Which of the following problems beset the South Vietnamese government in 1954:
A)  A war-ravaged economy.
B)  Antiquated governmental institutions.
C)  An absence of popular support both in the countryside and among non-Communist nationalists.
D)  Continued Vietminh control of key territory.
E)  All of the above.
ANSWER: E

Washington shifted from giving Diem lukewarm support to backing him strongly in 1955 because:
A)  Diem ably resolved South Vietnam's tremendous economic difficulties.
B)  Hanoi agreed to recognize Diem's government.
C)  Diem's army won a surprising victory over the sects.
D)  Diem won the blessings of South Vietnam's influential Buddhist hierarchy.
E)  All of the above.
ANSWER: C

Throughout the late 1950s, the fundamental goal of American policy in South Vietnam remained:
A)  Maintaining South Vietnam as a barrier against Communist expansion.
B)  Neutralizing Southeast Asia in the ongoing Cold War.
C)  Effecting a rapprochement with Ho Chi Minh.
D)  Using South Vietnam as a base for launching air attacks against the People's Republic of China.
ANSWER: A

From 1955-1961, the vast majority of American assistance to South Vietnam went toward:
A)  Establishing a viable, democratic government based on majority rule.
B)  Creating a strong army to counter North Vietnam's powerful military.
C)  Spreading American values among South Vietnam's impoverished peasants.
D)  Building a modern industrial economy.
ANSWER: B

The Military Assistance and Advisory Group's (MAAG) effort to turn South Vietnam's army into an effective force failed for which of the following reasons:
A)  A lack of sufficiently educated officers.
B)  Diem's determination to base the promotion of officers on loyalty to his regime rather than on merit.
C)  The American decision to train the South Vietnamese army for a conventional war rather than the rural insurgency it would eventually have to fight.
D)  All of the above.
ANSWER: D

Diem used his political philosophy—"personalism"—to:
A)  Bring together Vietnam's many diverse ethnic groups.
B)  Build popular support for democratic values.
C)  Justify absolute state control and his belief that the ruling elite should determine the general welfare.
D)  Rationalize opening a dialog with Ho Chi Minh.
ANSWER: C

The "reeducation centers" that Diem established in the late 1950s:
A)  Imprisoned thousands of Communists and non-Communists, and helped fuel steadily increasing discontent in South Vietnam.
B)  Affected only a handful of people.
C)  Won the loyalty of "stay-behind" Communists through free education and the extension of rural aid.
D)  Were the centerpiece of Diem's effort to achieve full literacy in South Vietnam by 1965.
ANSWER: A

Despite South Vietnam's vulnerability, Hanoi chose not to pursue reunification in the late 1950s because:
A)  Periodic border skirmishes with China compelled North Vietnam to station most of its troops on its northern border.
B)  Hanoi feared that America would respond to any aggression with nuclear weapons.
C)  Ho Chi Minh believed that Vietnam should only be reunified by peaceful means.
D)  Hanoi faced daunting postwar reconstruction and nation-building problems including popular resistance to its program of land reform.
E)  All of the above.
ANSWER: D

The North Vietnamese government gradually committed itself to supporting a Communist insurgency against the Diem government between 1957 and 1959 because:
A)  Diem's anti-Communist campaign had proven so successful that it threatened the survival of the revolutionary apparatus in the south.
B)  Hanoi had successfully secured the revolution in North Vietnam.
C)  Ho Chi Minh had decided to delay the completion of the socialist revolution in the north.
D)  Washington had signaled its intention to abandon South Vietnam.
E)  All of the above.
ANSWER: A

Diem's "agroville" program proved to be:
A)  A stunning success that rallied the peasants to the government and thereby eroded support for the National Liberation Front (NLF).
B)  A complete flop that bred widespread resentment among peasants angry at being removed from their homes and separated from the sacred burial grounds of their ancestors.
C)  A well-funded but poorly administered program that produced mixed results.
D)  Popular with South Vietnam's rural people, but a failure because of insufficient government support.
E)  More successful politically than economically.
ANSWER: B

In 1960, Ambassador Elbridge Durbrow:
A)  Argued that America should force Diem to implement broad reforms in exchange for further military aid.
B)  Attempted to persuade a reluctant Diem to declare martial law and to centralize his authority
C)  Backed a plot to replace Diem with a government dominated by the military.
D)  Called publicly for direct American control of South Vietnam.
E)  Urged President Eisenhower to end America's commitment to South Vietnam.
ANSWER: A