View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Hanoi do in response to U.S. war games in the South?

2. What does Halberstam say conditions were like in South Vietnam by the end of 1964?

3. What happened in the Gulf of Tonkin as a part of 34A?

4. How does Halberstam say the Americans responded when the Vietcong attacked Pleiku?

5. Who oversaw domestic operations of the operation code named 34A?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Dean Rusk's role in Vietnam after Kennedy's assassination?

2. What does Halberstam say McNamara found in Vietnam when the Johnson administration took over?

3. What did the Johnson administration tell America as it committed more troops to Vietnam?

4. What does Halberstam say became clear to the American government after Diem's death?

5. What was the public story of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and what was the truth?

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

7. What happened during the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

8. What does Halberstam say was Johnson's approach to paying for the war?

9. Who expressed doubt about the Vietnam war, and what happened to their opposition?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Kennedy was a young president, and he was thought to be inexperienced. What was Kennedy's relationship with the past, and with politicians who went before him? What did he take from them, and which of their policies was he intent on changing?

Essay Topic 3

How did the Vietnam war affect the U.S. government's bureaucratic organization? Analyze Halberstam's history and describe the changes that were made in the roles and structure of the government as a result of or in reaction to the situation in Vietnam. How did Kennedy and Johnson create special positions or grant special powers to individuals around them? How did the system of checks and balances work in relationship to the privacy and secrecy of the war planners?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 783 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample