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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. What does Isaacson report that Clark Clifford wrote in a campaign memo to use the Soviet Crisis to help President Truman's re-election campaign for 1948?
(a) "In times of crisis, the American citizen tends to back up his President."
(b) "Great wars define great leaders."
(c) "Never waste a good crisis."
(d) "This gives us the opportunity to make voters fear a change at this time."

4. What was the major contributing factor to causing the fate of the "Six Wise Men" after the election of Eisenhower?
(a) The general public began to see America's foreign policy elite had been reserving power to itself with the continual appeals for wars.
(b) After nearly 25 years of depression, war, and turmoil, Americans demanded a return to policies of non-intervention.
(c) It was the first time the Republicans held power in 20 years and they wanted to start with their people in power.
(d) The plans made by the "Wise Men" were proving to have disastrous economic consequences for the country.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Upon whom does Isaacson claim that Stimson relied to help him achieve his goal regarding the control of the atom bomb?

2. What does Isaacson claim to have become the consensus of the "Wise Men" concerning Vietnam in their advice to President Johnson?

3. Who does Isaacson record to be the first Democrat candidate for president in 1952 after President Truman announced he would not seek re-election?

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

5. According to Isaacson, why did did George Kennan oppose the development of more powerful nuclear weapons?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Who did President Kennedy choose to act as his chief negotiator at the International Control Commission talks on Laos, according to Isaacson?

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 affect did the Soviet aggression in Czechoslovakia have on Truman's effort to win Congressional approval of the Marshall Plan, according to Isaacson?

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

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

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

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

9. Why did Truman's most trusted foreign advisers, including Robert Lovett, George Kennan, Chip Bohlen, and Dean Acheson, oppose the formation of a Jewish State in Palestine, according to Isaacson?

10. How does Isaacson explain the changes in the military policy of the Truman Administration once it became clear the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons?

(see the answer keys)

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