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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the crisis a microcosm for according to the authors of the Afterword?
(a) The workings of democracy.
(b) Problems of the nuclear age.
(c) Problems of the modern American Presidency.
(d) The inevitability of nuclear war.

2. How many passengers were on the East German Passenger ship that approached the blockade?
(a) Fifteen hundered.
(b) Fifty.
(c) One thousand.
(d) One hundered.

3. When JFK says, "this is the night I should go to the theater" (84), what famous historical figure is he referencing?
(a) Martin Luther King Jr.
(b) Dwight D. Eisenhower.
(c) Abraham Lincoln.
(d) Harry S. Truman.

4. What extended metaphor does Khrushchev use to conclude his letter from October 26th?
(a) A flood.
(b) The scoring of a goal.
(c) A journey while driving a car.
(d) The tying of a knot.

5. According to the Afterword, the Cuban Missile Crisis is important on how many levels?
(a) Two.
(b) Three.
(c) Ten.
(d) Five.

6. Which two countries in Africa did JFK seek support from during the missile crisis?
(a) Egypt and Ethiopia.
(b) Canary Islands and South Africa.
(c) Guinea and Senegal.
(d) Algeria and Kenya.

7. Where did JFK say, "Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to the choice of either a humiliating defeat or a nuclear war" (97)?
(a) Princeton University.
(b) Cornell University.
(c) Harvard University.
(d) American University.

8. What two items were added to the embargo list after the successful boarding of the Marucla?
(a) Petroleum oil and lubricants.
(b) Weapons and steele.
(c) Baby food and bread.
(d) Gasoline and automobiles.

9. Who was George Ball?
(a) The Under Secretary of State.
(b) Chief of Staff.
(c) Former Ambassador to Cuba.
(d) The Secretary of State.

10. Who wrote the letter responding to Khrushchev's first letter?
(a) JFK and Robert.
(b) Robert and Sorensen.
(c) The State Department.
(d) The Joint Chiefs of Staff.

11. Whose plane was shot down while flying reconnaissance over Cuba?
(a) John Kennedy, Jr.
(b) Secretary Rusk.
(c) General McNamara.
(d) Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr.

12. According to the afterword, what would choosing nuclear war mean?
(a) Mutual homicide.
(b) Mutual superiority.
(c) Peace for remaining countries.
(d) Rising hostilities.

13. What "committed American ground forces to what has become the longest war in our history" (102)?
(a) The invasion of Cambodia.
(b) The Bay of Pigs.
(c) The Cuban Missile Crisis.
(d) The Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

14. Which country does Robert identify that originally doubted the U.S.'s position regarding Cuba?
(a) Germany.
(b) Brazil.
(c) Great Britain.
(d) France.

15. Why does Khrushchev claim the Soviet Union has placed missiles in Cuba?
(a) To potect the Soviet people in Cuba.
(b) To prevent the U.S. from invading.
(c) To provoke the U.S. into war.
(d) To fire upon all major U.S. cities.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who would analyze Khrushchev's personal letter and make recommendations on October 27th?

2. Who is supposed to declare war according to the Constitution?

3. According to the Afterword, what did victory mean pre-1945?

4. Who wrote the Afterword for Thirteen Days?

5. What did the ex-Chancellor of Germany at the outbreak of the First World War ask his successor?

(see the answer keys)

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