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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who testified to Congress in 1964 that "in the first hour [of all-out nuclear war] one hundred million Americans and one hundred million Russians would be killed" (104)?

2. What was the "final lesson" (95) learned from the Cuban Missile Crisis?

3. What is the crisis a microcosm for according to the authors of the Afterword?

4. What does the change in attitude from the letter received on the 26th and the letter received on the 27th suggest?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does an official from the Soviet Embassy deliver a message in an unorthodox manner? Why is it thought to be credible? What was the message?

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

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

6. 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?

7. How did Africa play a role in the Cuban Missile Crisis?

8. What made the prospect of war unbearable to JFK?

9. 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?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Cuban Missile Crisis presented itself as a first ever occurrence for the U.S., and modern technology played a role in how it was handled. Identify three ways that technology effected how the Cuban Missile Crisis was handled and why it had this effect.

Essay Topic 2

Cultural allusions are made to Munich and Pearl Harbor. In an essay, identify which of these events most closely resembles the Cuban Missile Crisis. Give details to support your assertions.

Essay Topic 3

In an essay compare the "hawks" and "doves" from Thirteen Days. What does the symbol mean? Who was a hawk? A dove? How do the symbols help to illustrate their differences?

(see the answer keys)

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