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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which group was created "for the purpose of effective conduct of the operations of the executive branch in the current crisis" (45)?
(a) Executive Committee of the National Security Council.
(b) Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(c) The Cabinet.
(d) Organization of American States.

2. What did Robert suggest JFK do on September 4th regarding the possibility of Russia placing missiles in Cuba?
(a) Issue a statement that it would not be tolerated.
(b) Bomb Cuba.
(c) Issue a statement of good will.
(d) Threaten Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev.

3. Who said, "You are in a pretty bad fix, Mr. President" (29)?
(a) John F. Kennedy.
(b) Robert F. Kennedy.
(c) General LeMay.
(d) General Shoup.

4. What was the main reason that the President did not attend all of the Ex Comm meetings?
(a) To avoid arousing suspicion.
(b) Important diplomatic duties.
(c) Evasion of responsibility.
(d) Busy schedule.

5. Who does JFK meet with whom Robert claims he "trusted implicitly" (51)?
(a) Ambassador David Ormsby-Gore.
(b) Secretary Adlai Stevenson.
(c) Ambassador Dobrynin.
(d) Secretary John McNamara.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened around 10:30, October 27th, the first day of the blockade?

2. How long before the President's address to the nation did they tell the ambassador of Russia?

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

4. Who was U Thant?

5. What was one recommendation from the military action plan?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. When was Congress told, and how did Congress react to the news of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

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

6. Why does RFK defend Adlai Stevenson's suggestion?

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

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

9. Why does RFK slip the President a note saying "I now know how Tojo felt when he was planning Pearl Harbor" (25)? How do the situations compare?

10. How did Ex Comm formulate their recommendations to the President?

(see the answer keys)

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