Chapter 72: All Elements In Place
Whether it was 2020 or 1960, this was Lin Ran’s first time entering the White House.
Lyndon Johnson was waiting for him.
After seeing the appointment, Lin Ran realized that his plan had to change. At least for a very long time, he would have to cooperate with Lyndon Johnson instead of Kennedy.
But thinking about it, Kennedy, as President, had limited energy and time to devote to the field of aerospace.
The Chairman of the Space Committee was Vice President Lyndon Johnson, not Kennedy.
After Lyndon Johnson’s secretary led him to the office, she left Lin Ran alone in the office to wait.
Lin Ran could smell the pervasive tobacco scent in the room, with pure leather tapestries and ranch oil paintings hanging on the walls.
This office in the old administrative office building in Washington D.C. embodied a strong Texas cowboy style.
As expected from a Washington bureaucrat from Texas.
Lin Ran looked at the wall clock. 37 minutes later, Lyndon Johnson pushed the door open and entered:
“Professor, the White House welcomes your joining.”
After a simple welcome, this rugged-looking, domineering and rough-styled Vice President got straight to the point:
“Professor, James Webber has been appointed as the Director of NASA. You need to cooperate with him in adjusting NASA’s organizational structure.
Additionally, NASA’s plans have already begun. We will send an astronaut into space in May this year. The White House cannot and will not accept another failure.
This space program is fully under your oversight. If there’s anything you need me to cooperate on, communicate with me by telephone at any time.
The military’s special plane is already waiting for you.
Professor, I hope you enter work mode as soon as possible!”
After shaking hands with Lin Ran, Lyndon Johnson stood up with the air of seeing off a guest.
“Good, sir.”
Walking out of the office, the pleasantries, flattery, and mutual probing that Lin Ran had expected were nowhere to be found.
In reality, it was just two words: get to work!
“Professor, the helicopter is already prepared for you. We will first go to Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles southeast of Washington D.C., to take the helicopter to Redstone Arsenal.” Mike, sitting in the modified Ford, said after Lin Ran got in the car.
Mike, the driver and bodyguard assigned to Lin Ran, possibly with some other duties.
The Ford he drove was also the most commonly used model at the time in a certain IA.
Newspapers at the time had jokingly called them “a certain IA’s Fords” (Fords of the IA).
Hearing this, Lin Ran couldn’t help but ask one more question: “What model is the helicopter?”
Mike instinctively replied: “Sikorsky H-19.”
Lin Ran slapped his forehead. “Shit! Can we switch to a different model?”
Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s full name is Lyndon Baines Johnson, often abbreviated as LBJ, and Sikorsky was the airplane model Kobe was in when he passed away.
The 2020 spacetime had already entered February, and the hottest news in America and globally was Kobe’s helicopter crash at the end of January.
Although Lin Ran wasn’t a fan of Kobe, he had seen plenty of news about the airplane brand of his crash: Sikorsky.
LBJ plus Sikorsky—this combination of elements was a bit too complete.
Mike said puzzledly: “Professor, from Washington D.C. to Redstone Arsenal is about 600 miles. Sikorsky’s range is 400 miles; we can refuel once in the middle and that’s enough.
If we switch to Bell or another model, it would not only delay time but also be more troublesome.”
Mike really couldn’t understand why Professor Lin was so sensitive, since Sikorsky was the most mainstream helicopter in America for administrative tasks at the time.
“Alright.”
“What’s Randolph’s background? How did he suddenly end up above me?”
Regarding Lin Ran’s arrival, the most uneasy person in all of NASA was Rudolf Arthur.
As someone who had directly conflicted with Lin Ran before, and even brought military personnel from Redstone Arsenal, attempting to storm Columbia University to forcibly take Lin Ran’s research personnel, now the other had suddenly become the second most powerful figure in NASA after James Webber—Rudolf Arthur was very worried.
At least, if he were in the other’s position, he definitely wouldn’t let him off easily.
Moreover, Rudolf knew very well that what he had done in NAZI Germany was all on record with the American side. As soon as he shed the layer of NASA, the next meeting would either be in federal prison or in a small bar in Huntsville where he’d be mysteriously shot in the head.
“Director, after Kennedy took office, bringing in a lawyer and a mathematician—this is clearly a lack of trust in us.”
Rudolf Arthur was the technical supervisor for propulsion system improvement and the Mercury manned program. He went to find Von Braun, the representative figure of former German scientists in NASA and Director of Marshall Space Center.
Von Braun comforted him: “As long as we do our own work well, they can’t do anything to us.
Although Webber lacks a science background, Professor Lin is a mathematics master. I believe he will quickly adapt to NASA’s work.”
Von Braun thought Rudolf was worried about outsiders directing insiders, so Arthur Rudolf chattered on and confessed to him the grudge he had formed with Randolph last year.
Von Braun was already speechless: “Rudolf, you know Professor Lin is Horkheimer’s disciple. His attitude toward us is predictable, so how could you be so unwise?”
Sweating profusely, Rudolf explained: “At the time, I thought he had talent in the aerospace field, so I hoped to recruit him to work at NASA. It was just that the method was a bit rough. In the end, I didn’t succeed.”
Von Braun waved his hand: “Alright, I get it.
Sigh, you’re on your own. Don’t cause any problems during this time, and I can still protect you.
Anyway, be careful.”
Similar to Arthur Rudolf, Von Braun, as a technical expert, had reservations about Webber’s lack of science background.
Because he was more accustomed to cooperating with technology-oriented managers.
Simple logic: in the past five years, NASA had failures every few days. Dealing with leaders who understood technology gave you room to explain; they could better understand technical problems and give you leeway.
But with a leader like James Webber, who was a lawyer and politician, in Von Braun’s understanding, such leaders only cared about achievements. If you had no achievements, explanations were useless no matter how much.
So originally, his plan was to win over Lin Ran, using Lin Ran as the intermediate bridge to explain to James Webber.
On the surface, Lin Ran was the number two figure, but in reality, Lin Ran could directly contact the White House, so his implicit power might not be weaker than James Webber’s.
His only worry was Lin Ran’s Jewish background, but fortunately, the other was of Chinese descent, and he had gotten along well with previous Chinese descent people.
Von Braun even hoped that Lin Ran had connections with China, so their cooperation would be smoother.
I’ve worked for Germany, you’ve worked for China— we’re even, right?
As a result, Arthur Rudolf’s antics from last year directly shattered his illusions.
Von Braun had a bad premonition: compared to him teaming up with Lin Ran, the possibility of Lin Ran teaming up with James Webber was much greater.
