Chapter 236: Johnson’s Conditions
“Diplomatic recognition”
When Lin Ran heard such a professional term coming from Lyndon Johnson’s mouth, he was somewhat confused.
He knew this should be related to China, but he had no idea what specific use it had or what it referred to.
Lin Ran didn’t speak, but used a puzzled look to prompt Lyndon Johnson to explain further.
“I will lift the import and export restrictions with China, allowing them to join the trade cycle of the free world.
There are some short-term difficulties with the United Nations, but no problem with GATT, including removing China from the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Give China certain diplomatic recognition from the international community.”
As mentioned before, Lyndon Johnson always felt that Lin Ran, as a Chinese descent, helping China was normal; Irish descent, German descent, Italy descent, everyone does it this way.
After Lyndon Johnson finished speaking, Lin Ran was indeed moved.
“No no no, China has never acknowledged that it withdrew from GATT
That means within GATT, China does not believe it withdrew, and in fact they indeed did not withdraw, so we just need to acknowledge it, and China will naturally join.”
However, Lin Ran pretended to look troubled: “It’s the same country, all Chinese people, making the Island withdraw from GATT, I don’t think that’s very appropriate either.”
GATT stands for General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which is the predecessor of the WTO, replaced by the WTO in 1994.
To put it this way, China is actually an original signatory to GATT, one of the earliest countries to sign, but that time point is a bit awkward, it was 1948.
After Lin Ran made this statement, Lyndon Johnson also breathed a sigh of relief inwardly: “Professor, rest assured on this point.”
Lin Ran nodded: “Mr. President, I understand. In November this year, you will see America astronauts on the Moon.
But if you do not honor your promise, Mr. President, you should know the consequences.”
This was already a naked threat from Lin Ran.
But Lyndon Johnson was not offended at all.
Ultimately, strength determines status.
Lin Ran is no longer the nobody who arrived in 1960, relying on Kennedy’s charity to get a position.
Now he is a globally renowned professor, who after five and a half years has rooted himself in NASA, turning NASA into a monolith.
Lyndon Johnson is the President, yes, and can replace Lin Ran, but then what?
No matter who replaces him, they will face a problem: Lin Ran has destroyed NASA’s management mechanism and implemented a one-man decision-making management mechanism.
The advantage of this management model is that it is extremely efficient, especially since Lin Ran knows the Apollo Program details inside out; it’s efficient and won’t make mistakes, as Lin Ran knows every possible problem point.
This also helped Lin Ran shape his golden body in the past five years among the America public: the professor only has success, no failure.
The downside is that besides Lin Ran, no one else can run the current NASA, neither in knowledge reserve nor energy; it’s impossible to take over NASA easily.
At least half a year is needed to readjust the organizational structure, then re-promote the management layer, confirm their ability, loyalty, and position fit, plus they need to win over the people; any problem in between will seriously affect confidence.
After all, there was only success with Lin Ran; how come it fails as soon as you change people?
Replace Lin Ran? Prepare for the NASA Apollo Program to stagnate for three years.
Moreover, Lin Ran has strong support from Morgan and Rockefeller behind him; can he really be replaced?
Just like McNamara, Lyndon Johnson doesn’t want to fight and doesn’t want to use this obsessed McNamara; McNamara micromanages shit, the more he kills, the more, turning all of Vietnam into a quagmire.
Wouldn’t the frontline generals react to Lyndon Johnson? Having worked with McNamara since the Kennedy era, doesn’t Lyndon Johnson know what kind of guy he is?
But he can’t help it; this is the candidate pushed by the military-industrial complex, impossible to replace.
McNamara can’t be replaced, and the same logic applies to Lin Ran.
The presidential position after Kennedy is no longer whatever you want; the halo is gone.
Furthermore, compared to McNamara, Lin Ran has another halo: public sentiment.
Even among conservative white people groups, they have to admit Lin Ran is the most suitable candidate.
A New York Times poll shows that among White House senior official groups, the highest support is for NASA Director Randolph Lin.
If he really doesn’t work at the White House, the Columbia University Mathematics Department director position is waiting for Lin Ran, and the Columbia School is waiting for him to establish.
While NASA would truly face a situation with no one available.
Lyndon Johnson has no way to control Lin Ran.
After hearing this, Lyndon Johnson smiled bitterly: “Professor, rest assured, I will definitely keep my promise.”
Keeping the promise presupposes strength.
Lin Ran can influence some people, but more importantly, what Lyndon Johnson fears is Lin Ran’s mind.
Former Vice President Nixon has returned to the Elephant Party political stage; with Fred’s election failure, Nixon has rebuilt voter trust in him and is sharpening his knife for the 1968 election.
Former presidential candidate Fred is also dominating New York Times front-page headlines year-round, frequently coming up with top-notch ideas like black groups should be educated before gaining voting rights.
As for how to judge if the black groups have been successfully educated, isn’t it up to white people to decide?
It’s equivalent to a variant of requiring exams for voting rights in the past.
Such statements have won the support of conservative white people.
According to Lyndon Johnson’s intelligence, whether Nixon or Fred, both are inseparable from Lin Ran.
Therefore, in Lyndon Johnson’s view, Lin Ran indeed has the power to change the election landscape.
This power comes both from the opponent’s top-tier mind and from the opponent’s identity.
A side note here: earlier this year, Lin Ran’s philosophy PhD thesis completed its defense under the witness of many Frankfurt School big shots.
Adorno, Marcuse, Fromm and other big shots all attended.
Systemic oppression has formally become a branch under critical theory.
The thesis was taken by social movement leaders like Martin Luther King as an ideological weapon and widely promoted.
Lin Ran has become one of the theoretical leaders in the civil rights movement.
Being a minority ethnic group, the overt next-generation representative figure or even leader of the Frankfurt School, and claimed by Martin Luther King as his close friend.
Such an identity is extremely sensitive.
So sensitive that if Lin Ran publicly supports Fred or Nixon, the Elephant Party as the conservative base would have no difficulty in striving for progressive voters and minority ethnic groups.
And the Chinese descent that Lin Ran can influence is also a considerable force in the originally Donkey Party-leaning blue states.
Lyndon Johnson himself has no advantage in support rates; Lin Ran alone can disrupt this balance.
This is strength.
In addition, the energy of the Hearst media empire that Lin Ran can use can also affect the election balance.
So Lyndon Johnson’s tone was very sincere.
Lin Ran stood up, extended his hand in front of Lyndon Johnson: “Mr. President, I think we will cooperate happily.”
Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
This is the final assembly plant for the Saturn V, and also the only obstacle to completing the moon landing before the end of this year.
In Lin Ran’s view, the only possible problem is the Saturn V.
After all, historically it was very successful, but they haven’t tested it even once yet.
Originally, at least one actual launch test could be arranged.
Now Lyndon Johnson insists on forcing it onto the shelf, wanting to complete the moon landing by the end of this year.
So Lin Ran decided to personally oversee the Michoud Assembly Facility, following through the assembly, testing, and ignition verification of the Saturn V rocket.
At 4:30 a.m., Lin Ran’s alarm hadn’t gone off, but he was already awake.
This was a habit he developed in the past half month: sleeping only 4 hours a day, devoting all remaining time to this temporarily added task.
In the huge factory building of the Michoud Assembly Facility, a 361-foot-tall Saturn V rocket stood quietly.
Under the dim industrial lighting, this steel behemoth exuded an awe-inspiring majesty.
The majesty of this industrial Cthulhu monster is real, just like the feeling when you see giant industrial machinery.
Lin Ran wore work clothes, holding a checklist, slowly walking around the five F-1 engines at the base of the rocket.
“Professor, each engine’s thrust is 1.5 million pounds,” Chief Engineer Von Braun introduced beside him. “Five engines total 7.5 million pounds of thrust, enough to push a 6.3 million pound rocket off Earth.”
Von Braun initially had ideas of competing with Lin Ran, later that became trying to wear him out.
Now, completely gone.
It’s hard to imagine from newspapers that Nixon and Fred, the apparent next presidential candidates within the Elephant Party, mention Lin Ran as, Randolph is my close friend.
The former is a veteran Elephant Party powerhouse with deep qualifications, the latter a newly risen figure relying on crooked paths.
Aren’t you the Elephant Party?
Surprisingly trusting a high official like Randolph who served two Donkey Party White Houses in a row?
Von Braun really can’t imagine from newspapers how Lin Ran won over these two; Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Fred—he feels Randolph might have used ancient China magic to bewitch them all.
Newspapers may do selective reporting, but television is much more real; Von Braun watches TV programs, Nixon avoids them due to his shadow, but Fred loves them.
Fred frequently mentions Lin Ran on TV programs, with such sincere expressions it’s hard to doubt he’s lying.
Facing accusations of white supremacy, Fred always brings up Lin Ran: I’m close friends with the professor; are white supremacists and yellow people close friends?
This time old Trump really becomes a political family heir; Fred will leave him far more political legacy than in the original spacetime no matter what.
Von Braun knows this is a propaganda strategy, but the problem is, whichever of them wins, they have to continue this propaganda strategy, which inevitably means keeping Lin Ran in the White House.
This reality led Von Braun to give up; he probably can’t wear out Lin Ran.
What he wants now is to work well and wait for his retirement life.
Lin Ran is too young; even outlasting on seniority won’t work.
Lin Ran stopped, looked up at the huge engine nozzle: “Von, I know these numbers. What I want to know is how confident you are in these engines?”
“From the technical parameters,” Von Braun subconsciously said.
“No, we all know technical parameters are just data; I don’t want technical parameters.” Lin Ran interrupted him. “I want your intuition. As an engineer, do you think they will work normally at the critical moment?”
Von Braun was silent for a moment. “To be honest, Professor, I’m a bit worried. These are the most powerful rocket engines humanity has made; we don’t have enough test time.
I’m also not clear why we suddenly need to speed up.
The current progress is a bit too rushed.”
“Then we’ll create time.” Lin Ran turned to face him. “Starting today, we implement 24-hour three shifts; I want each engine to undergo at least 100 ignition tests.”
“100 times? That will consume massive fuel, and…”
“And what?” Lin Ran’s tone became stern. “Von, you need to understand we’re entrusting two lives to these machines.
On fuel, rest assured; the White House will give us special budget, advancing next year’s budget to this year.”
Von Braun said helplessly: “Okay, Professor, I understand; the pressure from the White House is too great. Sigh, the Vietnam War is a war that shouldn’t have started.”
Lin Ran shook his head: “Von, from a emotional perspective, no war should happen, but from a rational perspective, they are all inevitable from contradictions.”
July 1966, Mississippi Test Center
The Mississippi test center turned into a real hell in the hot summer day.
On the huge test bench, an F-1 engine was undergoing the 73rd ignition test.
With a deafening roar, orange-red flames burst from the nozzle, the entire ground trembling.
Lin Ran stood in the control room two miles from the test bench, eyes fixed on the data jumping on the screen.
His shirt was soaked with sweat, but his spirit highly focused.
“Combustion chamber pressure normal, thrust curve stable…” The test engineer reported the data.
Suddenly, a curve on the screen showed abnormal fluctuation.
“Wait,” Lin Ran raised his hand. “The third engine’s combustion chamber pressure has a problem. Stop the test!”
“But Professor, the pressure is still within normal range…”
“I said stop!” Lin Ran’s voice echoed through the control room. Seconds later, with the fuel supply cut off, the huge flames extinguished.
Von Braun walked over from behind. “Professor, what did you see? The data shows everything normal.”
Lin Ran pointed to the curve on the screen. “Here, look at this tiny oscillation. Although still within normal range, the frequency is off. This could be an early sign of turbopump failure.”
“You mean…”
“I mean if we don’t address this now, it could cause catastrophic failure at launch.” Lin Ran turned to face all the engineers in the room. “Everyone, we disassemble this engine and check every part.”
Complaints arose in the room:
“This will delay two weeks!”
“Our progress is already very tight!”
Lin Ran knocked on the table, and the room instantly quieted.
“Yes, sir!”
After Lin Ran returned to the office, Hugh Dryden pushed the door open and walked in:
“Professor, Moscow sent another email, sincerely inviting you to this year’s International Congress of Mathematicians in Moscow.
Just now, the chairman of the organizing committee, Ivan Vinogradov, personally called me; he assured that your safety in Moscow is guaranteed, and Moscow definitely won’t prevent you from returning to America.
Additionally, he revealed to me that due to a donation from an anonymous donor, this time the Fields Medal can be awarded to four instead of two.
So Chen has a good chance; he said if Chen wins, he hopes you personally present the award to Chen.
With Chinese people winning Fields Medals in two consecutive sessions, both for achievements in number theory, this also symbolizes the outstanding contributions of Chinese people in the field of mathematics, and this is also a kind of inheritance.”
Previously, Fields Medals were awarded to two people every four years; the 1966 International Congress of Mathematicians in Moscow was the first time awarding four simultaneously.
After hearing this, Lin Ran asked: “What does the White House say?”
“President Johnson hopes you don’t attend, but the final decision is yours; conservative congressmen strongly oppose.” Hugh Dryden said: “But the conservative congressmen aren’t targeting you, but Mr. President; they think Mr. President trusts you too much. The Soviet Union absolutely won’t let Korolev set foot on Washington soil, yet we let the NASA Director and Chief Engineer go to Moscow.”
Lin Ran chuckled in disbelief. “Doesn’t this just prove America’s confidence?
I’ve thought about it and decided not to go. I’ll write a letter asking Professor Seagull; if Chen wins, have him present the award on my behalf.”
Lin Ran not going isn’t because he’s afraid of not returning, but because the progress is too rushed; more importantly, everyone’s expectations for him are too high, and going wouldn’t yield anything substantial, so better not to go.
