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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Halberstam say happened that strained the relationship between Diem and the Buddhists?

2. Whose theories had been used as the basis for expanded militarization in the late 1940s?

3. What does Halberstam say was the problem with the Kennedy administration's pragmatism?

4. How many troops were in Vietnam when Kennedy was assassinated?

5. Why hadn't Roosevelt stopped the French from returning to Indochina after the war, in Halberstam's account?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe Vietnam's problems with the Buddhist monks.

5. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the strategies of Robert McNamara and General Westmoreland for bombing and search-and-destroy missions. What were the costs and benefits of either approach to the war against the Vietcong? Were they complementary, or did they work at cross-purposes?

Essay Topic 2

How did American support influence Diem and Khanh? Did it make them more or less legitimate in the eyes of the Vietnamese? If there were problems caused by overt American support, say also what roles were played by Vietnamese society and by the personalities of Diem and Khanh.

Essay Topic 3

Describe Halberstam as a biographer and historian. What are his preoccupations? What does he not consider? What are his narrative techniques, and what literary techniques does he use to describe the people and actions that comprise "The Best and the Brightest"?

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