View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Isaacson cite as "...perhaps the most dramatic and significant (conversion) of any postwar American statesman"?
(a) The conversion of Averell Harriman from a market capitalist to seeing the value of socialism in some systems.
(b) The conversion of Harry Truman from being a non-interventionist to being an internationalist.
(c) The conversion of John McCloy to being an internationalist to being an isolationist.
(d) The conversion of Dean Acheson to a hard-line stance on dealing with the Soviets.

2. Who was asked to approach President-Elect Kennedy's choice for Secretary of State to offer him the position, according to Isaacson?
(a) Robert Lovett.
(b) Bobby Kennedy.
(c) Dean Acheson.
(d) David Bruce.

3. How does Isaacson claim President Truman planned to fight for support for the Marshall Plan in Congress?
(a) 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.
(b) By vetoing every spending bill until the plan was accepted in Congress.
(c) By campaigning across the country to rally popular support for the effort.
(d) By calling for an emergency session of Congress and winning support for an "interim aid" bill.

4. Where does Isaacson indicate two crises confronted the Kennedy Adminstration in 1961?
(a) Vietnam and Czechoslovakia.
(b) Peking and Moscow.
(c) Laos and Berlin.
(d) Iran and Israel.

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

6. 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?
(a) "...a test of free will against coercion."
(b) "...an unbridgeable ideological chasm."
(c) "...a contest between freedom and slavery."
(d) "...a struggle between totalitarianism and democracy."

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 prove to Stalin and Mao that all of their imperialistic actions would be confronted.
(b) To preserve the doctrine of containment.
(c) To save the Western Alliance in Europe.
(d) To preserve strategic positions in the Far East.

8. What does Isaacson report eventually came of the idea of a "Western Union" military alliance?
(a) It became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
(b) It became the European Union (EU).
(c) It became the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
(d) It became the United Nations (UN).

9. Why was General MacArthur fired according to Isaacson?
(a) Because MacArthur's popularity within the U.S. was a threat to the Administration's efforts to control the direction of the war in Korea.
(b) MacArthur made statements criticizing China's strength and suggesting Chiang Kai-shek could open a second front against China with an invasion on the mainland.
(c) Because MacArthur's belligerence had become a threat to world peace.
(d) Because MacArthur was seen as unable to lead with the changes in technology and the enemy at hand.

10. Why does Isaacson suggest Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union and Mao Tse Tung of China gave support to North Korea's invasion of South Korea?
(a) They hoped that the U.S. would consider the conflict to be a local affair.
(b) They hoped that victory in Korea would begin the "Domino Theory" of communist world-wide revolution.
(c) They hoped that the U.S. would put itself in financial turmoil by singly funding what appeared to be a long war.
(d) They hoped to show the superiority of communism over democracy.

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

12. Who were two of the "Six Wise Men" that Isaacson reported had withdrawn their support for the war in Vietnam by the summer of 1967?
(a) John McCloy and Robert Lovett.
(b) George Kennan and Charles Bohlen.
(c) Robert Lovett and Averell Harriman.
(d) John McCloy and Dean Acheson.

13. How does Isaacson suggest that President Kennedy hoped to avoid war in Laos?
(a) Through back channel negotiations with leaders of the Soviet Union.
(b) With help from the British in reviving the International Control Commission.
(c) By calling on the support of allies in the area to come to America's aid for the war that was rapidly developing.
(d) By supporting economic development throughout South East Asia.

14. What does Isaacson report that President Truman did to decide America's response to the Soviet Union's possession of nuclear weapons?
(a) He appointed a three-man national security committee.
(b) He polled his cabinet and based his response on its concensus.
(c) He courted the press to show the film of Russia's nuclear explosion to convince the public of the urgent need for increased military spending.
(d) He sent out the "Wise Men" to conduct town hall meetings to explain the danger facing the country from Soviet nuclear weapons.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did President Eisenhower relieve Bob Lovett from the Defense Department, according to Isaacson?

2. What was the document that Isaacson claims to be the blueprint for national security policy through the 1960's?

3. What was the only concession the Japanese requested for its surrender to end WWII, according to Isaacson?

4. How did George Kennan contribute to Acheson's effort to win support for Greece and Turkey, according to Isaacson?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,130 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample