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

Short Answer Questions

1. Isaacson reports that Averell Harriman took what position in the Roosevelt Administration?

2. What does Isaacson suggest started becoming a concern to the six "Wise Men" shortly after WWII began?

3. Isaacson reports which "Wise Man" worked to implement Franklin Roosevelt's Lend Lease program?

4. Which two of the "Wise Men" does Isaacson claim understood the importance of trade and global involvement from their careers on Wall Street?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Isaacson claim to be Averell Harriman's qualification for Skull and Bones?

2. What does Isaacson report to be Averell Harriman's first achievement after he was named as transportation adviser to the National Defense Advisory Commission by President Franklin Roosevelt?

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

4. What military action did Joseph Stalin demand from his British and American allies once the United States entered WWII, according to Isaacson?

5. What experience in John McCloy's background does Isaacson claim gave McCloy the exposure to Henry Stimson that eventually led to McCloy's appointment to the Department of War as a special consultant on German espionage?

6. What did Isaacson report regarding a meeting between Averell Harriman and Max Beaverbrook that foretold the change in the balance of power between England and the United States?

7. As the Allied powers began to close in on Germany, what does Isaacson expose to be the main concern of the British and American governments for the post-war era?

8. What does Isaacson report to be the difference between George Kennan's approach to training for the foreign service and that of Chip Bohlen?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Harry Truman committed American soldiers to fight the war in Korea without a Congressional declaration. What are the constitutional requirements for committing American soldiers to war? How did the Truman Administration justify the action to Congress? Who benefited from this decision? What have been the long-term effects of using American soldiers to fight undeclared wars beyond the oversight of Congress? Who carries the responsibility for these effects, the presidency or Congress?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Throughout WWII Joseph Stalin was depicted in The Wise Men as an unreliable ally and he was considered a threat to American interests after the war. Yet when the destructiveness of the atom bomb was exposed, members of the Truman Administration considered making the Soviet Union part of a system of regulating the use of the weapon and even considered sharing the technology with the Soviets. What were the reasons for inviting the Soviets to share strategic information regarding atomic weapons with the U.S.? Are these reasons contradictory to the distrust that the six "Wise Men" had for Stalin and the Soviets? How so or how not? Did the eventual development of nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union act to preserve peace or lead to justifications for more military build-up? Explain your answers with information from the book.

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