Chapter 157: Storm Clouds Gathering
“Shares in General Computer.” John Morgan said subconsciously.
This was also the thing he felt he could most proudly offer.
Born into the Morgan family, he didn’t believe there was anything money couldn’t buy.
“I’m really not interested in money.” The professor truly wasn’t interested in money.
“Plus a big secret, a super big, super invincible big secret.” John Morgan’s face was full of mystery.
Lin Ran guessed what secret the other wanted to say without even thinking: “Deal.”
John Morgan said in surprise: “Aren’t you afraid the secret I tell won’t meet your expectations?”
“Not afraid, anyway I can back out, if your secret doesn’t satisfy me.” Lin Ran said.
The initiative is in my hands.
“Alright, Kennedy is about to die.” John Morgan said lightly.
For ordinary people, this event is even bigger than the sky.
As the president of the world’s number one country, he is about to die.
Who is the killer? Why? Who benefits? How many conspiracies are involved?
But for John Morgan, talking about this event seemed extremely commonplace, not taking Kennedy seriously at all.
Lin Ran pretended to be very shocked, “Really?”
“Of course it’s true, otherwise why would I call you to this hotel, instead of going to Redstone Arsenal to see you.
It’s just because this news needs a little secrecy, not too much.
From the army to CIA, to FBI, to the business community, offending almost everyone isn’t easy.” John Morgan said.
John Morgan continued: “Professor, but you don’t need to worry at all, because neither Kennedy nor Lyndon Johnson can shake your position.”
After hearing this, Lin Ran asked curiously: “Who plans to kill him?”
John Morgan shook his head: “I don’t know, whether it’s the Cubans betrayed by the Bay of Pigs operation, or the killers raised by the Donkey Party in the South opposing the abolition of racial segregation, or white supremacists, or even the mafia being prosecuted, too many people might act.
When all this dissatisfaction converges, things will naturally happen.
No one needs to organize it, and no one needs to act.
Killing one person isn’t hard, the hard part is what comes after.
When those who control the country’s resources reach a consensus, his life enters the countdown.
They just need the USSS people to relax a bit in security work, and Kennedy will meet with an accident, without them needing to act personally.
And the guarantees from the army make all these forces dissatisfied with Kennedy possible to take action.”
Lin Ran still couldn’t get the answer from John Morgan’s mouth.
He originally thought he could know exactly who would act.
Unexpectedly, John Morgan didn’t know either.
Indeed, offending too many people leads to this.
It could be said that if the 1960s are seen as a real-life large-scale simulation game unique to him, then Kennedy’s death is absolutely an indispensable major DLC in this large game.
In Lin Ran’s view, Kennedy’s death for America is a turning point as important as the Tumu Crisis of my Great Ming. From this turning point, America will head toward the irreversible end of the empire, never to return.
It’s just that the Soviet Union’s sudden collapse gave America a huge lifeline, without this blood bag, America’s collapse would have come much earlier, and the problems would have been much worse.
“Professor, don’t you want to save Kennedy?” John Morgan asked.
Lin Ran shook his head: “No.
Using ancient Chinese wisdom, this is called minding one’s own business; one must know one’s place.
Since everyone wants him dead, why should I save him?
Save him once, can I save him a second time?”
After Kennedy’s death, Lyndon Johnson succeeded as president, established the Warren Commission to investigate the death, and concluded that Oswald acted alone, with no evidence of domestic or foreign conspiracy.
In 1992, Congress passed the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, requiring all related archives to be fully disclosed within 25 years, by October 26, 2017.
In 2017-2018, about 28,000 files were released, but due to pressure from CIA and FBI, some files were still withheld.
At the 2020 time point where Lin Ran is, there are still 16,000 files not declassified.
But this doesn’t rule out that Lin Ran knows the antecedents and consequences, the ins and outs of this event.
Although Lin Ran truly doesn’t know the truth either, he at least knows who Kennedy offended, and got verification again from John Morgan’s mouth.
“Chinese descent’s wisdom?” John Morgan sighed inwardly.
“But professor, your choice is right, you really can’t save Kennedy.”
In John Morgan’s view, Lin Ran is just a scientist; how could a scientist save Kennedy.
Bruce Lee hasn’t become famous worldwide yet, and kung fu hasn’t become the representative term for Chinese descent.
Even if there’s the concept of kung fu, a scientist doing kung fu feels strange no matter how you think about it, and kung fu wouldn’t help anyway—can kung fu block bullets?
“Kennedy’s foreign policy centered on the Cold War, emphasizing containment of the Soviet Union while seeking limited détente with the Soviet Union.
Kennedy approved the Bay of Pigs invasion, trying to overthrow Cuba through trained Cuban exiles. The invasion failed, leading to the exiles being captured or killed in action.
Because he worried about offending the Soviet Union, he canceled large-scale air force support at the last moment, offending CIA and army high-level officials completely.
People like Richard Bissell and Lyman Lemnitzer were very dissatisfied with Kennedy, believing he lacked decisiveness and betrayed the Cuban exiles.
According to the news I got, Kennedy even privately threatened to smash the CIA.
And those Cuban exiles living in Miami believe Kennedy abandoned them and failed to fulfill his own promises.
The Cuban exiles are very likely to act; they hate Kennedy to the bone.
Once CIA does a little inducement, they might act.”
John Morgan grumbled.
Obviously, as a family that had partially bet on Nixon beforehand, Kennedy himself wasn’t favored by them.
“He fired CIA Director Allen Dulles, which further intensified CIA’s dissatisfaction.
In the subsequent Cuban Missile Crisis, although professor your hotline played a big role, many hawks actually see it as America’s failure, as America compromising.
Despite the Soviet Union’s missiles being removed in the end, with live television broadcast nationwide.
But secretly withdrawing missiles from Turkey, as the exchange condition for withdrawing Cuban missiles.
Similarly offending the military’s hawks.
As far as I know, Curtis LeMay was very dissatisfied with Kennedy’s weakness, believing he missed a good opportunity.
From the Bay of Pigs to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s negotiations even bypassed everyone, letting his brother Robert lead the negotiations.
The military is very dissatisfied with his foreign strategy, believing his mind is full of nothing but compromise.”
Why does the army want war? Isn’t it so the military-industrial complex can make money, and they can profit big from it too.
“Do you sense anything from this?” John Morgan asked.
Lin Ran said: “Willing to die for big causes but cherishing one’s life, seeing small gains and forgetting righteousness.
He always wavers between two sides, offending everyone.”
Lin Ran briefly introduced Yuan Shao, and John Morgan nodded: “Exactly.”
“Including Vietnam, he expanded our military presence in Vietnam, increasing military advisors from 900 under Eisenhower to 16,000 now. And approved CIA operations in Vietnam.
It was clearly his own doing, but then he signs some security action memorandum to gradually withdraw some advisors in the next two years.
He added the advisors himself, and now he’s withdrawing them himself—don’t you think it’s ridiculous?”
“From the Pentagon to Lockheed, Boeing, even General Electric, everyone hopes to expand the war for profit, dissatisfied with Kennedy’s intention to withdraw troops.”
Archives show that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Maxwell Taylor warned Kennedy that withdrawing troops would likely lead to instant collapse of forces in southern Vietnam.
And the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem also had CIA assistance, but it stopped there, with no subsequent support.
Kennedy’s micro-management in Vietnam provoked strong opposition from the army and conservatives.
“This year he also wants to pursue some limited détente with the Soviet Union.”
This refers to Kennedy’s “Strategy of Peace” speech in June this year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, calling for peaceful coexistence.
In August, he facilitated the Partial Test Ban Treaty, prohibiting atmospheric nuclear tests.
Europe was very happy about this, after all, it’s good for them.
After all, Soviet nuclear bombs might not reach America proper, but they can definitely hit Europe.
Even England, which wants to stir things up, doesn’t want the Soviet Union doing nuclear tests all the time.
But this made the hawks see negotiations or stopping nuclear tests as appeasement.
Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, returned to England and said, ‘I brought back peace for our time.’ And Churchill commented: ‘You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.’
This lesson isn’t long past; for those in power in Washington now, it’s almost right before their eyes.
Just over twenty years ago.
Back then everyone might have been assistants, now they’ve become congressmen.
From Congress to the army to inside the CIA, plenty of people are skeptical of Kennedy’s diplomatic optimism.
And the nuclear test ban limits R&D of new weapons, further affecting the military-industrial complex’s interests.
Kennedy’s détente policy is seen as a betrayal of the hardline Cold War path, angering a large internal force.
“This is just the people he offended in foreign policy; in domestic policy, he offended everyone—even his wavering made everyone have opinions.” John Morgan smiled bitterly.
Perhaps because he gained benefits from Lin Ran, ensuring General Computer can get orders from the Department of Defense, John Morgan was in a great mood and started pontificating:
“In domestic policy, he focused on people’s rights, economic growth, and social welfare, but these all touched the interests of conservatives and privileged groups.
The Civil Rights Act prohibits racial segregation, and he even sent federal law enforcement to protect civil rights activists.
Supported Martin Luther King’s March on Washington.
Southern Donkey Party members can’t wait to skin him alive; Georgia Senator Richard Russell was just short of publicly calling him a stupid donkey.”
Russell strongly opposed abolishing racial segregation, believing Kennedy betrayed the South’s racial order.
White supremacists see Kennedy as a promoter of racial integration, holding many protest activities in the South.
Hoover even thought Martin Luther King and his group’s activities were unacceptable; he monitored Martin Luther King through the “COINTELPRO” program and was extremely dissatisfied with Kennedy’s desired Civil Rights Act.
Kennedy’s stance here alienated southern voters and conservative Donkey Party members.
“The stupidest is the New Frontier plan, advocating tax cuts and increased government spending to stimulate economic growth.
Greatly lowering the top income tax rate is good, but increasing investments in education and healthcare will greatly increase national debt.
Your tax cuts benefit big businesses, wealthy classes, and high-income groups, but then you strengthen anti-monopoly regulation on businesses, wanting price controls on the steel industry.
We just wanted a 6% price increase, and he threatened everyone.
He even threatened to break up big steel companies again; who does he think he is, Roosevelt?
Also reduced tax breaks for the Texas oil industry to increase federal income. He offended almost everyone.
It’s a bit like giving me a hundred dollars and then punching me.”
There’s an allusion here, to the breakup of monopoly enterprises.
The only one in American history who succeeded in this is Little Roosevelt.
In the early 20th century, the Rockefeller family monopolized 80% of America’s refining industry and 90% of the oil pipe business; America Steel Company held over 65% of the American steel market; together they accounted for one-third of the national wealth.
The remaining two-thirds don’t belong to all the people either.
Including Rockefeller and America Steel Company, there were eight major conglomerates at the time; almost all of America was their private domain.
For example, Northern Securities Company, one of the eight conglomerates, monopolized the American northwest railway network, squeezing farmers and small businesses through fixed shipping fees.
At that time, a unique term was born: trust monsters, referring to these colossuses.
If they hadn’t been broken up, America might really have become a cyberpunk society. Or rather, much of the inspiration for cyberpunk comes from these trust monsters in modern American history.
First Old Roosevelt stepped in; Old Roosevelt directly bypassed the Department of Justice’s traditional process, appointing a special prosecutor to sue Northern Securities Company for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
This company belonged to the Morgan family.
The Supreme Court ruled 5:4 to break it up, setting a precedent for the federal government directly challenging financial magnates.
Morgan tried to negotiate with Roosevelt, and after being refused, said: “If the president wants to destroy my business, he should at least notify me in advance.”
In 1902, the financial magnates fought back unwillingly, inciting coal miners to strike; Roosevelt directly threatened to send in the army, take over the mines, forcing capital to compromise, and established an arbitration committee to enforce an 8-hour workday and 10% raise for labor.
Old Roosevelt was like that; Little Roosevelt was even more extreme.
Not to mention various breakups and federal institutions intervening in the economy, the 1935 Tax Act directly imposed 79% income tax on those earning over $100,000 annually, and progressive rates up to 94% for those over $5 million; stacking wartime surtaxes and state taxes, rates reached a terrifying 99.5%.
Lin Ran had already keenly noticed that Texas was repeatedly mentioned; where was Kennedy assassinated? Texas.
You just stabbed at Texas industries repeatedly.
The price controls on the steel industry were actually indirectly hitting Texas’s oil industry.
This price control refers to April 1962, when America Steel Company and other major steel companies announced a $6 per ton increase in steel prices, provoking strong opposition from Kennedy. Kennedy believed this would push up prices and undermine his economic stability goals.
Kennedy publicly condemned the steel companies, accusing them of “disregarding the public interest.”
At a White House press conference, he said: “The steel companies’ behavior is ruthless contempt for the American people.”
Then threatened the steel companies with possible anti-monopoly investigations. Had the Department of Defense shift procurement contracts to smaller steel companies that didn’t raise prices. Mobilized FBI to investigate the steel companies’ pricing behavior, hinting at possible price manipulation.
Lin Ran figuring out a way to give procurement contracts to John Morgan is all old tradition.
The president manipulates big orders, Lin Ran manipulates small orders.
Also, the oil and steel industries are highly related.
Seemingly, oil extraction, transportation, and processing require a lot of steel; drilling platforms, pipes, storage tanks, and refining equipment all need steel. Controlling steel prices can lower operating costs in the oil industry.
But the problem is oil tycoons are also steel tycoons; many Texas oil company bosses also own steel mills.
Price controls squeezed steel industry profits, limiting expansion. But steel mills would also reduce investments in oil-related projects, delaying oil field development.
The most direct example is that from 1962 to 1963, exploration plans for the North Sea oil field and Alaska oil field were hindered by tight steel supplies.
So Kennedy’s micro-management in the economy offended a bunch of oligarchs.
Nowadays, who are the ones doing steel and oil business?
They’re all ruthless people.
Little Roosevelt’s harshest move was the Gold Reserve Act, making private gold holdings illegal, forcing surrender at $20.67 per ounce, then pushing gold to $35.
Little Roosevelt dared because he controlled the army.
Kennedy didn’t because he hadn’t seized the army, and was on the path of endlessly offending it.
Both previous Roosevelts were Donkey Party presidents; now Kennedy, the new one, is also a Donkey Party president.
We just want a small price increase and you coerce and entice; what do you want?
Got rid of Roosevelt, now Kennedy comes?
Although Kennedy’s relationship with the military looks bad now, what if?
What if it happens?
We must take him out.
The financial magnates’ bad memories were awakened.
“Looks like Kennedy is doomed. He offended so many people.” Lin Ran said.
John Morgan nodded: “Exactly, from what I know, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after.
Anyway, you might turn on the TV anytime and see all the news reporting: President John Kennedy assassinated.”
“Will switching to Lyndon Johnson affect General Aerospace or General Computer?” Lin Ran asked.
“Of course not; with Kennedy first, the successor will only be more cautious, and at most eight years—why always stir things up? Isn’t it good to get rich together?
Steel industry raises prices a bit and you have to interfere.
Someone advised Kennedy, but sadly he wouldn’t listen.”
After John Morgan left, the room returned to silence. Lin Ran then put on his jacket, took a sip of whiskey, and plunged into the night outside.
Lin Ran knew deeply that Kennedy’s death would stir up a storm, and he must find the right camera position in this storm.
No one interfere with me finding the right position.
