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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Isaacson report that Averell Harriman's support for the successful presidential candidacy of Franklin Roosevelt was rewarded in 1932?
(a) Roosevelt named him the Ambassador to Russia.
(b) Roosevelt named him Secretary of State.
(c) Roosevelt named him the head of the Council on Foreign Relations.
(d) Roosevelt named him the Chief Administrative officer of the National Recovery Administration.

2. What event early in WWII does Isaacson quote John McCloy as calling, "...regrettable in the clear light of perfect hindsight"?
(a) Roosevelt's decision to prioritize the war in Europe rather than the Pacific.
(b) The relocation of citizens of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast.
(c) Naming Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander in the Pacific.
(d) Becoming an ally with the Soviet Union.

3. Who does Isaacson report to have been the vice president the W. A. Harriman investment firm?
(a) Franklin Roosevelt.
(b) Harry Truman.
(c) Dwight D. Eisenhower.
(d) Prescott Bush, father of former President George H.W. Bush.

4. What does Isaacson report to be the legacy of Harvard's President Charles Elliot after his 40 year tenure ended in 1909?
(a) "Our undisciplinables are our proudest product."
(b) "Living well is the best revenge."
(c) "Heresy has always been a Harvard institution."
(d) "To allow each man to think and do as he pleases."

5. What does Isaacson claim to be Harriman's first crusade in his role with the Roosevelt Administration?
(a) To make rail transportation the exclusive means of transporting military equipment within the U.S. borders.
(b) To encourage the government to help increase the nation's rail freight capabilities.
(c) To encourage the Fed to make low interest loans to investment banks.
(d) To gain federal funding for expanded rail road construction.

6. What does Isaacson claim to be Bohlen's view of Bolshevism?
(a) He reviled in the violent destruction Bolsheviks were willing to employ to hold onto power.
(b) He was fascinated by the tenants of Soviet Communism.
(c) He saw Bolshevism to be a threat to liberal progressivism in Western nations.
(d) He was nonjudgemental and unreflective about Bolshevism.

7. How does Isaacson claim Joseph Stalin's temperament changed between Harriman's first and second meetings?
(a) In the first meeting Stalin was scheming and evasive, in the second meeting he was congenial and open.
(b) In the first meeting Stalin was aloof and disinterested, in the second meeting he was eager and cooperative.
(c) In the first meeting Stalin was panicked and demanding, but in the second meeting Stalin was calm and reasonable.
(d) In the first meeting Stalin was candid and friendly, but in the second meeting he was confrontational, accusing and paranoid.

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

9. Which president does Isaacson report Dean Acheson served as Assistant Secretary of State?
(a) Franklin Roosevelt.
(b) Harry Truman.
(c) John F. Kennedy.
(d) Dwight Eisenhower.

10. With whom did John McCloy and Robert Lovett serve as advisers to the Secretary of War, according to Isaacson?
(a) George Marshall and Erskine Hawkins.
(b) Dean Acheson and Averell Harriman.
(c) Robert Patterson and Harvey Bundy.
(d) McGeorge Bundy and Henry Stimson.

11. What agreement does Isaacson record Roosevelt and Churchill made during their initial meeting after America's entry into WWII?
(a) NATO.
(b) The Atlantic Charter.
(c) The Non Aggression Pact.
(d) Lend Lease.

12. Where did Chip Bohlen grow up, according to Isaacson?
(a) New York City.
(b) Aiken, South Carolina.
(c) Grindstone Island, New York.
(d) Paris.

13. What quality of Truman's does Isaacson claim was welcomed by the liaison between the State Department and the White House ?
(a) Truman's willingness to accept counsel.
(b) Truman's predictability.
(c) Truman's forthrightness.
(d) Truman's common perspective.

14. What event does Isaacson suggest brought calls to come out of its isolationism following WWI?
(a) The Stalinist purges in Russia.
(b) The spread of Nazism across Europe.
(c) Japanese Imperialism through the Far East.
(d) The rise of Italian Fascism.

15. Isaacson reports that Averell Harriman took what position in the Roosevelt Administration?
(a) Assistant Secretary of War.
(b) Transportation adviser for the new National Defense Advisory Commission.
(c) Railroad advisor to the Department of Commerce.
(d) Assistant director to the Federal Reserve.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was the Supreme Court Justice for whom Dean Acheson clerked?

2. Which of the "Wise Men," according to Isaacson, attended The Hill School in Philadelphia?

3. With whom does Isaacson report Harriman shared responsibility that came to him after the meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill?

4. What political movement did Bohlen defend to his classmates?

5. What does Isaacson report to be a weakness Bohlen exhibited in the execution of his profession?

(see the answer keys)

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