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Quiz for Reading the American Past, Chapter 26

Quiz for Reading the American Past, Chapter 26

Document Links

Document 26-1: General Marshall Summarizes the Lessons of World War II

Document 26-2: George F. Kennan Outlines Containment

Document 26-3: Cold War Blueprint

Document 26-4: Senator Joseph McCarthy Hunts Communists

Document 26-5: A Veteran Recalls Combat in the Korean War

Question

1. Which of the following did General George Marshall propose as a means of preparing the United States for another modern war? (See Document 26-1: General Marshall Summarizes the Lessons of World War II)

Develop a program under which all men would undergo military training and could be called upon to serve in the military when war occurred.

Establish a large professional Regular Army composed of men pressed into compulsory military service.

Create an international system that would allow nations to negotiate disputes and therefore avoid war through diplomacy.

Pass an international law outlawing war and establish an international army in order to enforce the law.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is a. Marshall believed that the best way to prepare the United States for another conflict was to follow George Washington's suggestion and establish a system of universal military training. Trainees could later be called upon to serve if the country was drawn into war.

Question

2. Which of the following assessments properly characterize the conclusions of George F. Kennan? (See Document 26-2: George F. Kennan Outlines Containment)

Communist expansion by the Soviet Union was a new version of Russia's old security anxieties.

The Soviet Union was responsive to the aggressive behavior of capitalist nations.

Communist authoritarians had turned a pre-western Russian nation into a fanatical bulwark.

With the proper incentives from the West, Russian democratic traditions would be sure to revive soon.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is a. George Kennan described Soviet communist expansion as a more dangerous version of familiar defensive Russian nationalism.

Question

3. Which of the following historical developments did the National Security Council Memorandum 68 identify as the source of a global contest between communist totalitarianism and American freedom? (See Document 26-3: Cold War Blueprint)

The collapse of empires

The stress of global depression

The expansion of women's suffrage

The rise of the civil rights movement

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is a. NSC-68 pointed to the collapse of the British, French, and other empires as the central historical development that explained the global nature of the contest between Soviet and American influence.

Question

4. Who does Senator Joseph McCarthy blame most for harming the cause of the United States in the battle against "communistic atheism"? (See Document 26-4: Senator Joseph McCarthy Hunts Communists)

Soviet spies operating in the United States

Privileged Americans with communist sympathies working in government

Poor Americans who turned to communism to improve working conditions

Incompetent FBI agents

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is b. Senator McCarthy said "it has not been the less fortunate or members of minority groups who have been selling this Nation out, but rather those who have had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on earth has had to offer the finest homes, the finest college education, and the finest jobs in Government we can give."

Question

5. Why was Donald M. Griffith's platoon considered experimental during the Korean War? (See Document 26-5: A Veteran Recalls Combat in the Korean War)

It was the first to use the new M-1 infantry rifle.

It was a desegregated platoon with blacks and other ethnic minorities.

It was a platoon that included Chinese volunteers from the new nation of Taiwan.

It was one of a few platoons that were dropped far behind enemy lines.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is b. Donald M. Griffith's platoon was experimental in that it was a desegregated unit consisting of whites, African Americans, and other minorities.

Question

6. What distinguished George C. Marshall's vision of the nation's future defense from George F. Kennan's? (See Document 26-1: General Marshall Summarizes the Lessons of World War II and Document 26-2: George F. Kennan Outlines Containment)

Marshall focused on military preparedness, while Kennan focused primarily on diplomatic and political strategies of containment.

Marshall focused on the nation's defense against the Soviet Union, while Kennan laid out a more universal strategy for national security.

Marshall was driven by anticommunist fear, while Kennan had little interest in the ideological foundations of the Soviet Union.

Marshall believed that the protection of American interests in the Soviet Union was key, while Kennan did not think the United States had any real stake in that country.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is a. Marshall focused on military preparedness, while Kennan focused primarily on diplomatic and political strategies of containment.

Question

7. What distinguished the memorandum NSC-68 from George F. Kennan's assessment in his long telegram from 1946? (See Document 26-2: George F. Kennan Outlines Containment and Document 26-3: Cold War Blueprint)

Kennan considered the Soviet Union open to American influence, while the authors of NSC-68 viewed the Kremlin as hopelessly antagonistic.

Kennan did not think that the Soviet Union had much involvement with communist ideology, while the authors of NSC-68 viewed the Kremlin as the center of a global communist conspiracy.

Kennan worried about the paranoid politics of the Soviets but not their nuclear capabilities. For the authors of NSC-68, the nuclear danger of the Soviet Union was an important factor.

Kennan believed that there were many ways to ensure the containment of the Soviet Union. For the authors of NSC-68, a first military strike was the only option.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is c. George Kennan worried about the paranoid politics of the Soviets but not their nuclear capabilities. For the authors of NSC-68, the nuclear danger of the Soviet Union was an important factor.