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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Upon whom does Isaacson claim that Stimson relied to help him achieve his goal regarding the control of the atom bomb?
(a) State Department Liaison to the White House, John McCloy.
(b) Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal.
(c) Commerce Secretary Henry Wallace.
(d) Dean Acheson as Under Secretary of State.

2. What State Department official does Isaacson report to have been determined to bring the United States into a "Western Union" military alliance?
(a) Donald Maclean.
(b) Robert Lovett.
(c) Theodore Achilles.
(d) John Hickerson.

3. What event does Isaacson claim one of the "Six Wise Men" used to encourage President Johnson to get tougher in Vietnam?
(a) John McCloy showed how American efforts had brought peace and prosperity to the world.
(b) George Kennan reviewed how the Long Telegram became the foundation of foreign policy decisions that contained communist imperialism throughout the Cold War.
(c) Dean Acheson recounted the Chinese invasion of Korea in 1950 when it appeared the American military was defeated.
(d) Averell Harriman detailed how communism was built on an unsustainable model and was doomed to collapse.

4. How does Isaacson suggest that President Kennedy hoped to avoid war in Laos?
(a) By supporting economic development throughout South East Asia.
(b) Through back channel negotiations with leaders of the Soviet Union.
(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) With help from the British in reviving the International Control Commission.

5. What does Isaacson record came of Kennan's concern regarding confronting Soviet Communism?
(a) It was taken by the House UnAmerican Activities committee to guide its efforts to prosecute communist activities throughout the country.
(b) It was shelved by higher members of the Truman Administration but acted upon by the Eisenhower Administration.
(c) It became the foundation for using American embassies as the hub of spying activities against foreign subversives.
(d) An "office of special projects" was started in the CIA.

6. 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) George Kennan
(c) Dean Acheson.
(d) Averell Harriman.

7. 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) During a campaign to shake America out of its post WWI "isolationism."
(c) In China to mediate an end to the civil war between Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse Tung.
(d) While he was on the Yale crew coached by Averell Harriman.

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

9. 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 fearfully as possible to cajole the general public to put unquestioning support for the wisdom of its government."
(b) Clifford understood the rivalry had, "...to be framed as a personal cause of free American talent overcoming international slavery."
(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 a contest between the forces of darkness and light."

10. 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) A "head-in-the-sand" mentality in flyover country over the urgency of turning back international communism.
(b) Isolationism and a "let Europe go" mood.
(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.

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

12. When does Isaacson report communist North Korea invaded South Korea?
(a) June 6, 1944.
(b) June 6, 1949.
(c) June 24, 1950.
(d) June 25, 1959.

13. 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 give support for more military spending in the battle to confront communism.
(c) To support a greater role for military actions against communist aggression.
(d) To become the basis for a propaganda campaign that helped to condense power within the foreign policy elite.

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

15. 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 to show the superiority of communism over democracy.
(d) They hoped that the U.S. would put itself in financial turmoil by singly funding what appeared to be a long war.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Isaacson claim blocked MacArthur's plans for slowing the flow of Chinese soldiers into the Korean War?

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

3. What does Isaacson suggest shaped President Johnson's views on dealing with Soviet Communism?

4. Why was General MacArthur fired according to Isaacson?

5. When did the Soviet Union begin its "clampdown" on Czechoslovakia, according to Isaacson?

(see the answer keys)

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