View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many ships either stopped or turned back before reaching the blockade?
(a) 10.
(b) 4.
(c) 14.
(d) 25.

2. What did Secretary McNamara do, despite his dissent to the strategy?
(a) Prepared the military for air bombardments.
(b) Sent communication to Khrushchev for a summit.
(c) Prepared the documents to release Berlin to Russia.
(d) Ordered the blockade.

3. What did Adlai Stevenson suggest that offended many members of Ex Comm?
(a) Both a blockade and an air strike.
(b) JFK should hold a summit before any action is taken.
(c) The U.S. remove weapons from other countries in exchange for Russian removal of missiles.
(d) The nuclear bombardment of Cuba.

4. How long before the President's address to the nation did they tell the ambassador of Russia?
(a) Twelve hours.
(b) Five minutes.
(c) One day.
(d) An hour.

5. Who presented the argument for a blockade?
(a) Bob McNamara.
(b) Robert Kennedy.
(c) John McCone.
(d) Dean Rusk.

Short Answer Questions

1. What piece of information caused JFK to favor the blockade?

2. Against what strategy was the following argument used: It would be like "closing the door after the horse has left the barn" (28)?

3. What position did John McCloy one hold?

4. Which group was created "for the purpose of effective conduct of the operations of the executive branch in the current crisis" (45)?

5. On October 18th, photographs showed what disturbing new information?

Short Essay Questions

1. What other actions did the U.S. take besides the blockade?

2. What distinguishes Thirteen Days as a memoir (besides the subtitle) and not just an autobiography?

3. How did JFK feel about the reaction from Congress when he informed them about the crisis and his plans?

4. Why does JFK bring up the book The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman?

5. After the blockade takes effect, RFK meets with Dobrynin again. What do they discuss?

6. How did RFK feel about his fellow members of in Ex Comm?

7. Which countries immediately supported the U.S. in the decision for a blockade? Why did JFK favor a blockade over a surgical air strike?

8. What was ironic about JFK's meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrea Gromyko?

9. Why did the Intelligence Community not believe Cuba was a threat to the United States?

10. How and where did Adlai Stevenson present the photographic evidence of missiles in Cuba?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,337 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample