Chapter 304: Johnson’s Doing Pretty Well
“Mr. President, I agree with your viewpoint. I think President Kennedy’s concerns about space nuclear weapons in the early 1960s were not without reason.
Once the Soviet person’s nuclear-powered satellite technology is sufficiently mature, they are very likely to further push for deploying nuclear weapons in low Earth orbit.
Just as we guessed in the past, launching nuclear weapons into space along the southbound orbit over the South Pole.
This signing ceremony for the Outer Space Treaty held at the United Nations will be a very suitable opportunity.
If they sign this treaty without hesitation, it means they have no intention of implementing it.
Then we also need to take further action.
President Johnson, I think we should increase investment in GPS, and our GPS satellites should also use nuclear power to increase the number of GPS satellites, improve positioning precision, and also achieve effects including monitoring Soviet low Earth orbit weaponization besides satellite positioning.”
Starlink satellites are at an altitude of 550 kilometers, while GPS satellites are at about 20,000 kilometers, which will affect latency.
Starlink’s latency is about 25 milliseconds, and if the satellite altitude is increased to 20,000 kilometers, the latency will increase to at least 134.7 milliseconds.
At the same time, there are very few GPS satellites; initially only 4 were launched, and this number slowly increased later.
Because GPS receivers need four satellites to cooperate to calculate its position.
This number of satellites obviously does not match Lin Ran’s vision for building satellite Internet.
It’s not that this number is insufficient; it’s naturally sufficient. 4 satellites are more than enough to support a pure text version of a blog application, and for text applications, 137 milliseconds of latency is negligible.
But if we want to push satellite Internet forward, naturally the more satellites and the lower the altitude, the better.
Therefore, Lin Ran then pulled out a proposal from his briefcase: “President Johnson, this is the Starlink System I designed. It will make Soviet satellites missiles or ground-launched missiles impossible to hide, achieving real-time monitoring of global movements.”
Lyndon Johnson took the proposal and immediately saw the shocking number in it: “Ten thousand low-altitude satellites?
Professor, are you joking with me? Even if I double NASA’s budget, this is probably an astronomical number we can’t achieve, right?
And is ten thousand satellites really necessary?”
Lyndon Johnson thought Lin Ran was crazy; the proposal he came up with after a month of seclusion was beyond insane.
The Vietnam War and the Great Society plan were squeezing the federal budget dry, and NASA’s Apollo Moon Landing last year also burned a huge amount of funds.
The entire federal financial situation could be described in four words: stretched thin.
Precisely because the entire 1960s squeezed dry the federal fiscal revenue, the Bretton Woods system was abolished in the 1970s. If it wasn’t abolished, the free world couldn’t continue.
So in a sense, Americans can casually change the game rules. Places like Western Europe and the Four Asian Tigers can give back to America, while in the Soviet camp, the only China they supported to give back, the Soviets fell out with them themselves.
It’s no wonder the Soviets could win this Cold War.
Lin Ran explained: “Based on reusable rockets, this plan is completely feasible. Our reusable rockets are expected to undergo testing this year. Reusable rockets can reduce satellite delivery costs to less than one million US dollars.
That is to say, the cost of sending ten thousand satellites to low Earth orbit is less than ten billion US dollars.
This system consists of four parts.
First is the Global Positioning System, abbreviated as GPS. We plan to deploy 24 satellites in medium Earth orbit at 20,000 kilometers high, distributed across six orbital planes.
Each satellite will broadcast its position and precise time signals. Ground receivers can calculate positioning accurate to a few meters by receiving signals from at least four satellites.
This is crucial for our army, whether for missile targeting or troop coordination, it will be like adding wings to a tiger.”
Our soldiers, whether in the Vietnam jungle or on the Atlantic Ocean, will know where they are.
Not only that, GPS can also be used for civilian purposes, such as aviation navigation and ship positioning, enhancing our economy and international influence.”
Lin Ran did not explain the GPS system in too much detail, because the Department of Defense was already promoting the construction of GPS.
“The second part is reconnaissance satellites,” Lin Ran pointed to a satellite design drawing, “These satellites will operate in low Earth orbit at 250 kilometers, equipped with high-resolution cameras and signal sensors.
We can monitor the Soviet camp’s military bases, fleet movements, and even missile launch preparations in real time.
The resolution is sufficient to identify vehicle types on the ground, and signal intelligence can intercept their communications.
This will give us an absolute advantage in intelligence.
For example, we can detect any abnormal activities of the Soviets in Cuba in advance, avoiding a passive situation like the 1962 missile crisis.”
The third part is communication satellites. We will deploy a group of satellites in geosynchronous orbit at 36,000 kilometers to ensure secure communications worldwide.
Even on the most remote battlefields, our commanders can maintain real-time contact with the Pentagon without relying on vulnerable ground facilities.
Finally, early warning satellites, which will also be deployed in synchronous orbit, equipped with infrared detectors to capture the heat signals of missile launches.
They will cover the globe, especially key Soviet areas.
Once a launch is detected, we will have several minutes of warning time, enough to activate defense measures.
I call the entire plan the Star Wars Program!”
Lin Ran thought to himself, spending Americans’ money to do his own thing felt really great.
And he was confident enough that Lyndon Johnson would agree to this plan.
After a moment of silence, Lyndon Johnson looked up at Lin Ran: “Professor, I can push it through, using all my political energy, but it needs to be my plan.”
Lin Ran immediately understood what Lyndon Johnson meant, exactly as he had guessed.
The president needs money; a president without money is worthless.
Didn’t you see that after Big T became president, he kept biting Fed Chair Powell, pressuring him extremely to cut rates, because without rate cuts, the federal government has no money, and the president can’t do anything, four years gone.
A president with money needs to spend it and have loud enough achievements.
Kennedy’s moon landing proposal, even realized under Johnson, still counts as Kennedy’s achievement.
To this day, when the media reports on the moon landing, they have to repeatedly emphasize the 1961 moon landing speech. Lyndon Johnson? Even though he was in the White House and had always supported NASA, the public doesn’t care.
Undoubtedly, during Lyndon Johnson’s four-year term, his own projects—the Vietnam War and the Great Society—were both a mess.
The former had turned from a lightning war into a quagmire, and the latter, the core of the Great Society is the Civil Rights Act, which can’t entirely count as his achievement.
With the pain of the Vietnam War intensifying and becoming more obvious, Lyndon Johnson must have enough achievements, his own projects.
At this time, Lin Ran’s timely “Star Wars” was undoubtedly a great gift, an unprecedented great gift.
If this great gift could be achieved with just ten billion US dollars, Lyndon Johnson would definitely be tempted.
Because ten billion US dollars is not one-time; it’s spread over many times. He has two years left in this term, at most two billion; if he can be re-elected for another four years, the money will definitely continue to be spent, best to complete Star Wars within his term.
If he doesn’t get elected, the cost he pays is just two billion US dollars, paid by the federal government, not him personally.
And if Star Wars is really built in the future, it will be his achievement.
So Lyndon Johnson’s first words were that it needs to be his plan.
If it becomes your design, professor’s plan, then what the hell am I doing.
Lin Ran smiled and said: “Of course, Mr. President, this is naturally your plan.
I didn’t mention anything about it in Cronkite’s interview program this morning.
This is the plan I came up with during my seclusion on Hawaii Island. Once this plan takes shape, it will reshape the global strategic landscape, and America will completely lock down the Soviet strategic space.
And in the future, when historians write about this history, the person who laid the foundation for Cold War victory will be you: Lyndon Johnson.”
After hearing this, Lyndon Johnson felt a strange sensation surging in his heart, the illusion of the past Johnson treatment happening to himself: an unbelievable powerful mix of persuasion, entanglement, flattery, threats, and reminders of past favors and future advantages.
Are you Johnson or am I Johnson? But he didn’t pay much attention, because in Lyndon Johnson’s view, this was the professor showing goodwill to him.
The founder of Cold War victory, what a great title. Lyndon Johnson thought, sure enough, the professor is on my side.
America’s current state is still relatively normal; compared to the future where you pick the not-so-bad one from two bad ones, electing a president now still depends on whether you get things done.
As for the Star Wars Program, once launched, even if the president changes, it’s a ten billion US dollar business that will just keep burning money.
The capital around the entire industrial chain upstream and downstream will spontaneously push NASA to continue advancing this plan.
Plus the Cold War situation will only intensify, this is a train that once started won’t stop.
After figuring it out, Lyndon Johnson looked up from behind his desk, his face blooming with his signature Texas smile, including cunning and smugness.
“Professor, I have good news for you too.” His loud voice echoed in the room, with a heavy Texas accent.
Lyndon Johnson stood up, walked around the table, extended a big hand, and enthusiastically patted Lin Ran’s shoulder, his movement carrying an irresistible affinity.
As if the past dirt between the two had vanished.
China rejoining GATT at this point in time would absolutely bring new hope for China.
Johnson laughed heartily, leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping the desktop, making a light “tap tap” sound.
“Fast? Professor, this isn’t a pie falling from the sky!
Let me tell you, these past two years I’ve put in tremendous effort. Those conservative guys were like cats with stepped-on tails, yelling that we can’t do business with red countries.
I had to pull them aside one by one and ‘educate’ them properly.” He imitated his tone when convincing congressmen, narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice: “‘Listen, buddy, this isn’t politics, it’s business! China has a billion people; do you want the Soviets to grab the market first?’ More importantly, China’s relationship with the Soviets has been bad these past few years, which gives us an opportunity.”
Lin Ran grinned. Although the Johnson treatment didn’t work on him, it seemed very effective on other congressmen.
Johnson’s persuasion skills were indeed well-deserved.
“I can imagine there will be plenty of opposition voices in Congress,” Lin Ran said.
Lyndon Johnson grinned, stood up, walked to Lin Ran’s side, leaned down, face almost to Lin Ran’s ear, voice low and powerful: “Lin, this is my secret weapon—the Johnson treatment.
I brought in moderate Donkey Party members, promising them some budget support; and pulled in a few Elephant Party people, agreeing to help push their local projects.
You know, in Washington, everyone wants something.”
He straightened up, patted Lin Ran’s shoulder, tone smug, “I also told them this bill is part of the ‘Great Society.’
Trade between the free world and China isn’t fully open all at once, but starting with some trade.
Like textiles, agricultural products, civilian electronic products, etc.”
Lin Ran cautiously asked: “What will the reaction be from the island side? They probably won’t accept it easily, right?”
Lyndon Johnson waved his hand, the cigar smoke drawing an arc in the air.
Having gotten the Star Wars Program from Lin Ran, Lyndon Johnson’s mood was obviously great.
He paused, lowered his voice, “Of course they’ll make noise. I’ve already had Rusk say hello to a few key GATT member countries.”
Lin Ran then asked: “What about the domestic reaction? How will the public and media see it? I’m worried it will affect your election next year.”
Lin Ran had already started caring about Lyndon Johnson’s election situation.
This is the time, this is the momentum!
Lyndon Johnson’s eyes sharpened. He walked back to his desk, hands on the desktop, body leaning forward, tone firm: “Professor, you don’t need to worry about this.
With the Star Wars Program, I know how to handle public opinion.
My team will package this as an economic victory, not a political compromise.
This is opening new markets for America’s businesses, America’s workers.
Who can oppose making money?”
Lyndon Johnson paused, tone self-mocking, “Besides, I just pushed through the Voting Rights Act, and the Vietnam War is in this state; those criticizing me haven’t even caught their breath!”
Lin Ran smiled: “Mr. President, I’m very grateful for your efforts. This means a lot to me and to many Chinese people.”
At this point in time, whether Nixon, Fred, or Humphrey, Lin Ran had put them all behind.
The only one who could help him get this done was President Johnson!
Johnson gripped Lin Ran’s hand firmly, grinned. “Good man, professor, let’s do big things together!”
When Lin Ran walked out of the White House, the sunset dyed Washington’s sky golden red.
He stood on the White House steps, took a deep breath, feeling an unprecedented power surging in his heart.
He knew this was not only a victory of a deal, a small step in history, but possibly a giant step in turning the situation.
This step would change the fate of countless people.
At the same time, Lyndon Johnson returned to his desk, picked up the telephone, and dialed Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s number.
“Dean, I just talked with the professor.
After the bill passes, you’ll need to be ready to negotiate with those GATT guys.
We have to do this beautifully.”
On Lin Ran’s side, he had originally planned to call Nixon after going back in the evening, but now it seemed unnecessary; Johnson had done a great job.
Nixon? We’re not that close.
As for Fred, even less so!
