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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 Kennedy see Adlai Stevenson?

2. Which situation had the biggest effect on the Kennedy administration in 1961?

3. What was the logic behind the U.S.'s actions after the 1961 fact-finding mission?

4. What position did the Kennedy administration take with regard to nuclear disarmament?

5. What was Kennedy's position on the Cold War policies of his predecessors?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why didn't the U.S. gain the loyalty of the Vietnamese peasants?

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

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

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

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

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

8. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

9. What were Americans beginning to say with regard to Diem after the Buddhist monk problems began?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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"?

Essay Topic 2

Analyzing the evidence from Halberstam's text, describe the change that took place in American minds as a result of the Vietnam War. Put another way: Compare and contrast the administrations that preceded Kennedy's administration, and the Nixon administration, which followed the Johnson administration. How does Halberstam describe the different cultures that existed before and after the Vietnam war?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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