Chapter 80: From Pearl Harbor to Freedom 7: The Replay of the Crisis Script

At the headquarters of The Times in London, after receiving the fax sent back from America, Frank, a young reporter specifically responsible for receiving faxes, had a face full of disbelief.

He rushed out of the large office and ran into the office of the deputy editor responsible for international affairs, shouting:

"Sir Haley, something big is wrong; America's manned space flight has failed again."

Sir Haley, full name John Haley, a senior editor of The Times, also concurrently served as the Director-General of the BBC. In '46, he was awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, so he could be called "Sir."

In the eyes of Frank, a small editor who just entered the industry this year, Sir Haley was the object he wanted to learn from.

"Calm down. For NASA, isn't failure the norm? What's so strange about this?" Sir Haley said calmly.

Even if England and America are allies, as the former king of the world, the English have an indescribable mentality toward America; they are happy to see America eat shit.

For an old-school aristocrat like Sir Haley who studied at Victoria College, seeing America eat shit was even more refreshing than seeing Soviet Russia eat shit.

"Professor Randolph Lin made a prediction before the launch, NASA temporarily replaced the astronaut with a gorilla, the original astronaut's serious illness was deliberately concealed, and Kennedy gave a speech saying that someone within NASA deliberately manufactured NASA's failure and announced that they would complete a manned moon landing in the 60s."

After Frank rambled on and finished saying the content of the transoceanic telegram, he handed the complete content to Sir Haley.

After Sir Haley took it, he nodded: "Alright, I know. You go write a news report with this as the title."

After speaking, he left the transoceanic telegram in his room, and then picked up a Parker 51 from the table and began to write.

Frank was very surprised: "Sir Haley, don't you feel shocked at all?"

Sir Haley shook his head: "Why be shocked?

Compared to whether this news can shock me, I care about whether the news can be made interesting enough.

It just so happens that this is a particularly good topic. I will write a report myself, and you write one, and we'll see who writes more interestingly.

If you write more interestingly, then I will give you the front-page headline layout and the byline.

And you will naturally understand why I don't feel this matter is worth being shocked about after you look at it."

Since Frank entered the job, he was called an editor, but in reality, he had been doing the work of sending and receiving telegrams.

This time he had a chance to write a report himself, and it was even a front-page headline.

However, he really didn't have the confidence to write better than Sir Haley.

"Randolph's Astonishing Prediction Thwarts NASA NAZI Germany Scientist Conspiracy"

After racking his brains, Frank felt that this angle was the only one that could win by surprise.

After all, Randolph, as a hot figure in the mathematics world, became the Special Assistant for Aerospace Affairs after the White House changed people this year, and his open and secret struggle with NAZI Germany scientists must be able to attract readers' eyeballs, Frank thought to himself.

When Frank excitedly took the manuscript he wrote to Sir Haley, Sir Haley asked him until he was dumbfounded with one sentence:

"Who said this was a NAZI Germany scientist conspiracy?

The Paperclip Project was done during the Donkey Party era, and German scientists were also dug up by them. Even if it was really German scientists playing tricks, the White House side couldn't admit it to the outside world.

You write like this—isn't it speculation?

Also, where is Randolph's prediction astonishing? Your report didn't write what he predicted either; just predicting the launch failure counts as astonishing?

Then I'll predict NASA launch failure next time too, with a success rate of over 80%; does that mean I'll have an astonishing prediction too?

Can you use your brain before writing?"

After speaking, Sir Haley handed the already dry manuscript to Frank, which clearly wrote:

"From Pearl Harbor to Freedom 7: The Replay of the Crisis Script?"

Frank subconsciously complained inwardly, can this be linked to Pearl Harbor? But he had to admit that this title attracted his interest as a reader immediately.

He couldn't help but pick up the manuscript and read it slowly:

"Washington D. C., May 5

When the Freedom 7 space capsule turned into a burning wreckage in the sky, Kennedy publicly claimed that this was a drama directed and acted by NASA itself. However, the author cannot help but wonder if this aerospace disaster was deliberately allowed or even manipulated by the White House, just like the 1941 Pearl Harbor incident, just to find a handle to transform NASA and wake up Congress's money bag?

The marginal faction of the historical academic circle has long accused President Franklin Luo Sifu of deciphering the Neon attack plan in advance but concealing the intelligence, just to end domestic isolationism and force America to participate in the war.

April 12, 1961: Soviet Russian astronaut Gagarin completed the first human space flight. April 20: White House staff meeting records show Kennedy requested advisors to create a sense of national shame. May 5: NASA's originally scheduled first manned suborbital flight, later postponed to May 15, Freedom 7 failed.

This is more like Pearl Harbor Script 2.0. As a president who also came from the Donkey Party, Kennedy was inspired by Luo Sifu's Pearl Harbor incident and wanted to lead a similar drama on the stage of the space race.

Retired Admiral Chester Hall, who served in the Pacific Fleet (his father was a survivor of the 'Arizona' that sank in the Pearl Harbor incident), once expressed in a public interview: The radar warning intelligence received by Admiral Kimmel was deliberately delayed.

And today, the White House doesn't even deny that they knew in advance that Freedom 7 and the original astronaut had problems. If it wasn't to gain the opportunity to thoroughly transform NASA, and the White House hadn't replaced the astronaut with a gorilla, would the truth of the accident be buried in the dust of history forever like the Pearl Harbor incident?

In other words, without the wreckage of Freedom 7, where would the national consensus come from? One sentence in President Kennedy's on-site speech—'We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.' Perhaps he forgot to say the subtext: make the difficulty look fatal enough..."

Sir Haley's manuscript linked the Pearl Harbor incident and this Freedom 7 together, which was a stroke of genius.

Because all along, the Pearl Harbor incident, as the turning point of World War II, leading to America's official participation in the war, has been considered by some historians to be the result of Luo Sifu's deliberate inducement.

"Sir, you are really godlike; how could I not think of it?" Frank put down the manuscript, looking unfinished.

Sir Haley smiled faintly: "When you have experienced enough, you will naturally know how to link them together."

Frank asked seriously: "Sir, do you really think this is the White House's conspiracy?"

Sir Haley shook his head: "What I think is not important; what the audience wants to see is important.

Also, as for the truth of the facts, I think we will naturally know when Professor Lin comes to London to accept the Queen's knighthood and gives an exclusive interview."