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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. What did the ex-Chancellor of Germany at the outbreak of the First World War ask his successor?
(a) "Where did we go wrong?"
(b) "What will you do to stop it?"
(c) "How did it all happen?"
(d) "How do you change things now?"

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

3. How did Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. die?
(a) Killed in WWII.
(b) Contracted polio.
(c) Assassinated.
(d) Drowned.

4. How many destroyers did the U.S. put in Caribbean waters?
(a) 25
(b) 5.
(c) 1.
(d) 12.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did JFK believe was the likelihood of nuclear war when dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis?

2. Who was the ex-Chancellor of Germany at the outbreak of World War I?

3. Which two countries in Africa did JFK seek support from during the missile crisis?

4. According to the afterword, what would choosing nuclear war mean?

5. Which country does Robert identify that originally doubted the U.S.'s position regarding Cuba?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. In the letter received October 26th, what does Khrushchev claim is the reason he sent weapons to Cuba?

4. How does JFK view the military advisers recommending war? Why does he feel this way?

5. Why does Robert believe that a devil's advocate is necessary for the President?

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

7. What does Robert tell is the final lesson learned in the Cuban Missile Crisis?

8. In the letter drafted by Robert and Sorenson in response to Khrushchev's letter received October 26th, what is the "first ingredient" (79) to a peaceful arrangement? Why?

9. Analyze the simile "the leaders who lived through the crisis felt what it was like to peer over the precipice" (104)?

10. What did the letter received October 23rd from Khrushchev imply about the U.S. and the repercussions the U.S. may expect?

(see the answer keys)

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