latimes--2020-03-01--Who got America to the moon? An unlikely collaboration of Jewish and former Nazi scientists and engi

Who got America to the moon? An unlikely collaboration of Jewish and former Nazi scientists and engineers

In early days of America ’ s space program , two men met over a bottle of Jack Daniel ’ s at the Hay-Adams hotel across the street from the White House .
It was roughly 1959 , when the future of America ’ s young space program was clouded by technological disagreements .
On one side of the bottle was Wernher von Braun , the engineering genius who had developed the world ’ s first ballistic missile for Adolf Hitler during World War II .
He had once been a member of Hitler ’ s Schutzstaffel , or SS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville , Ala. On the other side was Abraham Silverstein , who had grown up in a poor Jewish family in Indiana .
He was NASA ’ s space flight chief and later became director at NASA ’ s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland .
One former Nazi , one American Jew .
Little more than a decade separated them from the Holocaust .
Looming before two of America ’ s top rocket engineers were many critical decisions , including what kind of fuel would be needed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Von Braun wanted the second and third stages of the mighty Saturn V rocket to be powered by kerosene , a fuel he understood from his days in Germany .
There , he led development of the alcohol-fueled V-2 missile that bombed London .
Silverstein had guided research at Lewis in liquid hydrogen , a much more powerful fuel that had never been used in a rocket before .
He was certain such a technological leap was necessary for the long lunar journey .
An observer later recalled the men sizing each other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the nation ’ s most important rocket experts were locked in a technical dispute of enormous importance that revolved around a cautious versus bold engineering approach to future space travel .
Their vast personal differences were swept aside .
When the first Saturn with hydrogen-powered stages was tested on Nov. 9 , 1967 , Von Braun sent a photograph of the launch with a handwritten note : “ To Dr. Abe Silverstein whose pioneering work in liquid hydrogen technology paved the way to today ’ s success — Wernher von Braun.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not unique .
During the Apollo program , which landed Americans on the moon six times between 1969 and 1972 , NASA was filled with both Jewish scientists and a large group of Germans who had worked for Hitler before and during World War II .
The Nazi regime had been dedicated to the extermination of Jews .
That the two groups were able to work side by side suggests a level of reconciliation , or at least acceptance , that would seem a near impossibility in today ’ s fractious social and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historians , the engineers ’ children , religious leaders and political analysts say the quiet collaboration was based on intellectual respect , a belief in redemption and a partnership forged for the nation ’ s benefit .
It was an era when moral judgments took a back seat to a deeply held commitment to the future of space travel and support of national goals .
The children of both the Germans and the Jews say there was never any talk at home about resentments or bigotry .
Instead , their parents were laser-focused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mission .
NASA historical records tell the same story .
It helped to have a little humor too .
“ My dad said NASA was built by Jews , Nazis and hillbillies , ” recalled Reuben Slone , the son of NASA engineer Henry Slone , a member of the Cleveland Jewish community .
The story of that collaboration has scarcely , if at all , been written about , space historians say , though much has been written about the German scientists and some about various Jewish scientists .
In recent years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America ’ s decision to bring 125 German rocket scientists and engineers to the U.S. after World War II under a secret program approved by President Truman and code-named Operation Paperclip .
Historians have delved into the extent to which German rocketeers were complicit in atrocious conditions at an underground factory near Nordhausen that produced the V-2 , the world ’ s first long-range , guided ballistic missile .
It was staffed by prisoners from the nearby Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp , which held French and Belgian Resistance fighters , along with Russians , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Smithsonian senior curator Michael Neufeld , a leading author on the German scientists .
The factory was controlled by the Nazi armaments ministry and the SS paramilitary organization , Neufeld said , but a number of the V-2 engineers at least witnessed the inhumanity that led to the deaths of an estimated 20,000 prisoners .
Knowledge of those conditions , absent involvement , would not constitute war crimes , said Eli Rosenbaum , the Justice Department ’ s longtime Nazi hunter .
But in some cases , U.S. military authorities did a poor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said .
Much of the history of the underground factory was held secret from the American public until the 1970s .
The U.S. Army decided it was critical to national security to quietly recruit the German scientists , based on fear that Soviet leader Josef Stalin would develop long-range missiles with atomic warheads first and use them preemptively against the West .
One thing also united many of the NASA Jews and Germans : a mutual hatred of communism .
There is wide agreement that the collaboration between Germans and Jews was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much of the U.S. nuclear deterrent .
“ It is 100 % true , ” said Brian Odom , the historian at Marshall Space Flight Center .
Such a collaboration without public furor “ would be impossible today , ” said Charles Bolden , a former NASA administrator , astronaut and Marine Corps major general .
Bolden said he can relate to how the Jews felt .
He recalled a time when NASA asked him to command the first joint space shuttle mission in 1994 with Russian cosmonauts in the aftermath of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ I ’ m not flying with any damn Russians , ’ ” Bolden recalled .
“ ‘ I am a Marine and I trained all my life to kill them , and they have done the same.
’ ” But he relented when he met his Russian partner , and they became lifelong friends .
Still , Bolden , an African American from South Carolina , was asked : Could he have made a similar leap to work with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan ?
After a long pause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be that I would be big enough to see what kind of a person they are now , and let ’ s see if we can establish some kind of commonality between us .
That might make a difference .
“ I am certain that is what happened with Abe Silverstein and the [ other ] Jewish guys , ” Bolden added .
“ We are putting what is good for the country ahead of anything personal .
I am almost certain we wouldn ’ t see that today.
” The Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Apollo documents , dozens of oral histories by Germans and Jews , and interviewed the children of the engineers to understand how these two groups interacted in one of the greatest technical achievements in history .
To be sure , some believe Operation Paperclip was morally tainted .
“ How could it possibly be that these people , who used slave labor , came here ?
” asked Rabbi Abraham Cooper , director of social action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center .
“ It is a realpolitik thing .
If we didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side would .
But there is a price to pay to humanity when you make those kinds of decisions .
As a Jew , I do have misgivings.
” Rosenbaum , who ran the Justice Department ’ s Office of Special Investigations that prosecuted war crimes , takes a similar stand : “ All of them had some responsibility for this abuse of concentration camp inmates and the forced labor used in the factory.
” Many space technologists want no part of rethinking the Apollo program , arguing that it was a different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans .
“ Not to have brought them over would have been a crime , ” said Daniel Goldin , a Jewish engineer from New York who became the longest-serving administrator in NASA history .
“ You could get dogmatic about it , but the Cold War could have ended the world.
” On a personal level , Goldin struggled in his first encounters with the Germans .
He joined the NASA center in Cleveland under Silverstein and became an early advocate of electric-powered rocket engines .
In 1963 , he met the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ field , German rocketeer Ernst Stuhlinger .
“ I had to fight my instincts , ” he said .
“ This was the first German I talked to .
Here was the father of electric propulsion , and I was just a kid .
The night before I was quite nervous.
” After meeting Stuhlinger , he recalled him as “ a very gentle , smart man.
” The interactions between Von Braun and Silverstein were at a much higher level and the best documented in the historical record , but similar relationships @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Dad was part of the World War II generation who felt that it was for the greater good of the country , ” said Reuben Slone , who became an engineer after his father , Henry , persuaded him to avoid law school .
“ He made light of it .
I am sure he was uncomfortable with it , but my dad saw it as a patriotic duty.
” The Germans had been brought in waves in the mid-to-late 1940s to work in the Army ’ s ballistic missile agency at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Texas desert , and then to the Army ’ s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville , where they helped pioneer America ’ s early ballistic missiles , including the Redstone and Jupiter .
They transferred to NASA when it was created in 1958 .
Huntsville was a poor , segregated city with a single liquor store that had one door for white patrons and another for black patrons , recalled Sherman Mullin , who worked in Huntsville in the late 1950s and later became chief of the top secret Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four groups in Huntsville — the local whites , the blacks , the Germans , and everybody from out of town , who were considered Yankees , ” Mullin said .
A white man from Southern California , he fell into the last group .
“ None of the groups mingled .
A Yankee couldn ’ t get a date with a young lady in that town.
” The Germans settled together in a neighborhood that locals harshly dubbed “ Kraut Hill , ” according to Odom , the Marshall historian .
Many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and literature , some had nobility in their backgrounds , and quite a few had doctorates from the best universities in Europe .
The German families forged their own close community , founding a Lutheran church , building furniture in their home woodworking shops and celebrating holidays together .
By all accounts , they worked hard to assimilate , gaining citizenship , sponsoring the creation of a Huntsville symphony and pushing successfully for a University of Alabama engineering campus in Huntsville .
Von Braun ordered his men , despite their poor English , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around .
“ They were so grateful to have the opportunity to come to this country , ” said Heidi Weber Collier , daughter of guidance and control engineer Fritz Weber and the unofficial archivist of the Germans .
By the late 1950s , Von Braun had become an American sensation , appearing on major magazine covers and featured on Disney television shows as a futurist space wizard .
He became one of the leading voices fueling public enthusiasm for space .
His Nazi background was rarely , if ever , mentioned .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he maintained a formality that was sometimes out of sync with American culture .
Slone , the Jewish engineer in Cleveland , told his son Reuben that when Von Braun walked into the room , all the junior engineers had to stand at attention .
To the Germans , titles were important .
At a cocktail party in 1960 , an astounded American engineer asked Von Braun ’ s right-hand man , Eberhard Rees , “ Do you mean that you ’ ve been working together for , whatever it is , 20 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calling him Dr .
Von Braun all this time ?
” Von Braun is certainly the best known of the German scientists , but they filled almost every key department at the Marshall Space Flight Center .
Kurt Debus ran the launch site that would later be renamed the Kennedy Space Center .
Rees was Von Braun ’ s technical director and succeeded him as Marshall chief .
Arthur Rudolph was chief of the Saturn V rocket development .
Werner Karl Dahm became one of NASA ’ s chief aerodynamicists .
Konrad Dannenberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Boy , were they good engineers , ” said Gerald Griffin , an Apollo flight director and aeronautical engineer , who later became chief of the Johnson Space Center in Houston .
On the Jewish side , Silverstein helped set up the entire human space flight program before NASA was created in 1958 .
Abraham Hyatt , who fled Ukraine with his family before World War II , was a headquarters planning director .
Milton Rosen was chief of NASA ’ s science mission directorate .
George Low became deputy chief of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the gutsy 1968 decision to orbit the moon after only one human test flight of the Apollo system .
Louis Rosenblum was a key technologist in energy .
Slone specialized in propulsion .
Erwin Zaretsky was one of the world ’ s top experts in ball bearings and machinery lubrication .
Among the few engineers from that era still alive , Zaretsky can ’ t recall the issue of the Germans ’ background being discussed among Jews .
“ It was immaterial , ” he said .
Von Braun and Silverstein could not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had a commanding presence and were always impeccably dressed .
Von Braun was a Prussian aristocrat , the son of a baron .
He attended top technical schools in prewar Germany .
Though he was a dynamic leader , his approach to engineering was cautious and conservative .
Von Braun was both a member of the Nazi Party and an officer in Hitler ’ s elite , and murderous , SS security organization , a position he probably could not turn down without losing his job as chief of the German army ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Von Braun ’ s “ streak of amoral opportunism.
” America ’ s technology industry today has come under similar criticism for its ties to oppressive foreign governments .
Von Braun ’ s death in 1977 preceded the Justice Department ’ s deeper investigations of the Germans .
Silverstein , whose parents emigrated from Eastern Europe , grew up in a large family in Terre Haute , Ind.
, and attended a small but well-regarded private engineering school there .
He was low-profile , but liked working in the technical trenches and brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a revolutionary type of rocket engine and conducting the research to achieve it at the center in Cleveland .
It was Silverstein who chose the moon program ’ s name of Apollo , for the Greek god of light , music and the sun .
The meeting at the Hay-Adams hotel between Von Braun and Silverstein was recalled in a 153-page recorded conversation with Silverstein taken in 1974 after he had left NASA .
The interview was conducted by John Sloop , who had been at the hotel room meeting as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Sloop recalled the probing interactions of the two technical titans .
“ To me , that was a beautiful example of each feeling out the other almost like spiders , like a couple of spiders , ” he said .
Sloop , perhaps because he had worked so closely with Silverstein , raised “ the recurring question of animosity between you and Wernher.
” “ And you could understand this because of your Jewish heritage and his Nazi support , ” Sloop countered .
“ But that was not — that was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It wouldn ’ t be unnatural for you to have animosity , ” Sloop pushed back .
“ It would be , because I don ’ t do that , mostly , ” Silverstein said .
In fact , Silverstein said he was in favor of bringing the Germans into the NASA fold , because “ they were an important cog in the business and to have left them out would have been silly.
” The recorded exchange is perhaps the only one in which a Jewish engineer directly addressed his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of several of the Jewish engineers say their fathers never spoke to them about hatred or anger , though they suspect they were uncomfortable .
“ He didn ’ t talk directly about it , ” said Judy Cook , Silverstein ’ s daughter .
“ When the subject came up , you could tell he was not fond of them .
“ I came home one day and told him somebody at school said Wernher von Braun is head of NASA .
He seemed a little bit angry and said , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was very , very practical and cared that the space program would succeed.
” David Silverstein , a son and an aerospace engineer , said , “ I am sure he was not totally fond of the situation , but he focused on the task at hand .
He was subdued about his feelings unless it involved his family.
” Although he was not known as deeply spiritual , Silverstein was a committed Jew .
One day , he called all the Jews at the Lewis Research Center into his office and proclaimed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new synagogue called Beth Israel-The West Temple .
It still serves the west Cleveland community .
Asked how the Jewish scientists could work with the Germans , the synagogue ’ s leader , Rabbi Enid Lader , said : “ It shows the potential for forgiveness .
These engineers were driven by a very sincere Jewish value to work for the good of society .
For the German scientists , this gave them the opportunity to turn their work used for evil to good .
It is redemption.
” Moreover , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discrimination in America .
Many went to work at NASA specifically because they were blocked from jobs in private industry .
By no means were Silverstein and the other Jews afraid to stand up for their beliefs .
By the 1960s , they founded the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism , aiming to expose the persecution of Soviet Jews .
Rosenblum , one of the key founders of the council , became very active , and his daughter Miriam was arrested in the Soviet Union for meeting with Jewish dissidents just after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders , she recalled .
The children of the German engineers say their fathers have been unfairly judged .
Their image took a beating when Rudolph , who ran the very Saturn rocket development that boosted the astronauts to the moon , came under investigation by Nazi hunter Rosenbaum at the Justice Department .
Rudolph had overseen production at the Nordhausen factory .
Allegations were later raised that he had advocated for using concentration camp labor .
He also was accused of disguising his enthusiasm for the Nazi Party during Army investigations of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his U.S. citizenship in 1984 and sent back to Germany , although authorities there never prosecuted him .
He died in 1996 .
Many of the Germans thought it was wrong to condemn Rudolph after he had contributed so much to the Apollo success .
The children bristle when their fathers are called Nazis .
“ People would ask about my family history and they would say , ‘ Oh , my God , your father was a Nazi , ’ ” said Weber Collier , daughter of Fritz Weber .
Margrit von @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daughter , said she chooses to hold on to her own memories of her father and avoids reading books that cast him in a harsh light .
Von Braun , a retired engineering professor at the University of Idaho who now does international humanitarian work , said she doubts he had any discomfort working with Jews .
Her father , an accomplished classical pianist , once played music with Albert Einstein , the Jewish scientific genius who fled Germany before the war , she said .
“ My parents , as much as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the civil rights movement , ” she said .
Her father “ really didn ’ t talk about the war .
It was pretty common for that generation to put the war behind them .
They volunteered to come to America.
” She still recalls with pride when , as a teenager , she watched her father hoisted onto the shoulders of Huntsville city leaders after the first Apollo moon landing and carried to the town square , where he gave a speech .
Magnus von Braun , Wernher ’ s younger brother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surrendered to American forces in May 1945 .
After working for the Army for a decade , he took a job in Detroit at Chrysler Corp. , which was building America ’ s first generation of rockets that the Germans in Huntsville were designing .
It was a job not unlike the one he had in wartime Germany , when he worked under Rudolph overseeing V-2 production .
That put him closer to the abusive use of slave labor than his older brother .
“ He felt nauseated , but he couldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been shot , ” said his son , Curt von Braun , who obtained a doctorate in aerospace engineering and works at a major U.S. defense firm .
Unlike many of the other German children , he probed his father for information about Mittelbau-Dora .
“ It was too much trauma .
He said he witnessed hangings .
He said Germany was in his past .
Even if you were a member of the Nazi Party , it doesn ’ t make you a racist .
Not everybody believed all that crap , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ These were good people.
” The German engineers not only helped land Americans on the moon , but played a key role across the nation ’ s defense programs , and there too they collaborated with American Jews .
Adolf Thiel was recruited to aerospace giant TRW ’ s Space Park in Redondo Beach by its chief , Simon Ramo , one of the most important Jews in American aerospace .
Thiel , a former Nazi Party member , rose up to run all of TRW ’ s spacecraft operations , putting him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most sensitive intelligence and defense satellite programs .
During Apollo , TRW developed a revolutionary rocket engine with variable thrust that was critical to the lunar module ’ s landing .
“ I remember Ramo coming to our house for dinner in Palos Verdes , ” said Thiel , who was born in Huntsville .
Ramo was an accomplished violinist .
Adolf Thiel ’ s wife was a trained classical pianist .
After dinner , they played a duet in the living room , he said .
On the 50th anniversary of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few dozen children of the German engineers returned to Huntsville for a reunion , joined by former astronauts and American aerospace industry officials , Weber Collier recalled .
Griffin , the flight director on the Apollo mission and later chief of the Johnson Space Center , doesn ’ t like the idea that anybody would second-guess the American success in space .
“ Everybody was pulling on the same oar , making sure we would succeed , ” he said .
“ You would think there had to be some hostility , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are willing to change .
There is no redemption in today ’ s society .
”

In early days of America’s space program, two men met over a bottle of Jack Daniel’s at the Hay-Adams hotel across the street from the White House.
It was roughly 1959, when the future of America’s young space program was clouded by technological disagreements.
On one side of the bottle was Wernher von Braun, the engineering genius who had developed the world’s first ballistic missile for Adolf Hitler during World War II. He had once been a member of Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, or SS, but now ran NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Abraham Silverstein, left, and Wernher von Braun at a space flight committee meeting in 1958 at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland. (NASA)
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On the other side was Abraham Silverstein, who had grown up in a poor Jewish family in Indiana. He was NASA’s space flight chief and later became director at NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland.
One former Nazi, one American Jew. Little more than a decade separated them from the Holocaust.
Looming before two of America’s top rocket engineers were many critical decisions, including what kind of fuel would be needed to blast off astronauts to the moon.
Von Braun wanted the second and third stages of the mighty Saturn V rocket to be powered by kerosene, a fuel he understood from his days in Germany. There, he led development of the alcohol-fueled V-2 missile that bombed London.
Silverstein had guided research at Lewis in liquid hydrogen, a much more powerful fuel that had never been used in a rocket before. He was certain such a technological leap was necessary for the long lunar journey.
An observer later recalled the men sizing each other up like “spiders.” Two of the nation’s most important rocket experts were locked in a technical dispute of enormous importance that revolved around a cautious versus bold engineering approach to future space travel. Their vast personal differences were swept aside.
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Wernher von Braun resisted Abraham Silverstein’s advocacy for hydrogen-powered rocket engines on the Saturn, but later acknowledged his Jewish colleague was right and sent a signed note after a successful launch in 1967. ( NASA)
When the first Saturn with hydrogen-powered stages was tested on Nov. 9, 1967, Von Braun sent a photograph of the launch with a handwritten note: “To Dr. Abe Silverstein whose pioneering work in liquid hydrogen technology paved the way to today’s success — Wernher von Braun.”
The collaboration between Von Braun and Silverstein was not unique. During the Apollo program, which landed Americans on the moon six times between 1969 and 1972, NASA was filled with both Jewish scientists and a large group of Germans who had worked for Hitler before and during World War II. The Nazi regime had been dedicated to the extermination of Jews. That the two groups were able to work side by side suggests a level of reconciliation, or at least acceptance, that would seem a near impossibility in today’s fractious social and political climate.
Apollo-era engineers, space historians, the engineers’ children, religious leaders and political analysts say the quiet collaboration was based on intellectual respect, a belief in redemption and a partnership forged for the nation’s benefit.
It was an era when moral judgments took a back seat to a deeply held commitment to the future of space travel and support of national goals.
The children of both the Germans and the Jews say there was never any talk at home about resentments or bigotry. Instead, their parents were laser-focused on the monumental challenge of the lunar mission. NASA historical records tell the same story.
It helped to have a little humor too.
“My dad said NASA was built by Jews, Nazis and hillbillies,” recalled Reuben Slone, the son of NASA engineer Henry Slone, a member of the Cleveland Jewish community.
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The story of that collaboration has scarcely, if at all, been written about, space historians say, though much has been written about the German scientists and some about various Jewish scientists.
After the surrender to U.S. forces at the end of World War II, German scientists and engineers were sent to Ft. Bliss, Texas. They conducted missile research for the Army and later played a key role in the Apollo program.
In recent years, a deeper analysis has focused on America’s decision to bring 125 German rocket scientists and engineers to the U.S. after World War II under a secret program approved by President Truman and code-named Operation Paperclip.
Historians have delved into the extent to which German rocketeers were complicit in atrocious conditions at an underground factory near Nordhausen that produced the V-2, the world’s first long-range, guided ballistic missile.
It was staffed by prisoners from the nearby Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, which held French and Belgian Resistance fighters, along with Russians, Poles and other Slavs, according to Smithsonian senior curator Michael Neufeld, a leading author on the German scientists.
The factory was controlled by the Nazi armaments ministry and the SS paramilitary organization, Neufeld said, but a number of the V-2 engineers at least witnessed the inhumanity that led to the deaths of an estimated 20,000 prisoners.
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Knowledge of those conditions, absent involvement, would not constitute war crimes, said Eli Rosenbaum, the Justice Department’s longtime Nazi hunter. But in some cases, U.S. military authorities did a poor job of investigating the German scientists, he said.
Much of the history of the underground factory was held secret from the American public until the 1970s. The U.S. Army decided it was critical to national security to quietly recruit the German scientists, based on fear that Soviet leader Josef Stalin would develop long-range missiles with atomic warheads first and use them preemptively against the West. One thing also united many of the NASA Jews and Germans: a mutual hatred of communism.
There is wide agreement that the collaboration between Germans and Jews was essential to the Apollo moon landings and much of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.
“It is 100% true,” said Brian Odom, the historian at Marshall Space Flight Center.
Charles Bolden commanded the 60th space shuttle flight in 1994, aboard the Discovery. The mission included a Russian cosmonaut. (NASA)
Such a collaboration without public furor “would be impossible today,” said Charles Bolden, a former NASA administrator, astronaut and Marine Corps major general.
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Bolden said he can relate to how the Jews felt. He recalled a time when NASA asked him to command the first joint space shuttle mission in 1994 with Russian cosmonauts in the aftermath of the Cold War.
“I said, ‘I’m not flying with any damn Russians,’” Bolden recalled. “‘I am a Marine and I trained all my life to kill them, and they have done the same.’”
But he relented when he met his Russian partner, and they became lifelong friends. Still, Bolden, an African American from South Carolina, was asked: Could he have made a similar leap to work with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan?
After a long pause, he said, “My hope would be that I would be big enough to see what kind of a person they are now, and let’s see if we can establish some kind of commonality between us. That might make a difference.
“I am certain that is what happened with Abe Silverstein and the [other] Jewish guys,” Bolden added. “We are putting what is good for the country ahead of anything personal. I am almost certain we wouldn’t see that today.”
The Times reviewed hundreds of pages of NASA’s Apollo documents, dozens of oral histories by Germans and Jews, and interviewed the children of the engineers to understand how these two groups interacted in one of the greatest technical achievements in history.
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To be sure, some believe Operation Paperclip was morally tainted.
“How could it possibly be that these people, who used slave labor, came here?” asked Rabbi Abraham Cooper, director of social action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “It is a realpolitik thing. If we didn’t grab them, the other side would. But there is a price to pay to humanity when you make those kinds of decisions. As a Jew, I do have misgivings.”
Rosenbaum, who ran the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations that prosecuted war crimes, takes a similar stand: “All of them had some responsibility for this abuse of concentration camp inmates and the forced labor used in the factory.”
Many space technologists want no part of rethinking the Apollo program, arguing that it was a different era and that the Germans became exemplary Americans.
Former NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, a Jewish aerospace engineer from New York, said he supported the inclusion of German rocket engineers in the Apollo program. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
“Not to have brought them over would have been a crime,” said Daniel Goldin, a Jewish engineer from New York who became the longest-serving administrator in NASA history. “You could get dogmatic about it, but the Cold War could have ended the world.”
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On a personal level, Goldin struggled in his first encounters with the Germans.
He joined the NASA center in Cleveland under Silverstein and became an early advocate of electric-powered rocket engines. In 1963, he met the world’s foremost expert in the field, German rocketeer Ernst Stuhlinger.
“I had to fight my instincts,” he said. “This was the first German I talked to. Here was the father of electric propulsion, and I was just a kid. The night before I was quite nervous.”
After meeting Stuhlinger, he recalled him as “a very gentle, smart man.”
The interactions between Von Braun and Silverstein were at a much higher level and the best documented in the historical record, but similar relationships were typical throughout the NASA ranks.
“Dad was part of the World War II generation who felt that it was for the greater good of the country,” said Reuben Slone, who became an engineer after his father, Henry, persuaded him to avoid law school. “He made light of it. I am sure he was uncomfortable with it, but my dad saw it as a patriotic duty.”
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The Germans had been brought in waves in the mid-to-late 1940s to work in the Army’s ballistic missile agency at Ft. Bliss, a desolate patch of Texas desert, and then to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, where they helped pioneer America’s early ballistic missiles, including the Redstone and Jupiter. They transferred to NASA when it was created in 1958.
Huntsville was a poor, segregated city with a single liquor store that had one door for white patrons and another for black patrons, recalled Sherman Mullin, who worked in Huntsville in the late 1950s and later became chief of the top secret Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Southern California.
“There were basically four groups in Huntsville — the local whites, the blacks, the Germans, and everybody from out of town, who were considered Yankees,” Mullin said. A white man from Southern California, he fell into the last group. “None of the groups mingled. A Yankee couldn’t get a date with a young lady in that town.”
The Germans settled together in a neighborhood that locals harshly dubbed “Kraut Hill,” according to Odom, the Marshall historian. Many of them were cultured in classical music and literature, some had nobility in their backgrounds, and quite a few had doctorates from the best universities in Europe.
The German families forged their own close community, founding a Lutheran church, building furniture in their home woodworking shops and celebrating holidays together. By all accounts, they worked hard to assimilate, gaining citizenship, sponsoring the creation of a Huntsville symphony and pushing successfully for a University of Alabama engineering campus in Huntsville. Von Braun ordered his men, despite their poor English, never to speak German when others were around.
“They were so grateful to have the opportunity to come to this country,” said Heidi Weber Collier, daughter of guidance and control engineer Fritz Weber and the unofficial archivist of the Germans.
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By the late 1950s, Von Braun had become an American sensation, appearing on major magazine covers and featured on Disney television shows as a futurist space wizard. He became one of the leading voices fueling public enthusiasm for space. His Nazi background was rarely, if ever, mentioned.
Like many of the German scientists, he maintained a formality that was sometimes out of sync with American culture.
Slone, the Jewish engineer in Cleveland, told his son Reuben that when Von Braun walked into the room, all the junior engineers had to stand at attention.
To the Germans, titles were important.
At a cocktail party in 1960, an astounded American engineer asked Von Braun’s right-hand man, Eberhard Rees, “Do you mean that you’ve been working together for, whatever it is, 20 years, and you’ve been calling him Dr. Von Braun all this time?”
“Oh, no!” Rees answered. “I always called him Herr Doktor Von Braun.”
Von Braun is certainly the best known of the German scientists, but they filled almost every key department at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Kurt Debus ran the launch site that would later be renamed the Kennedy Space Center. Rees was Von Braun’s technical director and succeeded him as Marshall chief. Arthur Rudolph was chief of the Saturn V rocket development. Werner Karl Dahm became one of NASA’s chief aerodynamicists. Konrad Dannenberg was deputy manager of the Saturn.
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“Boy, were they good engineers,” said Gerald Griffin, an Apollo flight director and aeronautical engineer, who later became chief of the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
On the Jewish side, Silverstein helped set up the entire human space flight program before NASA was created in 1958. Abraham Hyatt, who fled Ukraine with his family before World War II, was a headquarters planning director. Milton Rosen was chief of NASA’s science mission directorate. George Low became deputy chief of NASA, known for his advocacy of the gutsy 1968 decision to orbit the moon after only one human test flight of the Apollo system. Louis Rosenblum was a key technologist in energy. Slone specialized in propulsion. Erwin Zaretsky was one of the world’s top experts in ball bearings and machinery lubrication.
Wernher von Braun, right, with Walt Disney during a visit to the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1954. In the 1950s, Von Braun worked with Disney’s studios as a technical director in making three films about space exploration. (NASA)
Among the few engineers from that era still alive, Zaretsky can’t recall the issue of the Germans’ background being discussed among Jews. “It was immaterial,” he said.
Von Braun and Silverstein could not have been more different, although both had a commanding presence and were always impeccably dressed.
Von Braun was a Prussian aristocrat, the son of a baron. He attended top technical schools in prewar Germany. Though he was a dynamic leader, his approach to engineering was cautious and conservative.
Von Braun was both a member of the Nazi Party and an officer in Hitler’s elite, and murderous, SS security organization, a position he probably could not turn down without losing his job as chief of the German army’s missile research.
Neufeld calls it Von Braun’s “streak of amoral opportunism.” America’s technology industry today has come under similar criticism for its ties to oppressive foreign governments. Von Braun’s death in 1977 preceded the Justice Department’s deeper investigations of the Germans.
Silverstein, whose parents emigrated from Eastern Europe, grew up in a large family in Terre Haute, Ind., and attended a small but well-regarded private engineering school there.
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He was low-profile, but liked working in the technical trenches and brought an ambitious agenda to NASA — pushing for a revolutionary type of rocket engine and conducting the research to achieve it at the center in Cleveland. It was Silverstein who chose the moon program’s name of Apollo, for the Greek god of light, music and the sun.
The meeting at the Hay-Adams hotel between Von Braun and Silverstein was recalled in a 153-page recorded conversation with Silverstein taken in 1974 after he had left NASA. The interview was conducted by John Sloop, who had been at the hotel room meeting as a member of Silverstein’s technical staff.
Sloop recalled the probing interactions of the two technical titans. “To me, that was a beautiful example of each feeling out the other almost like spiders, like a couple of spiders,” he said.
Sloop, perhaps because he had worked so closely with Silverstein, raised “the recurring question of animosity between you and Wernher.”
“There was no animosity,” Silverstein replied.
“And you could understand this because of your Jewish heritage and his Nazi support,” Sloop countered.
“But that was not — that was never,” Silverstein cut him off.
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“It wouldn’t be unnatural for you to have animosity,” Sloop pushed back.
“It would be, because I don’t do that, mostly,” Silverstein said.
In fact, Silverstein said he was in favor of bringing the Germans into the NASA fold, because “they were an important cog in the business and to have left them out would have been silly.”
The recorded exchange is perhaps the only one in which a Jewish engineer directly addressed his relationship with the Germans.
The children of several of the Jewish engineers say their fathers never spoke to them about hatred or anger, though they suspect they were uncomfortable.
Judy Cook is the daughter of Abraham Silverstein, who was among a group of Jewish engineers who worked with former German rocket engineers under Adolf Hitler. Behind Cook is a photo of the Earth rising over the moon signed by fellow engineers. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
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“He didn’t talk directly about it,” said Judy Cook, Silverstein’s daughter. “When the subject came up, you could tell he was not fond of them.
“I came home one day and told him somebody at school said Wernher von Braun is head of NASA. He seemed a little bit angry and said, ‘He certainly is not.’ But he was very, very practical and cared that the space program would succeed.”
David Silverstein, a son and an aerospace engineer, said, “I am sure he was not totally fond of the situation, but he focused on the task at hand. He was subdued about his feelings unless it involved his family.”
Although he was not known as deeply spiritual, Silverstein was a committed Jew. One day, he called all the Jews at the Lewis Research Center into his office and proclaimed that they would be founding members of a new synagogue called Beth Israel-The West Temple. It still serves the west Cleveland community.
Asked how the Jewish scientists could work with the Germans, the synagogue’s leader, Rabbi Enid Lader, said: “It shows the potential for forgiveness. These engineers were driven by a very sincere Jewish value to work for the good of society. For the German scientists, this gave them the opportunity to turn their work used for evil to good. It is redemption.”
Moreover, the Jews had to deal with plenty of discrimination in America. Many went to work at NASA specifically because they were blocked from jobs in private industry.
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By no means were Silverstein and the other Jews afraid to stand up for their beliefs. By the 1960s, they founded the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, aiming to expose the persecution of Soviet Jews.
Rosenblum, one of the key founders of the council, became very active, and his daughter Miriam was arrested in the Soviet Union for meeting with Jewish dissidents just after the 1974 summit between President Nixon and Soviet leaders, she recalled.
The children of the German engineers say their fathers have been unfairly judged.
Their image took a beating when Rudolph, who ran the very Saturn rocket development that boosted the astronauts to the moon, came under investigation by Nazi hunter Rosenbaum at the Justice Department.
Rudolph had overseen production at the Nordhausen factory. Allegations were later raised that he had advocated for using concentration camp labor. He also was accused of disguising his enthusiasm for the Nazi Party during Army investigations of his background. He was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 1984 and sent back to Germany, although authorities there never prosecuted him. He died in 1996.
Many of the Germans thought it was wrong to condemn Rudolph after he had contributed so much to the Apollo success. The children bristle when their fathers are called Nazis.
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“People would ask about my family history and they would say, ‘Oh, my God, your father was a Nazi,’” said Weber Collier, daughter of Fritz Weber.
Margrit von Braun, the rocket master’s daughter, said she chooses to hold on to her own memories of her father and avoids reading books that cast him in a harsh light.
Von Braun, a retired engineering professor at the University of Idaho who now does international humanitarian work, said she doubts he had any discomfort working with Jews.
Her father, an accomplished classical pianist, once played music with Albert Einstein, the Jewish scientific genius who fled Germany before the war, she said.
“My parents, as much as they could, were very passionate about the civil rights movement,” she said. Her father “really didn’t talk about the war. It was pretty common for that generation to put the war behind them. They volunteered to come to America.”
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Wernher von Braun is carried by city officials in Huntsville, Ala., to the speaker’s platform after the Apollo 11 mission. (NASA)
She still recalls with pride when, as a teenager, she watched her father hoisted onto the shoulders of Huntsville city leaders after the first Apollo moon landing and carried to the town square, where he gave a speech.
Magnus von Braun, Wernher’s younger brother and another key rocket engineer, also surrendered to American forces in May 1945. After working for the Army for a decade, he took a job in Detroit at Chrysler Corp., which was building America’s first generation of rockets that the Germans in Huntsville were designing.
It was a job not unlike the one he had in wartime Germany, when he worked under Rudolph overseeing V-2 production. That put him closer to the abusive use of slave labor than his older brother.
Curt von Braun is the son of German rocket engineer Magnus von Braun and the nephew of Wernher von Braun. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
“He felt nauseated, but he couldn’t back down or he would have been shot,” said his son, Curt von Braun, who obtained a doctorate in aerospace engineering and works at a major U.S. defense firm. Unlike many of the other German children, he probed his father for information about Mittelbau-Dora.
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“It was too much trauma. He said he witnessed hangings. He said Germany was in his past. Even if you were a member of the Nazi Party, it doesn’t make you a racist. Not everybody believed all that crap,” Curt von Braun said. “These [engineers] were good people.”
The German engineers not only helped land Americans on the moon, but played a key role across the nation’s defense programs, and there too they collaborated with American Jews.
Adolf Thiel was recruited to aerospace giant TRW’s Space Park in Redondo Beach by its chief, Simon Ramo, one of the most important Jews in American aerospace.
Thiel, a former Nazi Party member, rose up to run all of TRW’s spacecraft operations, putting him in charge of the nation’s most sensitive intelligence and defense satellite programs. During Apollo, TRW developed a revolutionary rocket engine with variable thrust that was critical to the lunar module’s landing.
Thiel and Ramo became friends, recalled Thiel’s son, Michael.
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“I remember Ramo coming to our house for dinner in Palos Verdes,” said Thiel, who was born in Huntsville.
Ramo was an accomplished violinist. Adolf Thiel’s wife was a trained classical pianist. After dinner, they played a duet in the living room, he said.
On the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in July, a few dozen children of the German engineers returned to Huntsville for a reunion, joined by former astronauts and American aerospace industry officials, Weber Collier recalled.
Griffin, the flight director on the Apollo mission and later chief of the Johnson Space Center, doesn’t like the idea that anybody would second-guess the American success in space.
“Everybody was pulling on the same oar, making sure we would succeed,” he said.
“You would think there had to be some hostility, but I never saw any. ... People are willing to change. There is no redemption in today’s society.”


latimes--2020-03-01--Storm expected to bring scattered showers, cooler temperatures to L.A. area

A storm system is expected to bring below-normal temperatures , wind and scattered showers to the Los Angeles area on Sunday .
Temperatures are forecast to fall into the low 60s , and there ’ s a slight chance of rain before 10 a.m. followed by a 30 % to 40 % chance of showers in the afternoon and evening , said Kristen Stewart , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard .
“ That hot spell we had this week is a thing of the past , ” Stewart said .
The storm is expected to drop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles , Ventura and Santa Barbara counties , according to the weather service .
There ’ s also a slight chance of thunderstorms , which could produce small hail and locally higher rainfall totals .
Snow levels are forecast to drop to 3,000 to 4,000 feet , with 1 to 2 new inches of snow falling above 4,500 feet .
Driving conditions along the Interstate 5 corridor through the Grapevine could become hazardous due to ice , wind and light snow .
Sunday will also be breezy , with potentially gusty westerly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Antelope Valley , the weather service said .
Things are expected to dry off by Monday , and temperatures will return to normal early in the week .
Though they ’ re forecast to be light , the showers are sorely needed .
California is set to conclude one of its driest Februaries in recorded history , elevating fears that the state ’ s always-unpredictable fire season could arrive early this year — if March doesn ’ t provide bring some wet relief .

Downtown Los Angeles is seen from Pasadena on Feb. 27.
A storm system is expected to bring below-normal temperatures, wind and scattered showers to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.
Temperatures are forecast to fall into the low 60s, and there’s a slight chance of rain before 10 a.m. followed by a 30% to 40% chance of showers in the afternoon and evening, said Kristen Stewart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
“That hot spell we had this week is a thing of the past,” Stewart said.
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The storm is expected to drop less than a quarter-inch of rain across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, according to the weather service.
There’s also a slight chance of thunderstorms, which could produce small hail and locally higher rainfall totals.
Snow levels are forecast to drop to 3,000 to 4,000 feet, with 1 to 2 new inches of snow falling above 4,500 feet. Driving conditions along the Interstate 5 corridor through the Grapevine could become hazardous due to ice, wind and light snow.
Sunday will also be breezy, with potentially gusty westerly winds over the coastal areas and the Antelope Valley, the weather service said.
Things are expected to dry off by Monday, and temperatures will return to normal early in the week.
Though they’re forecast to be light, the showers are sorely needed. California is set to conclude one of its driest Februaries in recorded history, elevating fears that the state’s always-unpredictable fire season could arrive early this year — if March doesn’t provide bring some wet relief.


latimes--2020-02-29--California coronavirus spread continues with new Santa Clara County patient

Public health officials in California on Saturday announced another coronavirus patient , a woman described as “ a household contact ” of a Santa Clara County woman whose diagnosis was made public Friday .
The two women are among the three California patients so far who did not recently travel outside the U.S. or come in contact with someone who did .
That raised concerns that the virus was spreading in communities and prompted health officials to find and quarantine anyone who came in contact with them .
The new patient , who officials said is not ill and is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Santa Clara County woman with chronic health conditions whose physicians requested coronavirus testing after she was hospitalized for a respiratory illness .
The disclosure comes as health officials throughout Northern California are trying to find people who might have come in contact with the three patients .
The efforts had already led to the voluntary quarantining of dozens of people , including students at UC Davis and other college campuses , and workers at the two hospitals where the country ’ s first patient without any known links to foreign travel was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that one of those students tested negative for the virus .
The first patient without links to foreign travel , a Solano County woman , was hospitalized for three days at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville before being moved to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento .
She was not tested for several days because she did not fit screening criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time .
This time gap concerns officials because it could have allowed her to infect others she came in contact with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients in California , many of them from repatriation flights , with the number changing often .

A woman walks past the Vacaville, Calif., facility where the country’s first patient with “community acquired” coronavirus was hospitalized before being transferred to UC Davis Medical Center.
Public health officials in California on Saturday announced another coronavirus patient, a woman described as “a household contact” of a Santa Clara County woman whose diagnosis was made public Friday.
The two women are among the three California patients so far who did not recently travel outside the U.S. or come in contact with someone who did. That raised concerns that the virus was spreading in communities and prompted health officials to find and quarantine anyone who came in contact with them.
The new patient, who officials said is not ill and is isolated at home, had contact with a Santa Clara County woman with chronic health conditions whose physicians requested coronavirus testing after she was hospitalized for a respiratory illness.
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The disclosure comes as health officials throughout Northern California are trying to find people who might have come in contact with the three patients.
The efforts had already led to the voluntary quarantining of dozens of people, including students at UC Davis and other college campuses, and workers at the two hospitals where the country’s first patient without any known links to foreign travel was treated.
UC Davis said Saturday night that one of those students tested negative for the virus.
The first patient without links to foreign travel, a Solano County woman, was hospitalized for three days at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville before being moved to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. She was not tested for several days because she did not fit screening criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time.
This time gap concerns officials because it could have allowed her to infect others she came in contact with.
There are at least 30 coronavirus patients in California, many of them from repatriation flights, with the number changing often.


latimes--2020-02-29--Low pressure could bring much-needed rain to California before mid-March

An upper-level trough over the eastern Pacific is forecast to come ashore and bring much-needed moisture to California from Tuesday , March 10 , through Thursday , March 12 , according to an outlook issued by the National Weather Service ’ s Climate Prediction Center .
The weather system is expected to create a moderate risk for heavy precipitation over an area from north of San Francisco to around San Diego County .
The area stretches inland to Sacramento on the north and to the foothills east of Bakersfield in the south .
A wider area covering much of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ north of Redding , east nearly to the Nevada border and south to the Mojave Desert and the Mexican border , is considered to be at a slight risk of heavy precipitation during the same period .
Rain is expected at lower elevations while the precipitation will fall as snow in the Sierra Nevada and other higher elevations .
Much of the area where precipitation is predicted is either abnormally dry or considered to be in moderate drought , according to the most recent Drought Monitor data released Thursday .
Parts of California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so this additional forecast rainfall could help stall any worsening conditions , the weather service said .

An upper-level trough over the eastern Pacific is forecast to come ashore and bring much-needed moisture to California from Tuesday, March 10, through Thursday, March 12, according to an outlook issued by the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
The weather system is expected to create a moderate risk for heavy precipitation over an area from north of San Francisco to around San Diego County. The area stretches inland to Sacramento on the north and to the foothills east of Bakersfield in the south. A wider area covering much of the remainder of the state, reaching from north of Redding, east nearly to the Nevada border and south to the Mojave Desert and the Mexican border, is considered to be at a slight risk of heavy precipitation during the same period. Rain is expected at lower elevations while the precipitation will fall as snow in the Sierra Nevada and other higher elevations.
Much of the area where precipitation is predicted is either abnormally dry or considered to be in moderate drought, according to the most recent Drought Monitor data released Thursday.
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Parts of California are experiencing abnormal dryness and short-term drought, so this additional forecast rainfall could help stall any worsening conditions, the weather service said.


latimes--2020-02-29--UC Berkeley races to save its 'heart and soul' with new $6-billion fundraising quest

UC Berkeley is aiming to raise $ 6 billion — one of the largest hauls ever attempted by a public university — in a drive to preserve the “ heart and soul ” of the elite campus , Chancellor Carol Christ announced Saturday .
Christ said the private funds are essential to help cover costs to secure Berkeley ’ s continued standing as one of the world ’ s most prestigious public research universities : 100 new tenure-track faculty members , undergraduate scholarships , 300 new graduate student fellowships , affordable student housing and research support .
“ This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have , ’ ” Christ said .
“ This is a campaign to raise money for the very core of the institution.
” The massive fundraising effort comes as the campus , which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2018 , aims to recover from years of diminishing state aid and recent financial turbulence .
State funding has plummeted to just 14 % of Berkeley ’ s budget compared to 50 % three decades ago , and the campus faced a $ 150 million budget deficit in 2016 , closing that gap last year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shared among UC campuses , where recent increases in state funding have not kept pace with growing enrollments or come close to restoring previous levels of support .
State funding has fallen from 84 % of UC ’ s core budget in 1990 to 42 % today , as the bulk of the financial burden has shifted to students and their families .
To fill the gaps , UC campuses have ramped up efforts to raise private dollars , collectively netting $ 2.7 billion in 2018-19 compared to $ 1.3 billion in 2009-10 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The totals differ dramatically among campuses : $ 733 million for UCLA and $ 555 million for Berkeley ; $ 23.8 million for Riverside and $ 5.6 million for Merced .
Berkeley ’ s announcement comes just days after UCLA announced it completed a $ 5.49 billion fundraising campaign , surpassing its initial goal of $ 4.2 billion 18 months early .
UC San Francisco already has exceeded its $ 5 billion goal while UC San Diego is aiming to raise $ 3 billion after meeting its $ 2 billion target three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Riverside has launched its first ever comprehensive fundraising campaign of $ 300 million , a reflection of its smaller size and less access to affluent alumni and supporters .
Christ said campuses can no longer rely primarily on state support to solve their financial problems .
Berkeley staunched its red ink last year by reducing 500 administrative staff positions but also raised alternative revenue through aggressive fundraising , expanded summer sessions and certificate programs for business executives , among other initiatives .
“ The state is , of course , still an extraordinarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ yet we also have to be much more entrepreneurial and our own diversification and multiplication of sources of revenue in this campaign is an important piece of that strategy.
” Increasing tenure-track faculty and top-flight graduate students is a pressing priority , campus officials said .
The faculty , which includes more than 20 Nobel laureates , is the “ definitive factor ” that gives Berkeley its edge in shaping the next generation of leaders , Provost Paul Alivisatos said .
But , in the past five years , the number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 1,466 while the number of Berkeley undergraduates increased 14 % to 29,010 last spring .
As a result , classes have ballooned in size : Christ told regents in 2018 that the average size of lower-division engineering and computer science classes had increased from 65 in 2011-12 to 227 in 2016-17 .
Another campaign priority is to provide 300 new graduate student fellowships to more than double the current level , to help Berkeley compete for the world ’ s brightest young researchers .
With some 12,000 graduate students , Berkeley is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for granting doctoral degrees and has more than 110 advanced degree programs ranked in the top 10 .
“ We ’ re not losing our competitive edge in faculty recruitment and in graduate student recruitment , ” Christ said , “ but if we don ’ t keep pace , we might.
” Christ said Berkeley will aim to vastly increase funding for financial aid for more undergraduate scholarships .
The university also wants to decrease the $ 10,000 a year UC students are expected to contribute to their education by working , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So far , the campaign has raised $ 236 million for student support and officials hope to double that by the 2023 completion date .
And officials are hoping to double the number of campus beds to provide affordable housing for freshmen , sophomores and first-year transfer students in one of the nation ’ s priciest housing markets .
“ We are raising funds for our core needs and activities … for the heart and soul of the university and all that sets Berkeley apart from the crowd , ” Christ said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goal , having raised $ 3.4 billion since it began the campaign ’ s “ quiet phase ” in January 2014 .
So far , nearly 169,000 donors — in every state and 121 other countries — have contributed more than 614,000 gifts .
The donations include Berkeley ’ s largest single gift ever — $ 252 million from an anonymous donor to provide core funding for a new home for the Division of Computing , Data Science and Society , the campus ’ fastest growing areas of study .
The “ Data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tackle challenges such as climate change , public health and criminal justice policy using machine learning , artificial intelligence and advanced statistics .
Another landmark gift of $ 50 million to Berkeley ’ s College of Natural Resources will help support initiatives to adapt to climate change , promote clean energy and improve food security .
Part of the gift from former college dean Gordon Rausser will help establish an endowed chair in the college .
Other research areas targeted for expansion include health , democracy and equality , and innovation and entrepreneurship @

UC Berkeley is aiming to raise $6 billion — one of the largest hauls ever attempted by a public university — in a drive to preserve the “heart and soul” of the elite campus, Chancellor Carol Christ announced Saturday.
Christ said the private funds will help cover costs for essential investments needed to secure Berkeley’s continued standing as one of the world’s most prestigious public research universities: 100 new tenure-track faculty members, undergraduate scholarships, 300 new graduate student fellowships, affordable student housing and research support.
“This is not a campaign about ‘nice to have,’” Christ said. “This is a campaign to raise money for the very core of the institution.”
The massive fundraising effort comes as the campus, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2018, aims to recover from years of diminishing state aid and recent financial turbulence. State funding has plummeted to just 14% of Berkeley’s budget compared to 50% three decades ago, and the campus faced a $150 million budget deficit in 2016, closing that gap last year.
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Berkeley’s budget pressures are shared among UC campuses, where recent increases in state funding have not kept pace with growing enrollments or come close to restoring previous levels of support. State funding has fallen from 84% of UC’s core budget in 1990 to 42% today, as the bulk of the financial burden has shifted to students and their families.
To fill the gaps, UC campuses have ramped up efforts to raise private dollars, collectively netting $2.7 billion in 2018-19 compared to $1.3 billion in 2009-10, according to a UC annual report. The totals differ dramatically among campuses: $733 million for UCLA and $555 million for Berkeley; $23.8 million for Riverside and $5.6 million for Merced.
Berkeley’s announcement comes just days after UCLA announced it completed a $5.49 billion fundraising campaign, surpassing its initial goal of $4.2 billion 18 months early. UC San Francisco already has exceeded its $5 billion goal while UC San Diego is aiming to raise $3 billion after meeting its $2 billion target three years early.
In addition, UC Riverside has launched its first ever comprehensive fundraising campaign of $300 million, a reflection of its smaller size and less access to affluent alumni and supporters.
Christ said campuses can no longer rely primarily on state support to solve their financial problems. Berkeley staunched its red ink last year by reducing 500 administrative staff positions but also raised alternative revenue through aggressive fundraising, expanded summer sessions and certificate programs for business executives, among other initiatives.
“The state is, of course, still an extraordinarily important partner,” Christ said, “yet we also have to be much more entrepreneurial and our own diversification and multiplication of sources of revenue in this campaign is an important piece of that strategy.”
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Increasing tenure-track faculty and top-flight graduate students is a pressing priority, campus officials said. The faculty, which includes more than 20 Nobel laureates, is the “definitive factor” that gives Berkeley its edge in shaping the next generation of leaders, Provost Paul Alivisatos said.
But, in the past five years, the number of tenure-track faculty has declined by 2% to 1,466 while the number of Berkeley undergraduates increased 14% to 29,010 last spring. As a result, classes have ballooned in size: Christ told regents in 2018 that the average size of lower-division engineering and computer science classes had increased from 65 in 2011-12 to 227 in 2016-17.
Another campaign priority is to provide 300 new graduate student fellowships to more than double the current level, to help Berkeley compete for the world’s brightest young researchers. With some 12,000 graduate students, Berkeley is one of the top five U.S. universities for granting doctoral degrees and has more than 110 advanced degree programs ranked in the top 10.
“We’re not losing our competitive edge in faculty recruitment and in graduate student recruitment,” Christ said, “but if we don’t keep pace, we might.”
Christ said Berkeley will aim to vastly increase funding for financial aid for more undergraduate scholarships. The university also wants to decrease the $10,000 a year UC students are expected to contribute to their education by working, for instance, or taking out loans. So far, the campaign has raised $236 million for student support and officials hope to double that by the 2023 completion date.
And officials are hoping to double the number of campus beds to provide affordable housing for freshmen, sophomores and first-year transfer students in one of the nation’s priciest housing markets.
“We are raising funds for our core needs and activities … for the heart and soul of the university and all that sets Berkeley apart from the crowd,” Christ said.
Berkeley is already halfway toward its goal, having raised $3.4 billion since it began the campaign’s “quiet phase” in January 2014. So far, nearly 169,000 donors — in every state and 121 other countries — have contributed more than 614,000 gifts.
The donations include Berkeley’s largest single gift ever — $252 million from an anonymous donor to provide core funding for a new home for the Division of Computing, Data Science and Society, the campus’ fastest growing areas of study. The “Data Hub” will bring together researchers to tackle challenges such as climate change, public health and criminal justice policy using machine learning, artificial intelligence and advanced statistics.
Another landmark gift of $50 million to Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources will help support initiatives to adapt to climate change, promote clean energy and improve food security. Part of the gift from former college dean Gordon Rausser will help establish an endowed chair in the college.
Other research areas targeted for expansion include health, democracy and equality, and innovation and entrepreneurship.


latimes--2020-02-29--Coronavirus fears in Los Angeles have people stockpiling dry goods and cleaning products

After the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China , Los Angeles resident Lily Capatori followed every news update about the disease and the efforts to contain it .
When it spread to other countries such as Japan , Italy and eventually , the United States , she concluded that an outbreak in Los Angeles was inevitable .
“ We ’ re going to have a lot of closures and casualties like in other countries , ” she said .
“ It ’ s not a matter of ‘ if ’ but ‘ when , ’ and I just want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and hit the shops , I ’ ll be ready to go.
” Three weeks ago , Capatori said she began stockpiling household necessities .
She purchased the last jug of hand sanitizer at a local drug store .
She ordered cleaning wipes , masks , two suits — for her and her 11-year-old daughter — goggles and gloves .
She has stocked up on food that will last her up to 3 months .
“ We ’ re competing against time , ” she said .
For weeks now , stores across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a surge in demand for health gear , shelf-stable food and other supplies as people try to protect themselves from the virus and stock up in case of quarantine or scarcity .
Some stores said the number of customers is similar to crowds seen during the Christmas holiday .
On Saturday , as Capatori was getting new tires installed on her vehicle at a Costco in Marina Del Rey , she decided to grab more items and noticed more customers than usual .
She saw many of them trying to stock up on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Capatori felt a sense of validation .
People she knew didn ’ t understand why she was even considering an emergency stockpile .
“ They thought I was crazy , but now I think it ’ s on everyone ’ s radar , ” she said .
At the store , she saw a woman with two carts filled with essentials like fruit jars , canned food , pasta , granola bars .
Walking around , she noticed that cases of water bottles were nearly out , and the toilet paper that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a moment she stopped to speak to Joel , a Costco employee .
“ What ’ s selling the most ?
” she asked him .
“ Anything that has to do with cleaning , ” he told her .
“ What are you out of ?
” Thad Kleszcz , general manager of Costco in Glendale , said for weeks he ’ s noticed an unusually high number of customers at the store , but it seemed to have increased Friday and Saturday , after it was announced that a Washington state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. to die from the coronavirus .
“ Antiseptic wipes and Clorox disinfecting wipes are flying out of here , ” he said .
“ We can ’ t keep those in stock.
” He said people are mostly purchasing water , paper goods , grains such as rice and pasta , jarred food and peanut butter .
He said Costco is doing everything it can to keep up with demand .

After the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China, Los Angeles resident Lily Capatori followed every news update about the disease and the efforts to contain it.
When it spread to other countries such as Japan, Italy and eventually, the United States, she concluded that an outbreak in Los Angeles was inevitable.
“We’re going to have a lot of closures and casualties like in other countries,” she said. “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when,’ and I just want to be ready because when people panic and hit the shops, I’ll be ready to go.”
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Three weeks ago, Capatori said she began stockpiling household necessities. She purchased the last jug of hand sanitizer at a local drug store. She ordered cleaning wipes, masks, two suits — for her and her 11-year-old daughter — goggles and gloves. She has stocked up on food that will last her up to 3 months.
“We’re competing against time,” she said.
For weeks now, stores across Southern California and nationwide have been experiencing a surge in demand for health gear, shelf-stable food and other supplies as people try to protect themselves from the virus and stock up in case of quarantine or scarcity. Some stores said the number of customers is similar to crowds seen during the Christmas holiday.
On Saturday, as Capatori was getting new tires installed on her vehicle at a Costco in Marina Del Rey, she decided to grab more items and noticed more customers than usual. She saw many of them trying to stock up on food, water and cleaning products.
Capatori felt a sense of validation. People she knew didn’t understand why she was even considering an emergency stockpile.
“They thought I was crazy, but now I think it’s on everyone’s radar,” she said.
At the store, she saw a woman with two carts filled with essentials like fruit jars, canned food, pasta, granola bars.
“She had everything,” Capatori said.
Walking around, she noticed that cases of water bottles were nearly out, and the toilet paper that is usually stacked high was gone. For a moment she stopped to speak to Joel, a Costco employee.
“What’s selling the most?” she asked him.
“Anything that has to do with cleaning,” he told her.
“What are you out of?”
“Toilet paper, water, towels,”
Thad Kleszcz, general manager of Costco in Atwater Village, said for weeks he’s noticed an unusually high number of customers at the store, but it seemed to have increased Friday and Saturday, after it was announced that a Washington state man had become the first person in the U.S. to die from the coronavirus.
“Antiseptic wipes and Clorox disinfecting wipes are flying out of here,” he said. “We can’t keep those in stock.”
He said people are mostly purchasing water, paper goods, grains such as rice and pasta, jarred food and peanut butter. He said Costco is doing everything it can to keep up with demand.


latimes--2020-02-29--Los Angeles County voters will encounter new ballot machines, other changes on Super Tuesday

On Tuesday , California voters will formally join 14 states , one territory and the passel of Democrats living abroad in national elections .
By stepping up to Super Tuesday , the delegate-rich , donor-abundant state is taking a stab at electoral relevance , and officials are both optimistic and guarded .
The chaotic and muddled results from the Iowa caucus still cast a long shadow over voter confidence .
Not since 2008 has a presidential primary fallen so early in California , but the change of date is just one of the many differences that Angelenos will encounter as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Los Angeles County officials recently completed a $ 300-million overhaul of the voting system , including expanding voting schedules , redesigning ballots and introducing 31,000 new machines used to mark them .
The most significant change , however , is a reduction in the number of precinct polling places from the last presidential primary , a change brought about by Los Angeles County agreeing to meet the requirements of a far-reaching state election law that swaps out neighborhood voting locations for regional “ vote centers.
” Nearly 3,500 neighborhood voting locations throughout the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — have been closed .
In Long Beach , for instance , there are 33 polling locations ; in the 2016 primary , there were 247 .
In Santa Clarita , 18 polling locations are open , as opposed to 92 four years ago .
Some voting advocates are worried that some voters might be confused by the closures and new locations .
L.A. elections officials have opened nearly 1,000 vote centers , more than were required when adopting the new state election plan .
One benefit to that new plan , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are no longer limited to one polling place and can cast their ballots throughout the county regardless of where they live .
Voters who live in Whittier , for example , would receive their Whittier ballot even if they went to a voting center in downtown Los Angeles .
“ There are no longer wrong places to vote in L.A. County , ” said Dean Logan , the registrar-recorder/county clerk , who has led the ambitious overhaul of the county system .
“ Every voting location is the right place to vote.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 22 , but the majority — 744 — opened their doors Saturday .
Elections officials note that given the size and scale of these openings , voters might experience delays at vote centers , and if one center is experiencing problems , they can visit another .
The Times has published an online guide to the county locations .
Voters have until March 3 to cast their ballot and are given a variety of election services .
If they have not registered , they can register on site .
They can switch their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a vote center to submit a mail-in ballot .
Most locations are familiar — schools , community buildings , parks and fire houses — but there are unexpected places , including the Sherman Oaks Galleria , the Hollywood Hotel , a youth center on Dockweiler Beach , a French restaurant in Santa Clarita and an auto dealership in Burbank .
The ballot machines have also changed .
They are touch-pad devices with 13 language options , audio headsets for voters with disabilities and an option to increase the size of the print .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , voters are given a paper ballot , keyed to their home address and the races in their city and district .
Once in the voting booth , they insert the paper ballot into the machine and register their votes on the touch screen .
When completed , the ballot is ejected , allowing voters to review their selections , and when finished , voters reinsert the ballot into the machine , which transfers it to a sealed ballot box .
County officials and voting rights advocates have been working hard to avoid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ options .
Los Angeles County has about 5.4 million registered voters , and roughly 3.4 million of them have been mailed a ballot .
More than 93,200 voters have cast their ballots , Logan said Saturday night , leaving as many as two-million voters without mail-in ballots until Tuesday at 7 p.m. More than 444,000 mail ballots have been returned .
County officials and voting rights advocates are watching closely to see how the vote centers perform .
Hundreds of public meetings and presentations were organized to help familiarize voters with the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few of the early voting centers , mostly for having failed to open on time or have all of their machines up and running .
Mathew Pauley , 59 , arrived at 8 a.m. last Saturday to cast his ballot inside the community room at the Sherman Oaks Mall .
Poll workers were still setting up the equipment , so Pauley returned later that morning .
He was confident in the new system .
“ This was the first time since I was 18 that I really felt that my vote was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I was surprised with the system .
It was great .
”

On Tuesday, California voters will formally join 14 states, one territory and the passel of Democrats living abroad in national elections.
By stepping up to Super Tuesday, the delegate-rich, donor-abundant state is taking a stab at electoral relevance, and officials are both optimistic and guarded. The chaotic and muddled results from the Iowa caucus still cast a long shadow over voter confidence.
Not since 2008 has a presidential primary fallen so early in California, but the change of date is just one of the many differences that Angelenos will encounter as they prepare to cast their ballots.
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Los Angeles County officials recently completed a $300-million overhaul of the voting system, including expanding voting schedules, redesigning ballots and introducing 31,000 new machines used to mark them.
The most significant change, however, is a reduction in the number of precinct polling places from the last presidential primary, a change brought about by Los Angeles County agreeing to meet the requirements of a far-reaching state election law that swaps out neighborhood voting locations for regional “vote centers.”
Nearly 3,500 neighborhood voting locations throughout the county — familiar destinations for long-time voters — have been closed. In Long Beach, for instance, there are 33 polling locations; in the 2016 primary, there were 247. In Santa Clarita, 18 polling locations are open, as opposed to 92 four years ago.
Some voting advocates are worried that some voters might be confused by the closures and new locations.
L.A. elections officials have opened nearly 1,000 vote centers, more than were required when adopting the new state election plan. One benefit to that new plan, according to supporters, is that county residents are no longer limited to one polling place and can cast their ballots throughout the county regardless of where they live.
Voters who live in Whittier, for example, would receive their Whittier ballot even if they went to a voting center in downtown Los Angeles.
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“There are no longer wrong places to vote in L.A. County,” said Dean Logan, the registrar-recorder/county clerk, who has led the ambitious overhaul of the county system. “Every voting location is the right place to vote.”
Some centers opened as early as Feb. 22, but the majority — 744 — opened their doors Saturday.
Elections officials note that given the size and scale of these openings, voters might experience delays at vote centers, and if one center is experiencing problems, they can visit another.
The Times has published an online guide to the county locations.
Voters have until March 3 to cast their ballot and are given a variety of election services. If they have not registered, they can register on site. They can switch their party designation, and they can visit a vote center to submit a mail-in ballot.
Most locations are familiar — schools, community buildings, parks and fire houses — but there are unexpected places, including the Sherman Oaks Galleria, the Hollywood Hotel, a youth center on Dockweiler Beach, a French restaurant in Santa Clarita and an auto dealership in Burbank.
The ballot machines have also changed. They are touch-pad devices with 13 language options, audio headsets for voters with disabilities and an option to increase the size of the print.
Upon signing in at a vote center, voters are given a paper ballot, keyed to their home address and the races in their city and district.
Once in the voting booth, they insert the paper ballot into the machine and register their votes on the touch screen. When completed, the ballot is ejected, allowing voters to review their selections, and when finished, voters reinsert the ballot into the machine, which transfers it to a sealed ballot box.
County officials and voting rights advocates have been working hard to avoid confusion and ensure the public understands their options. Los Angeles County has about 5.4 million registered voters, and roughly 3.4 million of them have been mailed a ballot.
More than 93,200 voters have cast their ballots, Logan said Saturday night, leaving as many as two-million voters without mail-in ballots until Tuesday at 7 p.m. More than 444,000 mail ballots have been returned.
County officials and voting rights advocates are watching closely to see how the vote centers perform. Hundreds of public meetings and presentations were organized to help familiarize voters with the new system.
Scattered complaints have arisen at a few of the early voting centers, mostly for having failed to open on time or have all of their machines up and running.
Mathew Pauley, 59, arrived at 8 a.m. last Saturday to cast his ballot inside the community room at the Sherman Oaks Mall. Poll workers were still setting up the equipment, so Pauley returned later that morning. He was confident in the new system.
“This was the first time since I was 18 that I really felt that my vote was counted,” he said. “I was surprised with the system. It was great.”
Times staff writer Matt Stiles contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-02-29--At least three injured in explosion and fire in industrial area of downtown Los Angeles

At least three people were injured Saturday following an explosion and fire in an industrial area of downtown , fire @ @ @ @ @ occurred in a building in the 700 block of South Kohler Street around noon , @ @ @ @ @ smoke several hundred feet in the air , according to the Los Angeles Fire Department @ @ @ @ @ as 50-feet-by-100-feet .
The condition of those injured was not immediately available .
More than @ @ @ @ @ scene .

At least three people were injured Saturday following an explosion and fire in an industrial area of downtown, fire officials said.
The explosion occurred in a building in the 700 block of South Kohler Street around noon, sending a plume of black smoke several hundred feet in the air, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The building was described as 50-feet-by-100-feet.
The condition of those injured was not immediately available.
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More than 130 firefighters responded to the scene.