POLS 321 Midterm Exam Questions S. Majeski

Questions for the 2/5 Midterm will be drawn from this list. You will be asked to respond to 2 of the 3 questions selected from this list. You should be prepared to answer all of these questions.

1. The U.S. political, economic, and military stature was at its height during the 1950's. By the mid and late 1970's it had appeared to bottom out. What factors most account for this change?
2. What were the main conclusions drawn in NSC-68 concerning the Soviet threat and the actions the U.S. should take to meet that threat?
3. Describe how the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and NATO fit together into a coherent U.S. foreign policy strategy.
4. Discuss the strategies the Nixon Administration employed to extricate the U.S. from Vietnam. Why did they all eventually fail?
5. In what ways were the Reagan administration's polices toward arms control and Central America in the early 1980s consistent and inconsistent with the "Containment Doctrine" and early Cold War U.S. foreign policy?
6. We have examined the policymaking and policies of a number of Presidents (Truman, Johnson, Reagan). What similarities do you observe across these three administrations? What differences?
7. Why did the United States become so tragically involved in Vietnam during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations? What other factors beside containment appeared to play a role?
8. In the Summer of 1965 George Ball presented a very persuasive argument why the U.S. should not send large numbers of combat troops to Vietnam? Why he lose the policy debate?