View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What quality made Lovett and McCloy influential insiders, according to Isaacson?
(a) Their efficient methods of researching and writing reports.
(b) The informal social networks they had formed.
(c) Their overseas experiences with world leaders.
(d) Their intimate friendships with President Franklin Roosevelt.

2. What decision did Secretary of State Edward Stettinius make that Isaacson claimed frustrated Harriman?
(a) Stettinius began the process of cutting Russia out of any post-war decsions.
(b) Stettinius began direct negotiations with Stalin.
(c) Stettinius ordered Harriman to stay in Russia during the aftermath of Roosevelt's death.
(d) Stettinius ordered Harriman's replacement as Ambassador to Russia.

3. How does Isaacson claim Bohlen distinguished himself in the service of his first assignment?
(a) He impressed members of the Roosevelt Administration with his insights into economics and industry.
(b) He impressed his superiors with his diligent interest in Russia and its language.
(c) He impressed the investors of W.A. Harriman with his knack for choosing growing companies in which to invest.
(d) He left a strong impression with his writing ability.

4. What event does Isaacson claim caused tension between the U.S., Britain, and their Soviet Allies?
(a) Harriman discovered his private quarters had been bugged by Stalin.
(b) Roosevelt discovered that Stalin had placed spies throughout his administration.
(c) The discovery of a mass grave of 10,000 Polish officers who had been summarily executed by the Red Army after the Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression Pact of 1939.
(d) Harriman discovered that Stalin was conducting back channel negotiations with Hitler.

5. Under what circumstances did Robert Lovett claim to Isaacson that he met the Harriman Family?
(a) He met the Harriman Family while he visited his father's office with the Union Pacific Railroad.
(b) He met the Harriman Family on a Transatlantic cruise on his way to France.
(c) Lovett's father's private rail car was coupled onto E. H. Harriman's private train.
(d) He met the Harriman Family as he was moving to attend Yale Univeristy.

6. What was the focus of the agreement after the initial meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill, according to Isaacson?
(a) Free trade and free people and self-determination for all nations.
(b) The United States would provide England with resources and war material at very favorable terms.
(c) Neither Britain nor the U.S. would attack each other or allies of each.
(d) The nations of Western Europe would join in alliance to protect each other against intrusions from communist nations.

7. What political movement did Bohlen defend to his classmates?
(a) Cobdenite free traders.
(b) Russia's Bolshevik Revolution.
(c) Labor Unionists.
(d) Corporate fascism.

8. What does Isaacson report that John McCloy called, "Something that is worse than anything probably that ever happened in the world"?
(a) The devastation caused to Germany from WWII.
(b) The dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
(c) The rift that was coming between the Soviet Union and the United States.
(d) The death of Franklin Roosevelt.

9. What does Isaacson claim the six men profiled in The Wise Men represent?
(a) Ivy League colleges.
(b) New Democrats.
(c) Moderate Republicans.
(d) The American Establishment.

10. After Roosevelt and Churchill made their agreement, what became the responsibility of Averell Harriman?
(a) To act as a strong man against Stalin's bluntness.
(b) To direct the shift in the balance of power between England and the United States.
(c) To travel to Moscow to offer aid to the government of the Soviet Union in their confrontation against Germany.
(d) To direct the formation of foreign policy from Washington.

11. For what purpose had Robert Lovett's father been grooming him and Averell Harriman since their graduation from college, according to Isaacson?
(a) To become new masters of the emerging high finance sector of the economy.
(b) To move into foreign service for the government.
(c) To help him run the Union Pacific railway empire.
(d) To help him run his investment banks.

12. With what investment house did Isaacson claim Averell Harriman merged W.A. Harriman & Co.?
(a) Knight Wooley & Company.
(b) Brown Brothers & Company.
(c) Lehman Brothers.
(d) Goldman Sachs.

13. What does Isaacson report Vice President Harry Truman was doing when news of President Roosevelt's death was first leaked?
(a) Truman was in Sam Rayburn's hideaway in the Capitol Building playing cards.
(b) Truman was in the Vice President's office adjacent to the Senate floor preparing to go home for the evening.
(c) Truman was in a foreign policy briefing with the Council of Foreign Relations.
(d) Truman was having dinner with his family as was his custom at that time of the day.

14. What does Isaacson claim to be the reason that Harriman and Dean Acheson supported making post-war loans to the Soviets?
(a) Both considered loans to be a show of good faith that the U.S. was willing to work with the Soviets in spite of ideological differences.
(b) Both saw the loans as a means of gaining bargaining leverage with the Kremlin.
(c) Both realized that the Soviet economy was unproductive and felt that loans could nudge the Soviets to a market economy.
(d) Both considered that the friendship of the Soviets could be bought.

15. Who coined the term "Iron Curtain" in a cable to President Truman?
(a) John McCloy.
(b) Winston Churchill.
(c) George Kennan.
(d) Henry Stimson.

Short Answer Questions

1. Isaacson reports that Averell Harriman took what position in the Roosevelt Administration?

2. What did Isaacson claim to be Kennan's strong areas in his training?

3. What was Bohlen's first assignment after he completed training in his field, according to Issacson?

4. Isaacson reports which "Wise Man" worked to implement Franklin Roosevelt's Lend Lease program?

5. How does Isaacson claim Joseph Stalin's temperament changed between Harriman's first and second meetings?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,045 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample