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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. Why was General MacArthur fired according to Isaacson?

2. Who does Isaacson report that President Johnson wanted to serve as Ambassador to Vietnam in 1964?

3. When had Dean Acheson worked with Secretary of State George Marshall, prior to Marshall's appointment to the State Department, according to Isaacson?

4. How did communist cells throughout Europe respond to the Marshall Plan?

5. How did the Pentagon recommend the government should respond to the Soviet Union's possession of nuclear weapons, according to Isaacson?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who were the first two of the "Six Wise Men" to remove themselves from advising President Johnson because they could no longer support America's involvement in Vietnam, according to Isaacson?

2. 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?

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

4. 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?

5. What does Isaacson report to be the concern of Robert Lovett regarding the operations of the CIA under President Eisenhower?

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

7. Why did the Truman Administration consider making an atomic arms control "covenant" with the Soviet Union, according to Isaacson?

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

9. 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?

10. To what event did President Truman compare the Soviet clampdown on Czechoslavakia in 1948, according to Isaacson?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

George Kennan and Chip Bohlen used their very different personalities and skills to climb the ranks of the foreign service to eventually enter the inner circles of the Roosevelt Administration. Compare and contrast the diverse personalities and skills of Kennan and Bohlen and detail how they complemented each other to become major influences on policies concerning the Soviet Union.

Essay Topic 2

Isaacson clearly takes a complementary view of the six "Wise Men." Consider the total effects of their influence from the past to the present. Do you agree with his assessment? Is Isaacson's perspective justified? Is his view reflective of political or social affinities? Who most benefited from the influence of the "Wise Men"? Who, if anyone suffered? Were the six individuals on whom The Wise Men focuses really wise? Use information from the book and research on relevant events from history and current events to support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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