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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Isaacson report to have committed the U.S. to active ground war in Korea?
(a) The U.S. Congress.
(b) Dean Acheson.
(c) General Douglas MacArthur.
(d) President Truman.

2. Who does Isaacson claim that Dean Acheson, Robert Lovett, and John McCloy suggested for President-Elect Kennedy's Secretary of State?
(a) Bill Fulbright.
(b) Paul Nitze.
(c) David Bruce.
(d) Dean Rusk.

3. What event at the end of 1967 does Isaacson suggest influenced the Johnson Administration that America had to withdraw from Vietnam?
(a) Antiwar protests threatening college campuses.
(b) The Tet Offensive.
(c) Race riots protesting the disproportionate number of Black soldiers stationed in Vietnam compared to their percentage of the population.
(d) Public opinion polls showing Johnson could not be re-elected if Vietnam was not settled.

4. What does Isaacson suggest to be one of the largest factors in America's rise to prominence after WWII?
(a) America's ability to be self-sufficient.
(b) Britain's inability to support its empire.
(c) America's ability to convert consumer production to war production.
(d) America's size and population relative to most other countries.

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

6. How does Isaacson report that Clark Clifford understood the rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union had to be framed to make the general public support confronting the Communists?
(a) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a personal cause of free American talent overcoming international slavery."
(b) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a contest between the forces of darkness and light."
(c) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a potential threat to the freedom and security of every individual in the country."
(d) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as fearfully as possible to cajole the general public to put unquestioning support for the wisdom of its government."

7. What does Isaacson claim to be Dean Acheson's views on Vietnam?
(a) He considered Vietnam to be a distraction from the affairs of Europe.
(b) He considered Vietnam to be identical to the challenges of Korea.
(c) He considered Vietnam the most important confrontation to avoid the "Domino Theory."
(d) He considered Vietnam to be evidence that the war against communism was never going to end.

8. How does Isaacson claim President Truman planned to fight for support for the Marshall Plan in Congress?
(a) By calling for an emergency session of Congress and winning support for an "interim aid" bill.
(b) By campaigning across the country to rally popular support for the effort.
(c) By vetoing every spending bill until the plan was accepted in Congress.
(d) By advising Democrat congressmen to amend planks of the plan to popular legislation so it would eventually get passed out of the notice of political opponents.

9. According to Isaacson, why did did George Kennan oppose the development of more powerful nuclear weapons?
(a) Kennan believed that confronting the Soviets with conventional forces would avoid nuclear annihilation.
(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 felt that communism was unsustainable especially when its systems were attempting to build empires.

10. What does Isaacson suggest shaped President Johnson's views on dealing with Soviet Communism?
(a) Johnson's desire to show his power against that of the leaders of the Soviet Union.
(b) The views of Dean Acheson as he served as a congressman in the late 1940's.
(c) Johnson's admiration for the Truman Administration's confrontation of communist imperialism.
(d) The viciousness with which Joseph Stalin purged political enemies throughout his reign.

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

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

13. What does Isaacson report that members of the Truman Administration suggested caused the political opposition to the Truman Doctrine to confront Soviet Communism wherever it was asserted?
(a) Isolationism and a "let Europe go" mood.
(b) A "head-in-the-sand" mentality in flyover country over the urgency of turning back international communism.
(c) "A spirit of malaise" that blinded the public to understand America's role as the "indispensable nation."
(d) Economic realists who were able to point out the long-term consequences of taxing labor to support foreign interventions.

14. To whom did President Kennedy look in an attempt to peacefully settle the conflicts in Laos?
(a) George Kennan.
(b) Averell Harriman.
(c) Robert Lovett.
(d) Dean Acheson.

15. What were the three questions President Truman wrote regarding America's confrontation with Soviet aggression?
(a) "Can we afford to confront the Soviets? Will the voters support us? Can the country survive more wars?"
(b) "Will Russia move first? Who pulls the trigger? Then where do we go?"
(c) "Can the communists really support such a spread of empire? Does communism have any real chance of surviving in our system? How much is this going to cost the government?"
(d) "What is our move when Russia moves? Should we move first? Who pulls the trigger?"

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Isaacson record that Mao claimed to be the source of Chinese soldiers in North Korean combat units?

2. What does Isaacson suggest to be the result of George Kennan's "Long Telegram"?

3. Who does Isaacson report that President Truman chose to administer the European Recovery Plan (The Marshall Plan) in Europe?

4. What does Isaacson claim to be George Kennan's biggest concern regarding Soviet Communism?

5. What does Isaacson claim that Averell Harriman and his Wall Street contemporaries believed to be the best guarantee for American security?

(see the answer keys)

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