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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. Who does Halberstam say was especially vocal in calling for a change in U.S. Vietnam policy?

2. Who tipped off Senator Wayne Morse about the real situation of the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

3. What does Halberstam say the military had been telling President Johnson when he sent an investigative team to Vietnam?

4. What position did Maxwell Taylor begin to support as a result of his late 1964 trip to Vietnam?

5. What pressure does Halberstam say the events of September and October of 1963 relieved for Kennedy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Halberstam say began to change in early 1964?

2. Who was interested in overthrowing Diem?

3. What was President Johnson's position with regard to bombing?

4. What was the result of the first direct confrontation with Vietcong and American troops?

5. What was the military's position on bombing North Vietnam?

6. What issues were discussed as there started to be struggles over Vietnam strategy in mid-1965?

7. What does Halberstam say the effect of the Vietnam war on the American people was?

8. What does Halberstam say Maxwell Taylor said were the three issues confronting the U.S. in its Vietnam planning?

9. What happened during the second Gulf of Tonkin incident?

10. What happened during the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using evidence from Halberstam's text, describe how the Vietnam War affected America's relationship with the community of nations--particularly China and Russia, its Communist foes. What did the Vietnam war do for American interests abroad? How did it affect America's reputation and image?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the conditions that led to the coup against Diem and the credibility gap in America. Was the U.S. ripe for a coup the same way that the Diem regime was considered ripe for a coup? What forces were arguing for regime change in America? Why were they ultimately unsuccessful? (Was regime change ultimately what protesters in the U.S. wanted?)

Essay Topic 3

Using the hindsight gained by "The Best and the Brightest", would you say that the war in Vietnam was a local conflict that could have been left to resolve itself, or would you say that if left unaddressed, Vietnam would have been one of the dominoes in a string of nations the Communists took over? Put another way: would the internal tensions in Vietnam have dogged the Communists just as badly as they dogged the Americans and the American-backed South Vietnamese government, if the Vietcong had ever acquired power there?

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