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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. Who was JFK communicating with on a daily basis?
(a) U Thant.
(b) The OAS.
(c) Khrushechev.
(d) Robert.

2. Who said "I am not going to follow a course which will allow anyone to write a comparable book about this time, The Missiles of October" (98)?
(a) JFK.
(b) Robert.
(c) Barbara Tuchman.
(d) Prince von Bulow.

3. According to Robert in "The importance of placing ourselves in the other country's shoes," why was JFK reluctant to attack the missile sites after a U.S. U-2 was shot down?
(a) The Cubans would attack
(b) The Russians would be forced to retaliate.
(c) It would humiliate Castro.
(d) Too many innocents would die.

4. What did the Joint Chief of Staff suggest the U.S. do to respond to the letter sent October 27th?
(a) Refuse any negotiations in a letter.
(b) Meet with Khrushchev personally.
(c) Strengthen the blockade.
(d) Military action.

5. 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) Harvard University.
(b) Princeton University.
(c) Cornell University.
(d) American University.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who would not allow Russian planes to refuel or land in Dakar?

3. What does Robert suggest the President use to get an opposite opinion if no one else will offer it?

4. Who does JFK write to after the Russians agree to remove missiles from Cuba?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. When the crisis was over, why did Kennedy not make a statement assigning credit for the success? And why did he instruct all involved not to provide one either?

2. What is JFK referencing when he says that "we are now in an entirely new ball game" (74)? What has changed?

3. While still in communications with Khrushchev, RFK writes that "both 'hawks' and 'doves' sensed that our combination of limited force and diplomatic efforts had been unsuccessful" (64). What do the symbolic terms "hawks" and "doves" stand for?

4. Khrushchev uses several metaphors in his letter to JFK. What is one metaphor and what does it mean?

5. What does Robert mean when he writes "no action is taken against a powerful adversary in a vacuum" (96)?

6. Why did JFK choose the Marucla for the first vessel to be boarded?

7. After the Soviet's agree to a stand down, JFK makes an analogy between himself and Abraham Lincoln. What does he say and what does it mean?

8. Who did JFK seek advice from? Why?

9. What did RFK believe was wrong with the letter drafted by the State Department that was written in response to the letter received October 27th, and what did he suggest they write instead?

10. What is one example Robert provides of a devil's advocate working?

(see the answer keys)

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