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Quiz for Reading the American Past, Chapter 29

Quiz for Reading the American Past, Chapter 29

Document Links

Document 29-1: President Kennedy Explains Why We Are in Vietnam

Document 29-2: A Secret Government Assessment of the Vietnam War

Document 29-3: Military Discipline in an Unpopular War

Document 29-4: An American Soldier in Vietnam

Document 29-5: John Kerry Denounces the Vietnam War

Question

1. How did President John F. Kennedy respond to Bobbie Lou Pendergrass's question about why Americans were in Vietnam? (See Document 29-1: President Kennedy Explains Why We Are in Vietnam)

He explained that the United States had to conquer North Vietnam.

He argued that Americans had to protect vital commercial interests in the region.

He indicated that the South Vietnamese were unable to fight the war themselves.

He explained that Americans were not there to fight the war but to advise the South Vietnamese.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is d. President Kennedy answered Bobbie Lou Pendergrass' question about why the United States was in Vietnam by explaining that her brother and other American soldiers were there to advise the South Vietnamese forces and not to fight the war as combatants.

Question

2. Which of the following did Robert S. McNamara list as an argument that the war in Vietnam was going well for the United States? (See Document 29-2: A Secret Government Assessment of the Vietnam War)

The morale of the enemy had been badly broken.

The United States was killing a large number of enemies every year.

South Vietnam had become a predominantly peaceful nation.

Operation Rolling Thunder had destroyed the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is b. The central piece of evidence McNamara could present to prove that the war was going well for the United States was the large number of enemies killed.

Question

3. Which of the following disciplinary problems in the United States armed forces were entirely new in the Vietnam War? (See Document 29-3: Military Discipline in an Unpopular War)

Desertion

Racial conflict

Drug use

Mutiny

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is c. While there were historical precedents for desertion, mutiny, and racial conflict in the American military, it had never before struggled with pervasive drug abuse.

Question

4. Why did Arthur E. Woodley Jr. say that he became an animal in Vietnam? (See Document 29-4: An American Soldier in Vietnam)

The deprivations of the jungle had turned him into an animal.

The living conditions in camp were so basic that he lived like an animal.

His anticommunist zealotry had turned him into a ferocious soldier.

He had killed and mutilated many people, including prisoners of war.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is d. Woodley described himself as an animal because he viewed his many killings and mutilations as atrocities and crimes against humanity.

Question

5. According to Kerry, what was the significance of the "crimes which we are committing" in Vietnam? (See Document 29-5: John Kerry Denounces the Vietnam War)

South Asian nations would never trust the United States again.

The Soviet Union was gaining a useful propaganda tool against the United States.

The atrocities in Vietnam were ruining a generation of Americans.

The atrocities committed in Vietnam might have killed civilians, not just communists.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is c. John Kerry was making the point that the atrocities committed in Vietnam not only affected the victims there but that the American men who had committed them would come home abused, exploited, and angry.

Question

6. What did Arthur E. Woodley Jr. and John Kerry have in common? (See Document 29-4: An American Soldier in Vietnam and Document 29-5: John Kerry Denounces the Vietnam War)

Both entered the war believing in the American cause in Vietnam.

Both were driven by racial hatred against the Vietnamese.

Both took pains to maintain the moral higher ground in combat.

Both suffered severe attacks and criticism by antiwar protesters.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is a. Although John Kerry and Arthur Woodley Jr. ultimately had very different war experiences, they both entered the war believing in the American cause in Vietnam.

Question

7. What continuity exists between John F. Kennedy's letter from 1963 and Robert S. McNamara's assessment from 1966? (See Document 29-1: President Kennedy Explains Why We Are in Vietnam and Document 29-2: A Secret Government Assessment of the Vietnam War)

Both were confident that war would be over in less than two years.

Both agreed that bombing campaigns were more successful than ground operations.

Both thought that antiwar sentiment at home was the biggest obstacle to victory.

Both felt that the future of South Vietnam depended on U.S. involvement.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is The answer is d. Both John Kennedy and Robert McNamara felt that the future of South Vietnam depended on U.S. involvement.