Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 72 All Elements Are Complete
Whether it is 2020 or 1960, this is Lin Ran’s first time entering the White House.

Lyndon Johnson was waiting for him.

After seeing the appointment, Lin Ran realized that his plans had to change. At least for a long time, he would have to work with Lyndon Johnson instead of Kennedy.

But think about it, as president, Kennedy had limited energy and time to spend on the aerospace field.

The chairman of the Space Committee itself was Vice President Lyndon Johnson, not Kennedy.

After Lyndon Johnson's secretary led him to the office, he left Lin Ran alone in the office waiting.

Lin Ran could smell the smell of tobacco in the room. The walls were hung with pure cowhide tapestries and oil paintings of ranches.

This office in the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., has a strong Texas cowboy style.

As expected of a Washington bureaucrat from Texas.

Lin Ran looked at the clock. 37 minutes later, Lyndon Johnson walked in.

"Professor, you are welcome to join the White House."

The Vice President, who had a tough appearance and a domineering and rough style, gave a simple welcome and got straight to the point:
"Professor, James Webb has been appointed as the director of NASA. You need to cooperate with him to adjust NASA's organizational structure.

In addition, NASA's plan has already begun. We will send astronauts into space in May this year. The White House cannot and will not accept another failure.

You will be in full charge of this space program. If you need any cooperation from me, please feel free to contact me by phone.

The military plane is waiting for you.

Professor, I hope you can get into work mode as soon as possible!"

Lyndon Johnson stood up and shook hands with Lin Ran, as if he was seeing someone off.

"Yes, sir."

Walking out of the office, Lin Ran found that all the greetings, flattery, and mutual testing that he had expected did not exist.

Actually, it’s just two words: work!

"Professor, the helicopter is ready for you. We will first go to Andrews Air Force Base, 10 miles southeast of Washington, DC, and take a helicopter to Redstone Base." Mike sat in the modified Ford and said after Lin Ran got in the car.

Mike is assigned to be Lin Ran's driver and bodyguard, and may also have some other duties.

The Ford he drives is also the most commonly used model in a certain industry.

Newspapers at the time jokingly called it "Fords of the *IA".

After hearing this, Lin Ran couldn't help but ask, "What model of helicopter is it?"

Mike answered automatically, "Sikorsky H-19."

Lin Ran slapped his forehead. "Shit! Can we get a different model?"

Vice President Lyndon Johnson's full name is Lyndon Baines Johnson, often abbreviated as LBJ, and Sikorsky is the model of the plane Kobe was on when he died.

It is already February in 2020, and the hottest news in America and even the world is Kobe's helicopter crash at the end of January.

Although Lin Ran was not fond of Kobe, he had seen the brand of his crashed plane: Sikorsky, in the news quite a lot.

LBJ plus Sikorsky, these elements are a bit too complete.

Mike was puzzled and asked, "Professor, we are going from Washington, D.C. to Redstone, which is about 600 miles. The Sikorsky has a range of 400 miles, so we only need to refuel once in between. If we switch to a Bell or other aircraft, it will not only delay the flight but also cause more trouble."

Mike really couldn't understand why Professor Lin was so sensitive about the Sikorsky, which is currently the most popular helicopter used for administrative missions in America.

"Ok."

"Who is Randolph? Why did he suddenly appear in my head?"

The person who was most uneasy about Lin Ran's arrival in the entire NASA was Rudolf Arthur.

As a researcher who had once had a direct conflict with Lin Ran and had brought military personnel from the Redstone Base to Columbia University to try to seize Lin Ran, and who had become the most powerful figure in NASA after James Webb, Rudolf Arthur was very worried.

At least if he were the other person, he would definitely not let things go easily.

Moreover, Rudolf knew very well that everything he did in Nazi Germany was recorded by the American side. As long as he took off the skin of NASA, the next time he was seen, he would either be in federal prison or be inexplicably shot in the head in a small bar in Huntsville.

"Director, when Kennedy took office, he brought in a lawyer and a mathematician. This clearly shows his lack of trust in us."

Rudolf Arthur, technical director for propulsion system improvements and the Mercury manned program, approached von Bryan, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the former German scientist's representative at NASA.

Von Bryan consoled him: "As long as we do our job well, they can't do anything to us.

Although Weber lacks a scientific background, Professor Lin is a master of mathematics, and I believe he will adapt quickly to the work of NASA."

Von Brian thought Rudolph was worried about an outsider directing an expert, so Arthur Rudolph started to talk and confessed to Randolph the grudge he had with Randolph last year.

Von Bryan was too exhausted to complain: "Rudolf, you know Professor Lin is a disciple of Horkheimer. You can imagine his attitude towards us. How could you be so unwise?"

Rudolph explained with sweat on his forehead: "I thought he had talent in aerospace, so I wanted to recruit him to work at NASA, but my method was a bit rough. In the end, I didn't succeed."

Feng Brian waved his hand: "Okay, I understand.

Well, you're on your own. Hope nothing goes wrong during this period. I can still protect you.

Anyway, be careful."

Like Arthur Rudolph, von Braun, as a technical expert, had reservations about Weber's lack of scientific background.

Because he is more accustomed to working with technology-oriented managers.

It's a very simple truth. In the past five years, NASA has failed frequently. When dealing with leaders who understand technology, you have room to explain. The other party can better understand technical issues and can give you leeway.

But if it is a leader like James Webb who is a lawyer and politician, in von Bryan's understanding, this kind of leader only cares about results, and no matter how much you explain, it will be useless if you don't have results.

So his original plan was to win over Lin Ran, and have Lin Ran act as a middleman to explain things to James Webb.

On the surface, Lin Ran is the second-in-command, but in fact, Lin Ran can directly contact the White House, and his implicit power may not be weaker than James Webb.

His only concern was Lin Ran's Jewish background, but fortunately, the other party was of Chinese descent, and he had gotten along well with previous Chinese people.

Feng Brian even hoped that Lin Ran and China would have some intersection, so that their cooperation would be smoother.

I have worked for Germany and you have worked for China, so it doesn't make any difference to us.

As a result, Arthur Rudolph's outrageous move last year directly shattered his fantasy.

Feng Brian had a bad feeling that it was much more likely that Lin Ran and James Webber would join forces than he and Lin Ran would.

(End of this chapter)