A similar story: Admiral Hyman Rickover, the "father of the nuclear Navy," interviewed every single officer and candidate who wanted to become a nuke, because h

A similar story: Admiral Hyman Rickover, the "father of the nuclear Navy," interviewed every single officer and candidate who wanted to become a nuke, because he'd promised Congress that he'd do so. Rickover-interview stories are legendary in the nuke Navy. (Nearly 50 years later I can still practically recite my own rather-uncomfortable interview with the "KOG" [Kindly Old Gentleman]; someday I should write it up.) One famous Rickover-interview story is that the admiral would sometimes take the prospect out to lunch in the Crystal City cafeteria — if the prospect salted his food (yes, back then it was his food) before tasting it, then that disqualified the prospect. Of course, there was always an exception: Another story is that one prospect did indeed salt his food before tasting it, and Rickover immediately told him he wouldn't be accepted into The Program. The prospect responded: Admiral, I work in this building, I eat lunch here every day, I know exactly how they season this dish. According to the story, that changed Rickover's mind; he let the prospect into The Program, in part because the prospect was willing to correct a superior who didn't have all the relevant information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_G._Rickover