Ayn_rand

Rand continued to write short stories and screenplays. She entered the State Institute for Cinema Arts in 1924 to study screenwriting; in late 1925, however, she was granted a visa to visit American relatives.

Immigration and marriage

In February 1926, she arrived in the United States at the age of 21, entering by ship through New York City, which would ultimately become her home. She was profoundly moved by the city\'s skyline, later describing it in one of her novels, The Fountainhead: "I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York\'s skyline, the sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body."Miller, Eric "City of Life: Ayn Rand\'s New York." (2006-03-23).

After a brief stay with her relatives in Chicago, she resolved never to return to the Soviet Union, and set out for Hollywood to become a screenwriter. Already using Rand as a Cyrillic contraction of her surname, she then adopted the name Ayn, of disputed origin.Possibly the contraction of the the last three letters of her surname in handwritten Cyrillic which strongly resemble the three Roman letters a.y.n. ARI Biographical researcher Drs. Gotthelf and Berliner note that while still in Russia, Anna used the name "Rand", which is a Cyrillic contraction of Rosenbaum. They also note a hypothesis about a Finnish origin of Ayn. "What is the origin of "Rand"?". Retrieved on 2006-03-28.

Initially, Rand struggled in Hollywood and took odd jobs to pay her basic living expenses. A chance face-to-face meeting with famed director Cecil B. DeMille led to a job as an extra in his film The King of Kings, and subsequent work as a script reader."Ayn Rand Biography". Retrieved on 2006-03-23. at AynRand.org She also worked as the head of the costume department at RKO Studios. Leiendecker, Harold. "Atlas Shrugged.". Retrieved on 2006-03-30. While working on the film, she intentionally bumped into an aspiring young actor, Frank O\'Connor, who caught her eye. The two married on April 15, 1929, and remained married for fifty years, until O\'Connor\'s death in 1979 at the age of 82. In 1931, Rand became a naturalized American citizen; she was fiercely proud of the United States, and in later years said to the graduating class at West Point, "I can say—not as a patriotic bromide, but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political and aesthetic roots—that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world." Rand, Ayn. "Philosophy: Who Needs It?". Retrieved on 2006-03-31. Address to the Graduating Class Of The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York - March 6, 1974.

Fiction

Rand viewed herself equally as a novelist and a philosopher, as she said "(I am) both, and for the same reason."^{[citation needed]} Rand\'s supporters note that she is part of a long tradition of authors who wrote philosophically rich fiction—including Dante, John Milton, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Albert Camus, and that philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre presented their philosophies in both fictional and non-fictional forms.

In an article about Rand that appeared in The Economist in 1991, it is stated that "Rand’s novels sell some 300,000 copies a year, exhorting readers to think big about themselves, build big and earn big. New editions of all her books carry postcards for readers who might be inclined to learn more about Objectivism, the author’s credo, a blending of free markets, reason and individualism."Still Spouting," The Economist, November 25, 1999

Early works

Her first literary success came with the sale of her screenplay Red Pawn in 1932 to Universal Studios: "Von Sternberg later considered it for Dietrich, but Russian scenarios were out of favour and the project was dropped."Turner, Jenny. "As Astonishing as Elvis" (2006-03-24). Review of Jeff Briting\'s biography, Ayn Rand. Rand then wrote the play The Night of January 16th in 1934, which was produced on Broadway. The play was a courtroom drama in which a jury chosen from the audience decided the verdict, leading to one of two possible endings. "A Sense of Life" homepage.

Rand then published the novel, We the Living in 1936. "Rand described We the Living as the most autobiographical of her novels, its theme being the brutality of life under communist rule in Russia." "Ayn Rand" (2006-03023). at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Its harsh anti-communist tone met with mixed reviews in the U.S., where the period of The Great Depression was sometimes known as "The Red Decade" in reference to the high-water mark of sympathy for socialist ideals. Stephen Cox, at The Objectivist Center, observed that We the Living "was published at the height of Russian socialism\'s popularity among leaders of American opinion. It failed to attract an audience."Cox, Stephen. "Anthem: An appreciation.". Retrieved on 2006-03-24.

Frank O\'Connor and Ayn Rand spent the summer of 1937 in Stony Creek, Connecticut, while Frank worked in summer stock theatre, and Ayn planned the novella Anthem, a dystopian vision of a futuristic society where collectivism has triumphed. Anthem did not find a publisher in the United States and was first published in England in 1938.

The Fountainhead

Main article: The Fountainhead

Rand\'s first major professional success came with her best-selling novel The Fountainhead (1943), which she wrote over a period of seven years.

The Broadway Hollywood department store on Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood has a moderne style annex just to the west of it built in the 1930\'s. The building of that addition was viewed by a young Ayn Rand and became the basis of her research on construction techniques and workers found within her novel. Architect Richard Neutra, who designed the international styled Laemmle Building (1932) across Hollywood Boulevard to the north, is said to be the man on which she modelled Howard Roark, her lead character.

The novel was rejected by twelve publishers. It was finally accepted by the Bobbs-Merrill Company publishing house, thanks mainly to a member of the editorial board, Archibald Ogden, who praised the book in the highest terms ("If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you.") and finally prevailed. Cato Institute, "The Fountainhead". Retrieved on 2006-03-30. Eventually, The Fountainhead was a worldwide success, bringing Rand fame and financial security.

In 1949 it was made into a major motion picture by Warner Brothers with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal; Rand wrote the screenplay. In the sixty years since it was published, Rand\'s novel has sold six million copies, and continues to sell about 100,000 copies per year.

Following the success of The Fountainhead, Rand wrote screenplays for two movies, Love Letters and You Came Along.

Atlas Shrugged

Main article: Atlas Shrugged

"Atlas," the largest sculptural work at Rockefeller Center in New York City, by Lee Lawrie and Rene Chambellan, in the Art Deco style. (1936)

Atlas Shrugged contains Rand\'s most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction. In its appendix, she offered this summary:

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."

The theme of Atlas Shrugged is "The role of man\'s mind in society." Rand upheld the industrialist as one of the most admirable members of society and fiercely opposed the resentment popularly accorded to industrialists. This led her to envision a novel wherein the industrialists of America go on strike and retreat to a mountainous hideaway, where they build an independent free economy with gold currency. The American economy and its society in general, deprived of its most productive members, slowly start to collapse, while the government responds by increasing the already stifling controls on industry.

The novel, which includes elements of mystery and science fiction, deals with other diverse issues as wide-ranging as sex, music, medicine, politics, philosophy, industry, and human ability.

Objectivism: Ayn Rand\'s philosophical system

Main article: Objectivism (Ayn Rand)

Rand\'s philosophical system, Objectivism, encompasses positions on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics and aesthetics. While there have been "objectivist" theories in the past, Rand\'s Objectivism uses the term in a new way: it treats knowledge and values as neither subjective, nor intrinsic in existence (the traditional meaning of "objective") but rather as the factual identification, by Man\'s mind, of what exists.

Philosophical influences

Rand was greatly influenced by Aristotle, found early inspiration in Nietzsche, and was vociferously opposed to some of the views of Kant. She also had an intellectual kinship with John Locke, who conceptualized the ideas that individuals "own themselves," have a right to the products of their own labor, and have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, "What is objectivism?". Retrieved on 2006-04-10.. Refers to a Leonard Peikoff lecture describing the connection between Rand and John Locke\'s Two Treatises of Government (1689). and more generally with the philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. She occasionally reported her approval of specific philosophical positions, including some of Baruch Spinoza and St. Thomas Aquinas. She also respected the 20th-century American rationalist Brand Blanshard, who, like Rand, believed that "there has been no period in the past two thousand years when [both reason and rationality] have undergone a bombardment so varied, so competent, so massive and sustained as in the last half-century." Branden, Nathaniel. "Review of Reason and Analysis". Retrieved on 2006-04-10. A review of Blanshard\'s book, originally published in The Objectivist Newsletter, February 1963.

Aristotle

Rand\'s greatest influence was Aristotle, especially Organon ("Logic"); she considered Aristotle the greatest philosopher.Long, Roderick T. "Ayn Rand\'s contribution to the cause of freedom." (2006-03-23).: "Rand always firmly insisted that Aristotle was the greatest and that Thomas Aquinas was the second greatest—her own atheism notwithstanding." In particular, her philosophy reflects an Aristotelian epistemology and metaphysics—both Aristotle and Rand argued that "there exists an objective reality that is independent of mind and that is capable of being known." Sternberg, Elaine. "Why Ayn Rand Matters: Metaphysics, Morals, and Liberty.. Retrieved on 2006-04-02. Although Rand was ultimately critical of Aristotle\'s ethics, others have noted her egoistic ethics "is of the eudemonistic type, close to Aristotle\'s own … a system of guidelines required by human beings to live their lives successfully, to flourish, to survive as \'man qua man.\'" Machan, Tibor. "Cooper on Rand & Aristotle.". Retrieved on 2006-04-02. Younkins argued "that her philosophy diverges from Aristotle’s by considering essences as epistemological and contextual instead of as metaphysical. She envisions Aristotle as a philosophical intuitivist who declared the existence of essences within concretes." Younkins, Edward W. "Aristotle: Ayn Rand\'s Acknowledged Teacher". Retrieved on 2006-04-03..

Nietzsche

In her early life, Rand admired the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, and did share "Nietzsche\'s reverence for human potential and his loathing of Christianity and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant," Hicks, Stephen. "Big Game, Small Gun?". Retrieved on 2006-03-30. A review of Ronald E. Merrill\'s The Ideas of Ayn Rand. but eventually became critical, seeing his philosophy as emphasizing emotion over reason and a subjective interpretation of reality rather than reality existing independently from the self. There is debate about the extent of the relationship between Rand\'s views and Nietzsche\'s, and over what seemed to be an evolution of Rand\'s view of Nietzsche. Allan Gotthelf, in On Ayn Rand, describes the first edition of We the Living as very sympathetic to Nietzschean ideas. Bjorn Faulkner and Karen Andre, characters from The Night of January 16th, exemplify certain aspects of Nietzsche\'s views. Ronald Merrill, author of The Ideas of Ayn Rand identified a passage in We the Living that Rand had omitted from the 1959 reprint: "In it, the heroine entertains (though finally rejects) sentiments explicitly attributed to Nietzsche about the justice of sacrificing the weak for the strong." McLemee, Scott. "The Heirs of Ayn Rand.". Retrieved on 2006-04-03. originally in Lingua Franca, September 1999. Rand herself denied a close intellectual relationship with Nietzsche and characterized changes in later editions of We the Living as stylistic and grammatical.

The destruction of Gail Wynand in The Fountainhead is an example of her later view, a rejection of Nietzsche, that the great cannot succeed by sacrificing the masses: "her [1934] journals suggest a rejection of traditional false-alternative ethics. Her May 15 entry, for example, identifies the error of Nietzscheans such as Gail Wynand: in trying to achieve power, they use the masses, but at the cost of their ideals and standards, and thus become \'a slave to those masses.\' The independent man, therefore, will not make his success dependent upon the masses." Although Rand disagreed with many of Nietzsche\'s ideas, the introduction to the 25th anniversary edition of The Fountainhead concludes with Nietzsche\'s statement, "The noble soul has reverence for itself."

Kant

See also: Critique of Pure Reason

Rand was deeply opposed to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Although Rand disagreed strongly with Kant on almost every philosophical issue, their divergence is greatest in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. In regard to Kant\'s essential philosophy, his metaphysics and epistemology, she had this to say:

The "phenomenal" world, said Kant, is not real: reality, as perceived by man\'s mind, is a distortion. The distorting mechanism is man\'s conceptual faculty: man\'s basic concepts (such as time, space, existence) are not derived from experience or reality, but come from an automatic system of filters in his consciousness (labeled "categories" and "forms of perception") which impose their own design on his perception of the external world and make him incapable of perceiving it in any manner other than the one in which he does perceive it. This proves, said Kant, that man\'s concepts are only a delusion, but a collective delusion which no one has the power to escape. Thus reason and science are "limited," said Kant; they are valid only so long as they deal with this world, with a permanent, pre-determined collective delusion (and thus the criterion of reason\'s validity was switched from the objective to the collective), but they are impotent to deal with the fundamental, metaphysical issues of existence, which belong to the "noumenal" world. The "noumenal" world is unknowable; it is the world of "real" reality, "superior" truth and "things in themselves" or "things as they are"—which means: things as they are not perceived by man.

Even apart from the fact that Kant\'s theory of the "categories" as the source of man\'s concepts was a preposterous invention, his argument amounted to a negation, not only of man\'s consciousness, but of any consciousness, of consciousness as such. His argument, in essence, ran as follows: man is limited to a consciousness of a specific nature, which perceives by specific means and no others, therefore, his consciousness is not valid; man is blind, because he has eyes—deaf, because he has ears—deluded, because he has a mind—and the things he perceives do not exist, because he perceives them.http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/kant.html

On the contrary, Rand believed that man can have full, direct awareness of reality. In Rand\'s view, Kant\'s dichotomy severed rationality and reason from the real world.

In ethics, Rand criticized Kant for claiming that an action only has moral worth if it is done out of duty, a concept which, according to Rand, was an outgrowth of mysticism and had no basis in reality. She also strongly disagreed with Kant\'s notion that morality has nothing to do with happiness.

"As to Kant\'s version of morality, it was appropriate to the kind of zombies that would inhabit that kind of [Kantian] universe: it consisted of total, abject selflessness. An action is moral, said Kant, only if one has no desire to perform it, but performs it out of a sense of duty and derives no benefit from it of any sort, neither material nor spiritual; a benefit destroys the moral value of an action. (Thus, if one has no desire to be evil, one cannot be good; if one has, one can.)"http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/kant.html

In Rand\'s words,

In the final issue of The Objectivist, she further wrote,

"You may also find it hard to believe that anyone could advocate the things Kant is advocating. If you doubt it, I suggest that you look up the references given and read the original works. Do not seek to escape the subject by thinking: "Oh, Kant didn\'t mean it!" He did … Kant is the most evil man in mankind\'s history."http://www.aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/kant.html

Objectivist movement

Main article: Objectivist movement

In 1950 Rand moved to 120 East 34th Street Branden, Nathaniel. "Devers Branden and Ayn Rand.". Retrieved on 2006-04-06. in New York City, and formed a group (jokingly designated "The Collective") which included future Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, a young psychology student named Nathan Blumenthal (later Nathaniel Branden) and his wife Barbara, and Leonard Peikoff, all of whom had been profoundly influenced by The Fountainhead. According to Branden, "I wrote Miss Rand a letter in 1949 … [and] I was invited to her home for a personal meeting in March, 1950, a month before I turned twenty."Nathaniel Branden discusses his relationship with Rand. (2006-03-23). Rand launched the Objectivist movement with this group to promote her philosophy.

The group originally started out as informal gathering of friends who met with Rand on weekends at her apartment to discuss philosophy; later the Collective would proceed to play a larger, more formal role, helping edit Atlas Shrugged and promoting Rand\'s philosophy through the Nathaniel Branden Institute (NBI), established by him for that purpose. Many Collective members gave lectures at the NBI and in cities across the United States, while others wrote articles for its sister newsletter, The Objectivist.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rand developed and promoted her Objectivist philosophy through both her fiction and non-fiction works, and by giving talks at several east-coast universities, largely through the NBI: "The Objectivist Newsletter, later expanded and renamed simply The Objectivist, contained essays by Rand, Branden, and other associates … that analyzed current political events and applied the principles of Objectivism to everyday life." Rand later published some of these in book form.

After several years, Rand\'s close relationship with the much younger Branden turned into a romantic affair, with the consent of their spouses. It lasted until Branden (having separated from Barbara) entered into an affair with the young actress Patrecia Scott, whom he later married. The Brandens hid the affair from Rand, and when she found out, she abruptly ended her relationship with both Brandens and with the NBI, which closed. She published a letter in The Objectivist repudiating Branden for dishonesty and "irrational behavior",Rand, Ayn. To whom it may concern. The Objectivist, v. 7, no. 5, pp. 1-8, New York 1968. never disclosing their affair. Both Brandens remain personae non gratae to the mainline Objectivist movement, particularly the group that formed the Ayn Rand Institute.

Political and social views

Rand held that the only moral social system is laissez-faire capitalism. Her political views were strongly individualist and hence anti-statist and anti-Communist. She exalted what she saw as the heroic American values of rational egoism and individualism. As a champion of rationality, Rand also had a strong opposition to mysticism and religion, which she believed helped foster a crippling culture acting against individual human happiness and success. Rand detested many prominent liberal and conservative politicians of her time, including prominent anti-Communists, such as Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, Hubert Humphrey, and Joseph McCarthy. She opposed US involvement in World War I, World War II, "Ayn Rand on WWII". Retrieved on 2006-04-07. Excerpts from Rand\'s writing, cited at the ARI Watch website. and the Korean War, although she also strongly denounced pacifism: "When a nation resorts to war, it has some purpose, rightly or wrongly, something to fight for—and the only justifiable purpose is self-defense." "Honoring Virtue". Retrieved on 2006-04-06. at the ARI website. She opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, "If you want to see the ultimate, suicidal extreme of altruism, on an international scale, observe the war in Vietnam—a war in which American soldiers are dying for no purpose whatever," but also felt that unilateral American withdrawal would be a mistake of appeasement that would embolden communists and the Soviet Union. She said also that she considered the anti-Communist John Birch Society "futile, because they are not for capitalism but merely against communism."who was Ayn Rand? - a biography, Playboy interview, 1964

Rand supported Israel during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which she saw as an attack on a government that supported individual rights: "The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it\'s the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are."Ayn Rand Ford Hall Forum lecture, 1974, text published on the website of The Ayn Rand Institute [1]

Rand is considered one of the three founding mothers (along with Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson) of modern American libertarianism, although she rejected Libertarianism and the Libertarian movement. "Three Women Who Inspired the Modern Libertarian Movement". Retrieved on 2008-01-17.

Economics

She expressed qualified enthusiasm for the economic thought of Ludwig von Mises and Henry Hazlitt. The Ludwig von Mises Institute says that "it was largely as a result of Ayn\'s efforts that the work of von Mises began to reach its potential audience."Long, Roderick T. "Ayn Rand\'s Contributions to the Cause of Freedom.". Retrieved on 2006-03-26. Long also cites Barbara Branden\'s The Passion of Ayn Rand as the source for this claim. Later Objectivists, such as Richard Salsman, have claimed that Rand\'s economic theories are implicitly more supportive of the doctrines of Jean-Baptiste Say, though Rand herself was likely not acquainted with his work.

Gender, sex, and race

See also: Objectivism, Ayn Rand, and homosexuality

Rand\'s views on gender roles have created some controversy. While her books championed men and women as intellectual equals (for example, Dagny Taggart—the protagonist of Atlas Shrugged—was a hands-on railroad executive), she thought that the differences in the physiology of men and women led to fundamental psychological differences that were the source of gender roles. Rand denied endorsing any kind of power difference between men and women, stating that metaphysical dominance in sexual relations refers to the man\'s role as the prime mover in sex and the necessity of male arousal for sex to occur.Rand, Ayn. Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q and A, (2006) ISBN 0451216652 According to Rand, "For a woman qua woman, the essence of femininity is hero-worship—the desire to look up to man." (1968)

Rand\'s theory of sex is implied by her broader ethical and psychological theories. Far from being a debasing animal instinct, she believed that sex is the highest celebration of our greatest values. Sex is a physical response to intellectual and spiritual values—a mechanism for giving concrete expression to values that could otherwise only be experienced in the abstract. In Atlas Shrugged, one of the heroes says "Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself."Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged, p453

In a McCall\'s magazine interview, Rand stated that while women are competent to be President, no rational woman should seek that position; she later explained that it would be psychologically damaging to the woman.Rand, Ayn (1968). "An Answer to Readers (about a Woman President)". The Objectivist 7 (12).  She strongly opposed the modern feminist movement, despite supporting some of its goals.Rand, Ayn. The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, (1993) ISBN 0-452-01125-6 Feminist author Susan Brownmiller called Rand "a traitor to her own sex," while others, including Camille Paglia and the contributors to 1999\'s Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand, have noted Rand\'s "fiercely independent—and unapologetically sexual" heroines who are unbound by "tradition\'s chains … [and] who had sex because they wanted to."

"the sex in Rand’s novels is extraordinarily violent and fetishistic. In The Fountainhead, the first coupling of the heroes, heralded by whips and rock drills and horseback riding and cracks in marble, is ‘an act of scorn … not as love, but as defilement’—in other words, a rape. (‘The act of a master taking shameful, contemptuous possession of her was the kind of rapture she had wanted.’ In Atlas Shrugged, erotic tension is cleverly increased by having one heroine bound into a plot with lots of spectacularly cruel and handsome men.)

Another source of controversy is Rand\'s view of homosexuality. According to remarks at the Ford Hall Forum at Northeastern University in 1971, Rand\'s personal view was that homosexuality is "immoral" and "disgusting." Ford Hall forum remarks, cited in "Ayn Rand Biographical FAQ: Ayn Rand and Homosexuality". Retrieved on 2006-03-24. Specifically, she stated that "there is a psychological immorality at the root of homosexuality" because "it involves psychological flaws, corruptions, errors, or unfortunate premises."Notes, The Ayn Rand Biographical FAQ. Retrieved on 2006-03-24. A number of noted current and former Objectivists have been highly critical of Rand for her views on homosexuality.Varnell, Paul. "Ayn Rand and Homosexuality". Retrieved on 2007-10-06. at the Indegay Forum, originally published in the Chicago Free Press Dec. 3, 2003. Others, such as Kurt Keefner, have argued that "Rand’s views were in line with the views at the time of the general public and the psychiatric community," though he asserts that "she never provided the slightest argument for her position, … because she regarded the matter as self-evident, like the woman president issue" Keefner, Kurt. "Sciabarra on Ayn Rand and Homosexuality" (2006-03-24). A review of Chris Matthew Sciabarra’s Ayn Rand, Homosexuality, and Human Liberation (2003, Leap Publishing) although in her article "About a Woman President" Rand said that that issue was not self-evident.

In the same appearance, Rand noted, "I do not believe that the government has the right to prohibit homosexual behavior. It is the privilege of any individual to use his sex life in whichever way he wants it."

Rand defended the right of businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, race, or any other criteria. Rand argued that no one\'s rights are violated by a private individual\'s or organization\'s refusal to deal with him, even if the reason is irrational.

Rand opposed ethnic and racial prejudice on moral grounds, in essays like "Racism" and "Global Balkanization," while still arguing for the right of individuals and businesses to act on such prejudice without government intervention. She wrote, "Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism … [the notion] that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors," Rand, Ayn. "Racism," in Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution ISBN 0-452-01184-1, p. 179, at The Ayn Rand Institute. Retrieved on 2006-03-31. but also opposed governmental remedies for this problem: "Private racism is not a legal, but a moral issue—and can be fought only by private means, such as economic boycott or social ostracism." "Racism," in Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, p. 182

HUAC testimony

In 1947, during the Second Red Scare, Rand testified as a "friendly witness" before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.(transcript here) Her testimony regarded the disparity between her personal experiences in the Soviet Union and the fanciful portrayal of it in the 1943 film Song of Russia. Rand argued that the film grossly misrepresented the socioeconomic conditions in the Soviet Union and portrayed life in the USSR as being much better than it actually was. Furthermore, she believed that even if a temporary alliance with the USSR was necessary to defeat the Nazis, the case for this should not have been made by portraying what she believed were falsely positive images of Soviet life:

"If we had good reason, if that is what you believe, all right, then why not tell the truth? Say it is a dictatorship, but we want to be associated with it. Say it is worthwhile being associated with the devil, as Churchill said, in order to defeat another evil which is Hitler. There might be some good argument made for that. But why pretend that Russia was not what it was?"Rand\'s HUAC testimony, cited at The Objectivism Reference Center. Retrieved on 2006-04-07.

After the hearings, when Rand was asked about her feelings on the effectiveness of their investigations, she described the process as "futile".

Charity

Rand supported, in principle, the right to give charity but opposed the notion that it was a moral duty, and she did not consider it a major virtue.The Ayn Rand Institute: FAQ She opposed all charity and social programs by the government. According to Cathy Young, her characterization of charity in her fiction was chiefly negative.Reason Magazine—Ayn Rand at 100

Later years

Visiting lecturer

Rand was a visiting lecturer at several universities, beginning in 1960 when she talked at Yale University, Princeton University and Columbia University. In subsequent years, she went on to lecture at University of Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and MIT.Ayn Rand\'s Bibliography "Ayn Rand\'s Bibliography". Retrieved on 2006-10-22. She received an honorary doctorate from Lewis & Clark College in 1963."Timeline of Ayn Rand\'s Life and Career". Retrieved on 2007-04-24.

For many years, she gave an annual lecture at the Ford Hall Forum, answering questions from the audience afterward.

Declining health and death

Grave marker of Frank O\'Connor and Ayn Rand.

Rand underwent surgery for lung cancer in 1974, and conflicts continued in the wake of the break with Branden and the subsequent collapse of the NBI. Many of her closest "Collective" friends parted company, and during the late 1970s her activities within the Objectivist movement declined, especially after the death of her husband on November 9, 1979. ARI, "Timeline of Ayn Rand\'s Life and Career.". Retrieved on 2006-04-06. One of her final projects was work on a television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. She had also planned to write another novel, To Lorne Dieterling, but did not get far in her notes.Rand, Ayn. Journals of Ayn Rand. Dutton (1997).  Edited by David Harriman. p.697.

Rand died of heart failure on March 6, 1982 at her 34th Street home in New York City, Saxon, Wolfgang. "Ayn Rand, \'Fountainhead\' Author, Dies.". Retrieved on 2008-02-02. The New York Times, March 7, 1982. years after having successfully battled cancer, and was interred in the Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York. David Kelley read Kipling\'s poem "If—" at her graveside.Navigator, December, 2004 Rand\'s funeral was attended by some of her prominent followers, including Alan Greenspan. A six-foot floral arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign was placed near her casket.

Legacy

A quote from Rand, featured in an American Adventure exhibit in the Epcot Centre, Walt Disney World.

Rand\'s books continue to be widely sold and read, with more than 22 million copies sold (as of 2005), and 500,000 more being sold each year.Cato: Ayn Rand at 100, "Cato: Ayn Rand at 100". Retrieved on 2006-04-23. Rand and Objectivism are less well known outside North America, although there are pockets of interest in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Her novels are reported to be popular in IndiaThe Atlas Society, "Celebrity Ayn Rand Fans". Retrieved on 2006-03-24. and Turkey (where filmmaker Sinan Çetin publishes her works) and to be gaining an increasingly wider audience in Africa. She also enjoyed some popularity in Israel, through the early work of Moshe Kroy. Generally, Rand\'s work has had little effect on academic philosophy; her followers have been largely drawn from other professions. The Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship offers resources to study Objectivism at The University of Texas at Austin, Ashland University in Ohio, and the University of Pittsburgh. At the University of Pittsburgh, professors James Lennox and Allan Gotthelf head the research. Both scholars are renowned for their illuminations of Aristotle\'s writings. Duke University\'s professor Gary Hull is a member of the Ayn Rand Institute and has lectured courses incorporating Objectivist literature and discussion. Professor Allan Gotthelf also points to certain modern trends in academic philosophy which make philosophers more receptive to Objectivist ideas. Chief among them are the notions of essence and concept as epistemological developments in virtue theory ethics, and current projects in normative philosophies of science and logic. Following Rand\'s death, continued conflict within the Objectivist movement led to establishment of independent organizations claiming to be her intellectual heirs.

Ayn Rand Institute

Main article: Ayn Rand Institute

In 1985, Leonard Peikoff, a surviving member of "The Collective" and Ayn Rand\'s designated heir, established "The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism" (ARI). The Institute has since registered the name "Ayn Rand." The Ayn Rand Institute "works to introduce young people to Ayn Rand\'s novels, to support scholarship and research based on her ideas, and to promote the principles of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the widest possible audience."

The Objectivist Center and The Atlas Society

Main article: The Atlas Society

Another schism in the movement occurred in 1989, when Objectivist David Kelley wrote "A Question of Sanction," in which he defended his choice to speak to non-Objectivist libertarian groups: "It was a response to an article by Peter Schwartz in The Intellectual Activist, demanding that those who speak to libertarians be ostracized from the movement...[I] observed that Objectivism is not a closed system of belief; and that we might actually learn something by talking to people we disagree with." Kelley\'s description of the reasons behind the break is disputed by the Ayn Rand Institute.Kelley, David. "Introduction to \'The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand\'". Retrieved on 2006-03-24. Peikoff, in an article for The Intellectual Activist called "Fact and Value" argued that Objectivism is, indeed, a closed system, and that truth and morality are directly related.Peikoff, Leonard. "Fact and Value.". Retrieved on 2006-03-24. Peikoff expelled Kelley from his organization, whereupon Kelley founded The Institute for Objectivist Studies, now known as The Atlas Society, which has its own web site that is focused on attracting readers of Ayn Rand\'s fiction, downplaying her role as a philosopher. The associated Objectivist Center division deals with more academic ventures. The Atlas Society/Objectivist Center also publishes The New Individualist (formerly Navigator), the first magazine in the U.S. to feature one of the Mohammad cartoons on the cover.

Popular interest and influence

The Fountainhead Cafe, a coffee shop in New York City inspired by Objectivism. The sign reads "Eat Objectively, Live Rich".

Rand\'s books continue to sell in large numbers;David Boaz. Ayn Rand at 100. Retrieved on 2008-02-01. for example, Atlas Shrugged is consistently in the top few hundred best sellers at Amazon.com.Amazon.com. Atlas Shrugged (Paperback). Retrieved on 2008-02-01. When asked in a 1991 survey by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club what the most influential book in the respondent\'s life was, Rand\'s Atlas Shrugged was the second most popular choice, after the Bible.Fein, Esther B (November 20, 1991). Book Notes. The New York Times. Readers polled in 1998 and 1999 by Modern Library placed four of her books on the 100 Best Novels list (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Anthem, and We the Living were in first, second, seventh, and eighth place, respectively) and one on the 100 Best Nonfiction list (The Virtue of Selfishness, in first place), with books about Rand and her philosophy in third and sixth place."The Modern Library: 100 Best" (2007-11-02). A Freestar Media/Zogby poll conducted in 2007 found that around 8 percent of American adults have read Atlas Shrugged."Zogby Poll: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Read by 8.1%" (October 17, 2007). However, the validity of such polls has been disputed.Literature and Millennial Lists. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.Richard Lawrence. Atlas Shrugged FAQ: 6.4 Is it true that Atlas Shrugged is the second most influential book ever written?. Retrieved on 2008-02-01. Observes that the Modern Library poll did not conduct random sampling and allowed voting multiple times.The Zogby poll result can be checked by simple arithmetic: Roughly 8 million copies of Atlas Shrugged had been sold in America by that time; there are around 200 million adult Americans who might be considered the sample space; if 2 people read each copy (fewer than for most magazines), then 8% is the right fraction.

Many individuals have acknowledged that Rand significantly influenced their lives, including: Harry Binswanger, Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Sinan Çetin, Roy A. Childs, James Clavell, Edward Cline, Chris Cox, Mark Cuban, Paul DePodesta, Steve Ditko, Terry Goodkind, Allan Gotthelf, Alan Greenspan, Hugh Hefner, Erika Holzer, John Hospers, Angelina Jolie, David Kelley, Billie Jean King, Anton LaVey, Rush Limbau