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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. How did the Kennedy administration see the war in Vietnam?

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

3. What does Halberstam say was the state of tensions within the White House as involvement in Vietnam escalated?

4. What had happened to reduce the Communism threat by the time McNamara took over as Secretary of Defense?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Robert McNamara and what was his role in the formation of Vietnam policy?

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

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

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

5. Whom did Kennedy consider for the position of Secretary of State?

6. What kind of reports does Halberstam say the U.S. got from Vietnam?

7. Who was Kennedy, and how did he become well known?

8. Describe the confrontation in Laos.

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

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

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

Compare and contrast John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson's strategies for handling the war in Vietnam. How did they negotiate the complex mixture of voices within the U.S. government in similar ways? How were they different? How did the changes in conditions in the U.S. and in Vietnam account for Johnson's different strategies?

Essay Topic 3

How does the containment of the 1960s differ from the preemptive foreign policy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How has American foreign policy changed since the 1960s?

(see the answer keys)

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