View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who does Isaacson report to have offered proposals that the United States develop an intelligence-gathering system?
(a) Dean Acheson.
(b) James Forrestal.
(c) George Kennan.
(d) General Hoyt Vandenberg.

2. What were the three questions President Truman wrote regarding America's confrontation with Soviet aggression?
(a) "Will Russia move first? Who pulls the trigger? Then where do we go?"
(b) "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?"
(c) "What is our move when Russia moves? Should we move first? Who pulls the trigger?"
(d) "Can we afford to confront the Soviets? Will the voters support us? Can the country survive more wars?"

3. Why was the Johnson Administation's plan to settle the Vietnamese conflict rejected, according to Isaacson?
(a) Middle America feared communist expansion.
(b) The New York Times criticized it.
(c) The South Vietnamese government rejected it.
(d) The Congress rejected it.

4. What does Isaacson claim to be George Kennan's biggest concern regarding Soviet Communism?
(a) Subversion, not invasion.
(b) The appeal to the working class being taxed to support international efforts.
(c) Its ability to adjust and change its public approaches based upon efforts to contain it.
(d) Populist indignation at elites.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which two of the "Six Wise Men" does Isaacson report were called to brief the Kennedy Administration on the two crises that faced them?

2. Who was asked to approach President-Elect Kennedy's choice for Secretary of State to offer him the position, according to Isaacson?

3. Why did Dean Acheson believe the U.S. should get involved in the war between North and South Korea, according to Isaacson?

4. After the atomic bombs had been detonated in Japan, what does Isaacson indicate to be the next challenge for the government in the post-war era?

5. Who does Isaacson report to be the first of the "Six Wise Men" whom Kennedy sought out for advice after his election to the presidency in 1960?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Isaacson claim to be Stalin's reaction to the Marshall Plan?

2. What does Isaacson claim Clark Clifford wrote in a campaign strategy memo regarding the affect of the Soviet clampdown on Czechoslovakia on the reelection chances of President Truman?

3. What Southeast Asian country did President Eisenhower tell President-Elect Kennedy was the "key" to keeping communism from overtaking all of Southeast Asia according to Isaacson?

4. What was the suggestion that Dean Acheson made regarding the future of freedom if Turkey and Greece fell into the influence of Soviet Communism, according to Isaacson?

5. What does Isaacson report to be the entry into the logbook of the Enola Gay to record the dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima?

6. What scandal does Isaacson report to have come to the Truman Administration's state department in January 1950?

7. What was the focus of George Kennan's "Long Telegram" according to Isaacson?

8. Who does Isaacson claim that Dean Acheson supported for the 1960 Democrat Presidential nomination over John F. Kennedy?

9. What does Isaacson claim to be the North Vietnamese offensive that made the Johnson Administration realize America needed to get out of the Vietnam War?

10. What was Dean Acheson's view regarding America's involvement in Vietnam, according to Isaacson?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 903 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample