View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Isaacson cite as the difference between Kennan's and Chip Bohlen's approach to preparing for their chosen field?

2. What does Isaacson report to be the warning the Allied powers gave to the Japanese regarding the dropping of the atomic bomb?

3. Who does Isaacson report to be the U.S. ambassador to Russia immediately after WWII?

4. What was Bohlen's first assignment after he completed training in his field, according to Issacson?

5. What was one of the first challenges facing the Truman Administration in dealing with the Soviet Union after WWII, according to Isaacson?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Isaacson claim that Robert Lovett's father started in his work for E.H. Harriman?

2. What kind of jobs did John McCloy's mother find for him during his youth, according to Isaacson?

3. What does Isaacson identify as the major issues facing Harry Truman during the first month of his presidency after the death of President Roosevelt?

4. Why did Russian soldiers dismantle German factories and send the assets back to their homeland at the end of WWII according to Isaacson?

5. How did Averell Harriman and Robert Lovett come to work together after WWI, according to Isaacson?

6. Who does Isaacson identify as the two men that Secretary of War Henry Stimson called the "Heavenly Twins"?

7. Which of the "Six Wise Men" does Isaacson report came to know the family of another through his father's employment?

8. What were the circumstances through which John McCloy came into contact with Averell Harriman and Robert Lovett after WWI, according to Isaacson?

9. What does Isaacson claim motivated George Kennan to apply for a job with the foreign service?

10. Where does Isaacson report Dean Acheson started his career after WWI?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Joseph Stalin is very prominent in the development of American foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union. Was American foreign policy developed with regard to American interests or as reactions to Stalin's personality, demands, and aggression against domestic political enemies and satellite states to the Soviet Union? If you choose the answer that policy regarding Stalin's Soviet Union was made in defense of American interests, support your position with evidence from the book and outside sources. If you consider that foreign policy was made as a reaction to Stalin, support your position with evidence and suggest how the government could have acted more for the benefit of the nation.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Robert Lovett and Averell Harriman as they used their personal business connections throughout the world to gain access to positions that allowed them to direct government policy. Use details and quotes as they were reported by Isaacson.

Essay Topic 3

Isaacson on several occasions throughout The Wise Men suggests that the "Wise Men" and various leaders in the government were fighting against "isolationist" desires of the general public and various political leaders. What evidence does Isaacson offer to support the idea that "isolationism" was a threat to America's future, and how did the internationalism of the "Wise Men" affect them and the country?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,032 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample