Barbara Branden - The Passion of Ayn Rand

Books continue to issue from academic and mass market publishing houses which deal directly with the ideas of Ayn Rand and/or with concepts derived from her theories. In the scholarly journals of various disciplines, scarcely a month goes by without the appearance of an article concerning theories first defined by Ayn Rand. In the libraries of colleges and universities throughout the country may be found master’s and doctoral theses — in subjects from philosophy to art to physics — written about Objectivism by a new generation of readers. On the campuses, active Objectivist clubs are discussing the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Similar discussion groups have formed in cities across the world — in India and Pakistan and Australia and Holland and Canada and Brazil and Switzerland and Hong Kong, in Austria and Argentina and Poland, in Turkey and Denmark and France and Japan and West Germany and Belgium and Norway and South Africa, in Finland and Sweden and Scotland and Greece and England and Mexico and Israel.

Private schools have been formed which have, as one of their purposes, the educational implementation of the concept of reason and individualism promulgated by Ayn Rand. Among them are the Culbreath Schools, based in California and headed by Myrna Culbreath, which teach remedial reading to adults. "Ayn Rand gave me an intellectual framework," Myrna Culbreath said, "and a knowledge of the important philosophical questions to be asked; she particularly influenced me in the field of epistemology." Myrna is co-writer, with Sondra Marshak, of a series of successful books dealing with the "Star Trek" television series and movies; she reports that a large number of the letters she receives about her books refer to Ayn Rand. Another institution based on Objectivist principles is the Flint School, a shipboard traveling school. A third is the American Renaissance School in White Plains, New York, founded by eight college professors for high-achieving students, a "private, pro-reason, pro-capitalism, profit-making school."

A major source of Ayn Rand's conflict with society was her belief that she was being ignored by the academic world, as indeed she was during the fifties and sixties. But today, it is not only her advocates who recognize the importance of her ideas. The distinguished philosopher Robert Nozick, professor of philosophy at Harvard, defender of libertarian principles and author of the remarkable Anarchy, State and Utopia, wrote a sharply critical article entitled "On the Randian Argument" in The Personalist but said, "I have found her two major novels exciting, powerful, illuminating and thought provoking... combined with a 'sense of life' that is worthy of man... Miss Rand is an interesting thinker, worthy of attention." Professor Nozick discusses Ayn's libertarian concepts in his courses on political philosophy. Charles Murray, writer of Losing Ground, the path-breaking and controversial analysis of the failure of two decades of profligate welfare spending, first read Ayn Rand's works in high school and remains powerfully impressed with her "heroic vision of man and her accuracy and prescience regarding social issues."

Books criticizing the philosophy of Objectivism continue to appear, such as philosopher William F. O'Neill's With Charity Toward None: An Analysis of Ayn Rand's Philosophy — in which, despite his disagreements with Objectivism, he concludes, "Whatever else Miss Rand may have achieved, she continues to serve as a useful intellectual catalyst in a society which frequently suffers from philosophical 'tired blood';" and Christian scholar John W. Robbins's Answer to Ayn Rand; and psychologist Albert Ellis's Is Objectivism a Religion?

In books, magazines, and newsletters on economics, finance, and politics, the influence of Ayn Rand is particularly evident. Robert Ringer, bestselling author of such works as Restoring the American Dream and publisher of the newsletter The Tortoise Report, acknowledges his debt to Ayn in helping him to construct his basic philosophy, as does Douglas Casey, economist and author of the hugely successful Crisis Investing and Strategic Investing, and James Blanchard, founder of The National Committee for Monetary Reform and publisher of Wealth magazine and Market Alert Others of a similar orientation are investment advisor Robert Prechter, publisher and editor of The Elliott Wave Theorist, investment writer Mark Tier; Daniel Rosenthal, editor of The Silver and Gold Report, who wrote, "Miss Rand is one of the people who most deserve credit for the revival of the hard-money movement. She was the philosopher who espoused personal success in an era of altruism; capitalism in an era of socialism; and Tibor Machan of Auburn;" Takashi Uratu, Japanese economist presently translating Atlas Shrugged into Japanese; Harry D. Shultz, publisher of The International Harry Shultz Letter, who recommends that his readers send copies of Ayn Rand's books, as part of the fight for freedom, to "press/pulpit/politicians/VIPs/friends/teachers;" John Pugsley, investment writer and publisher; Michael Berger, publisher of On Principle, who created and met the requirements for a self-directed degree program in Objectivism at Antioch College, thus becoming the first person to earn a degree in Objectivism.

Ayn Rand's influence extends far beyond the walls of academia, far beyond the realm of politics and political philosophy, far beyond popular books on economics. It can be found in every aspect of American life. As one looks at the vast panorama of American life, one must marvel at Ayn Rand's ability to generate a series of philosophical definitions and identifications that appear to be altering the face of America. One cannot yet estimate the precise extent of her influence; to do so would require many years of research and study — resulting one day, perhaps, in a book entitled The Biography of an Idea. Nor can one know with certainty the final results of that influence. But in the course of rather intensive investigations, I have observed her impact on every aspect of the American scene to which I have turned.

In the area of industry, a few among the titans who acknowledge her influence are Gordon McLendon, one of the four hundred wealthiest men in America, according to Forbes magazine; John Diebold of The Diebold Group, who is acknowledged as "the father of automation;" Whitney Stevens, former NBI student and chairman of the board and chief executive officer of J. P. Stevens Company; Edward Snider, principal owner of the Philadelphia Flyers, head of Spectator Corporation, and the driving force behind the founding of The Ayn Rand Institute; Jay Snider, president of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Ayn's impact can be found in executives, entrepreneurs and businessmen throughout the country — in Lillian Davison, president of Resource Retrieval, a toxic waste disposal company in New Jersey; in Ray Thorpe, president of the Private Railroad Association; in Robert Kephart, president of Kephart Communications; in Hans Hirschfeld, president of the Horizon Company of Canada; in Mike Oliver, real estate developer; in Lawrence Scott, president of Liaison Ltd.; in Rex Dante, one of the world's foremost memory experts; in Leonard Hirschfeld, marketing consultant; in Milton Engel, gold dealer; in Robert Fritts, housing developer; in Kerry O'Quinn, head of the Star Log Group and publisher of Star Log magazines and Star Log Video Tapes.

It can be found in Mike Mentzer, former Mr. America and Mr. Universe, publisher and editor-in-chief of Workout magazine; in Calvin Nash, an engineer working on nuclear power equipment; in former congressman from Texas Ron Paul, chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute; in Neil Peart of the rock group Rush — one of whose songs is entitled "Anthem" and one of whose albums is dedicated to Ayn Rand — and Simon LeBon of Duran Duran; in painters Joan Mitchell Blumenthal and Daniel Green (whose early portrait of Ayn appears on the jacket of For the New Intellectual) and sculptors Jonathan Hirschfeld and Don Ventura; in actors Raquel Welch — whom Ayn was interested in for the role of Dagny Taggart — and Rock Hudson and Jill St. John and Eileen Fulton; in Gerald Rafferty, publisher of Info Books; in neurosurgeon Avner Feldman. It can be found in professional adventurer, philosopher, and writer Jack Wheeler, who, in 1985, under the auspices of Citizens for America, organized the world's first congress of anti-Soviet guerrilla leaders at Jamba, Angola — an event, according to Newsweek, that was organized without the knowledge or approval of the State Department but with "tacit" White House endorsement; in science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who has likened his political views to those of Ayn Rand and introduced a character in one of his novels called "the John Galt of the revolution;" in science fiction writer J. Neil Schulman's The Rainbow Cadenza; in Western writer Winfred Blevins and Edgar Award recipient Kay Nolte Smith; in Edith Efron, author of The News Twisters and The Apocalyptics; in novelists Ruth Beebe Hill and Erika Holzer; in computer writer Adam Smith, who names Ayn's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology as a book that inspired his work; in Ergo, a student newspaper at MIT; and in Aristos, a journal of aesthetics; in the philosophical magazine The Objectivist Forum and newsletter The Intellectual Activist; in composer-conductor George Broderick and musician Douglas Messenger; in screen and television writer Al Ramrus; in Fred Stitt, architect and writer who once worked his way across the country to New York to attend Nathaniel Branden Institute, who teaches at Berkeley's architectural school and whose recent McGraw-Hill book Designing Buildings That Work is dedicated "to my first architectural mentor, Howard Roark."