d) He needed France for its support of American monetary policy.

2. What policy did Rostow support in Vietnam?
(a) A policy of rapprochement.
(b) Battleship diplomacy.
(c) An aggressive anti-Communist policy.
(d) An appeasement policy.

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

4. What were Diem and Nhu's politics relative to the Vietnamese population's politics?
(a) Diem and Nhu were more monarchical than Vietnamese typically were.
(b) Diem and Nhu were more communist than the people.
(c) Diem and Nhu favored market capitalism more than the people did.
(d) Diem and Nhu relied on the military to enforce their political will.

5. Which issue was NOT confronting the nation when the Kennedy administration took office?
(a) Reconstruction.
(b) China policy.
(c) Missiles.
(d) Civil rights.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where was the war going well, at the time when the White House was losing faith in Diem, according to Halberstam?

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

3. Whom did Robert Lovett recommend to Kennedy for Secretary of Defense?

4. When did Kennedy first send advisers to Vietnam?

5. What did the Kennedy administration represent to America?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Robert A. Lovett, and what does Halberstam say he signified for Kennedy?

2. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

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

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

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

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

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

8. Describe the confrontation in Laos.

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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