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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When had Dean Acheson worked with Secretary of State George Marshall, prior to Marshall's appointment to the State Department, according to Isaacson?
(a) As a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Howard Taft.
(b) While he was on the Yale crew coached by Averell Harriman.
(c) In China to mediate an end to the civil war between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse Tung.
(d) During a campaign to shake America out of its post WWI "isolationism."

2. Which of the "Six Wise Men" was chosen by President Johnson to assume authority over all diplomatic efforts to end the war in Vietnam according to Isaacson?
(a) John McCloy.
(b) Dean Acheson.
(c) Averell Harriman.
(d) George Kennan

3. How did George Kennan contribute to Acheson's effort to win support for Greece and Turkey, according to Isaacson?
(a) Kennan found a Russian exile to meet with congressmen to detail the plans of the Soviet government for overtaking all of Europe.
(b) Kennan wrote a speech that gave undeniable arguments in support for the cause.
(c) Kennan took a film crew to make a documentary of the desparation of Greece and Turkey.
(d) Kennan lent the cause credibility by showing how doing so would be an application of his popular document of containment.

4. Who does Isaacson claim blocked MacArthur's plans for slowing the flow of Chinese soldiers into the Korean War?
(a) Under Secretary of State Dean Acheson.
(b) President Harry Truman.
(c) White House Liaison with the Korean command George Kennan.
(d) Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Lovett.

5. Who does Issacson report to have written a telegram that claimed fear that war could come, "with dramatic suddenness"?
(a) General Douglas MacArthur.
(b) General Lucius Clay, the Military Governor of Germany.
(c) George Kennan.
(d) Former Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

6. What does Isaacson claim to have been the primary purpose of the telegram to President Truman with the warning of Soviet aggression?
(a) To assist military chiefs in Congressional testimony.
(b) To become the basis for a propaganda campaign that helped to condense power within the foreign policy elite.
(c) To support a greater role for military actions against communist aggression.
(d) To give support for more military spending in the battle to confront communism.

7. Why did Dean Acheson believe the U.S. should get involved in the war between North and South Korea, according to Isaacson?
(a) To save the Western Alliance in Europe.
(b) To prove to Stalin and Mao that all of their imperialistic actions would be confronted.
(c) To preserve the doctrine of containment.
(d) To preserve strategic positions in the Far East.

8. What area of the world did Averell Harriman try to encourage the Johnson Administration to show more interest according to Isaacson?
(a) The Middle East.
(b) East Europe.
(c) Africa.
(d) Central America.

9. What was the organization that eventually replaced the Office of Strategic Services, according to Isaacson?
(a) The Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(b) The Secret Service.
(c) The Central Intelligence Agency.
(d) The Office of Homeland Security.

10. What did Winston Churchill recommend as a solution to the challenge of growing Soviet Power?
(a) Economic warfare.
(b) Improving working conditions to prevent labor upheavals.
(c) An Anglo-American alliance.
(d) Forming NATO .

11. Isaacson reported that the Soviet Union's actions in East Europe helped the Truman Administration achieve what two political goals?
(a) They helped concentrate power within the presidency and give general support for the foreign policy elite to act without scrutiny.
(b) They brought the country to understand the necessity of confronting communism and helped the Administration win support for its budget demands.
(c) They helped gain support for the Marshall Plan and for more military spending.
(d) They helped to convince the general public that the communists were out for world domination and win trust for the wisdom of his foreign policy advisors.

12. What does Isaacson write of what became of the "Six Wise Men" after Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president in 1952?
(a) They became active in Democrat Party politics so they could resume their positions of influence after Eisenhower was removed from office.
(b) They sought to find roles in directing foreign policy with the new administration.
(c) They went into "exile" from Washington and served in the private sector.
(d) They became involved in movements to create a global economy.

13. According to Isaacson, why did did George Kennan oppose the development of more powerful nuclear weapons?
(a) Kennan felt that communism was unsustainable especially when its systems were attempting to build empires.
(b) Because Kennan felt the Soviets were paranoid and a bigger bomb would make them more dangerous.
(c) Kennan believed the confrontation with communism was a social battle, not military.
(d) Kennan believed that confronting the Soviets with conventional forces would avoid nuclear annihilation.

14. Who does Isaacson report that President Johnson wanted to serve as Ambassador to Vietnam in 1964?
(a) John McCloy.
(b) George Ball.
(c) McGeorge Bundy
(d) Dean Rusk.

15. Why did President Eisenhower relieve Bob Lovett from the Defense Department, according to Isaacson?
(a) Because Lovett was a Democrat and Republicans demanded party loyalty while they had control of Congress.
(b) Because Lovett was considered untrustworthy based upon his relationship with Alger Hiss.
(c) Because the Eisenhower Administration planned to cut spending on conventional forces and rely totally on nuclear weapons for defense.
(d) Because Lovett was found leaking policy decisions to his Democrat friends outside the administration.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Isaacson claim that Dean Acheson, Robert Lovett, and John McCloy suggested for President-Elect Kennedy's Secretary of State?

2. How did Isaacson claim Acheson described the division of the world between the United States and the Soviet Union during the crisis facing Greece and Turkey?

3. What does Isaacson claim to be the the Soviet's view of keeping security?

4. What does Isaacson cite as "...perhaps the most dramatic and significant (conversion) of any postwar American statesman"?

5. What did Gen. MacArthur recommend, according to Isaacson, to stem the flow of Chinese soldiers into North Korea?

(see the answer keys)

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