Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 65: The Last Level (Please Read!)

"Chinese? It depends on the specific position.

If it were Kennedy, there would be a certain possibility that Chinese people would be able to hold positions that do not require congressional review.

Because Kennedy's attitude towards Chinese people is relatively friendly, from an electoral perspective, he may appoint one or two Chinese officials in order to attract Chinese votes."

After spending a year in the 60s, Lin Ran realized that money was just a number to him, so in 2020 he used part of his savings to buy a second-hand, battle-damaged Toyota Corolla.

I drove a whole day to the Buffalo campus to find Li Xiaoman.

Li Xiaoman was surprised that Lin Ran had come all this way:

"Also, if I remember correctly, before he was elected, Kennedy gave a speech targeting Chinese Americans and expressed his friendly attitude towards them.

But Randolph, you came all the way from eastern New York to western New York just to ask me that?"

They are all at the State University of New York, but the distances between different campuses may be hundreds of kilometers.

Lin Ran's Stony Brook University is located on Long Island, New York, just outside New York City, while Li Xiaoman's University at Buffalo is located in Buffalo, western New York. The driving distance between the two is a full 700 kilometers.

A whole year of 60 years has passed, and Lin Ran occasionally stayed in 20 years to look up information and read papers, so the time and space of 2020 has entered February, and Li Xiaoman has returned to Buffalo to continue his studies.

Of the many campuses of the State University of New York, the University at Buffalo is the only one that offers a Doctor of Law degree.

Lin Ran explained: "I recently found a manuscript online by Jerome Wiesner, who was the chief scientific advisor during the Kennedy administration.

Then I had a very clear dream yesterday. I dreamed that I appeared in Washington in 1960 and was appointed by Kennedy as special assistant for space affairs.

In the dream, Kennedy held my hand and told me to work hard and not let him down.

Li Xiaoman didn't find it strange. It was normal to dream about something when you were immersed in it. As she listened, she searched on her phone:

"Jerome Wiesner's official title was Special Assistant for Science and Technology, not Chief Science Advisor. Furthermore, Kennedy wasn't elected until 60, so his appointments didn't start rolling out until 61.

Also, because of the existence of the National Space Council, which was directly led by Vice President Lyndon, there was little need for a special assistant for space affairs.

In conclusion, your dream is not reliable at all."

Seeing that Li Xiaoman was so serious about analyzing his dream, Lin Ran was deeply moved. He stared into the other person's beautiful eyes and asked, "Because the dream was so real, I wanted to share it with you.

"Xiao Man, I'm curious about positions like Jerome Wiesner's Special Assistant for Science and Technology. What kind of power and influence does that kind of position carry?"

Wanting to see the other party was a white lie. The real reason was the series of accidents in the 60s. The accidents made Lin Ran cautious and he didn't want to have such discussions on the phone.

"Honestly speaking, the authority of a position like the so-called Special Assistant can be quite broad or narrow. It depends on your status and how much power the president is willing to give you."

Li Xiaoman paused for a moment and then continued, "Take the Kennedy era as an example. At that time, they set up an organization called the National Space Council, which was led by Vice President Lyndon Johnson.

If you were to serve as the special assistant for space affairs as you described in your dream, you would actually have no real power at all because of Linden's presence.

Linden's power is undoubtedly enormous, and he can directly influence NASA's finances, personnel and supplier choices.

I don't understand why Kennedy would need to appoint another special assistant for space affairs."

After chatting with Li Xiaoman, Lin Ran began to doubt his life, because the other party's analysis was indeed correct. With the existence of the National Space Commission, was there any need for further action?

After spending the weekend with Li Xiaoman and two days at the University of Buffalo, Lin Ran felt a sense of peace returning to his heart:

"There's a way out, so what do I have to be afraid of? At worst, I can run to Hong Kong or Göttingen, or simply return to China in 2020 and stay there.

Could it be possible that they can cross time and space to hunt me down?"

“Randolph, it’s true about the Special Assistant for Space Affairs.

Kennedy was dissatisfied with NASA because of the continuous failure of NASA rocket launches in the past.

He believed that NASA needed to be reorganized and its senior executives needed to be replaced, but this was not enough. He wanted to find an expert who was technically professional enough to help manage NASA from an engineering management perspective.

Maybe, I guess, he may want you to be the catfish in the catfish effect and change the ecology of NASA.

Another very important reason is that NASA used to rely too much on former Nazi German scientists, even including bastards like Rudolf Arthur, which reflects the reality that geopolitics takes precedence over ethics.

But that doesn't mean Kennedy doesn't want to change the status quo. He may want to change it.

Finally, because of your Chinese identity, both Kennedy and Lyndon were relatively friendly towards Chinese people, and they also hoped that there would be Chinese faces in the White House to improve the current situation.

As for your expertise in aerospace, I don't know who told them." Professor Horkheimer told Lin Ran his speculation.

No matter how things develop, Lin Ran is certain of one thing, that is, he really has to start as the special assistant for space affairs in the West Wing Office of the White House.

I thought I could overtake others by relying on General Aerospace, but I didn't expect that I could reach the sky in one step.

As a special assistant, his power can be great or small. With sixty years of information gap in his hands, Lin Ran does not think that he cannot make a difference in the White House and NASA.

However, before officially joining NASA, there is one last hurdle to overcome, which is a hearing specially prepared for his appointment.

Obviously, there is still considerable backlash against the entry of Chinese Americans into the White House, especially from conservatives.

Randolph Lin may become the first senior White House official of East Asian descent

"Red scientists are about to move into the White House"

"Did Kennedy's so-called space race with the Soviet Union rely on Chinese people?"

American newspapers rushed to report the incident, especially those supporting the Elephant Party.

Because there had never been a Chinese bureaucrat in the White House before.

The first time a Black person held a senior White House executive position was in 1865, when William Slade served as personal assistant to President Abraham Lincoln, managing White House affairs and assisting with funeral arrangements after Lincoln's assassination.

The first time a yellow person held a senior administrative position in the White House was in 1961, when James Thomson served as special assistant for East Asian affairs in the administration of John F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated.

One cannot help but sigh that history is a cycle.

James Thomson was born in Nanjing in 1931 and entered politics in 1959 as an assistant to Congressman Chester Bowles. After the 1960 presidential election, Thomson followed Bowles into the Kennedy administration, first serving as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State and then as Special Assistant for East Asian Affairs.
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