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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 did Robert Lovett represent for Kennedy?

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

3. What does Halberstam say Americans were disunited about in the early 1960s?

4. What does Halberstam say McNamara learned that he had to do in order to argue against nuclear weapons?

5. What does Halberstam say was the result of the Thanksgiving Day Massacre?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Describe the confrontation in Laos.

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

6. How did the situation in Vietnam unfold?

7. What does Halberstam say was McNamara's relationship with Kennedy?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Did the Vietnam War mark a change in American ideology? Was the concept of natural rights changed or abandoned? Was Vietnam a war like other wars America had fought, or was it unprecedented? How did the U.S. government's response to the opposition to the war change the nature of citizenship and political activity in America?

Essay Topic 2

Write a critical review of "The Best and the Brightest": what does Halberstam do well, and what parts of the book are not well-executed? Considering recent revelations regarding the war, how prescient was Halberstam in his history?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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