Barbara Branden: The Passion of Ayn Rand

It can be found in young philosopher David Kelley, whose recent book The Evidence of the Senses is a striking and valuable addition to the field of epistemology; in prominent libertarian writer and lecturer Roy A. Childs, Jr., who has said, "For thousands of people, Atlas Shrugged became more than a novel; it became a way of viewing the world. It became a part of people's minds, and they saw the world through that book."

It can be found in Walter Wingo, U.S. Business Editor of U.S. News and World Report; in William Hernstadt, former state legislator in Nevada and television station owner; in Alan Nitikman of Citicorp's "think tank;" in Wendy McElroy, feminist writer and editor of Freedom, Feminism and the State; in George Smith, author of Atheism: The Case Against God; in Ralph Roseman, senior partner of New York's Theatre Now; in David Hayes, biographer of the Bowery Boys; in psychologists Lee Shulman and Joyce Shulman and Roger Callahan and Edith Packer and Larry Gneiting and psychiatrist Allan Blumenthal; in economist George Reisman, author of Government Against the Economy; in author Karl Hess, former speechwriter for Barry Goldwater and Presidents Nixon and Ford; in John Piper, minister and professor of theology; in Walter Block of the Fraser Institute, author of Defending the Undefendable; in Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw, authors of the sensationally successful Life Extension.

It can be found in disparate groups of people whose names are not publically known and may never be known: in a man who works on a crew boat ferrying scientists to the South Pole, and who observed that many of the scientists he takes to their months of isolation bring with them copies of Atlas Shrugged; in a young woman from an orthodox Jewish family who, forbidden to study Ayn Rand, stood at the window of her darkened bedroom at night to read Atlas Shrugged by the glow of a street lamp; in a professional gambler; in a young coed who said, "It was only a few weeks after I read Atlas Shrugged that I left the Church;" in a Manhattan retail executive; in a senior at Vassar writing her undergraduate thesis on Ayn Rand. It can be found in an attorney and a barmaid and a woman construction worker; in a car designer for Datsun and a political pollster and a janitor and a Lockheed designer; in a travel agent and a Jesuit priest and a ghost writer and a masseur and a teacher of dressage; in a warehouse worker and a rabbi; in actors and actresses; in athletes and a lazerist and a drama critic and a banker and a farmer and a pediatrician and a gemologist; in a film processor and a financial planner and a nuclear plant engineer and a karate instructor; in an advertising director and a child prodigy in chemistry and a photographer and a veterinarian and a telephone company supervisor. It can be found in a young man who was the source of a solemn and fruitless investigation by both the Naval Investigative Service and the FBI when there was discovered, scratched on the body of a Navy plane, the inscription, "Who is John Galt?" — and in a young teacher who said, his eyes damp, "Ayn Rand taught me that life could be a wonderful experience."

It can be found in the Literary Guild's listing of The Fountainhead, more than forty years after publication, under the title "Best Selling Library;" in a quotation from The Fountainhead, "Throughout the centuries, there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision" in Disney World's Great American Experience exhibit; in the 1984 article in Vanity Fair entitled "The Fountainhead Syndrome" a discussion of the architects who are "the Roarks of the 1980s;" in the course on Objectivism given at The New School for Social Research; in the constant reruns of the movie of The Fountainhead on television and in art theaters; in a college course entitled "Heroic Humanism: A Study of the Major Novels of Ayn Rand;" in the character of Mr. Spock in the "Star Trek" television series and movies; in a television news commentator announcing with approval that "free-wheeling capitalism" is creating wealth in countries in the Far East; in the continuing interest of companies such as MOM and United Artists, of directors such as Michael Cimino, of actors such as Tom Selleck, in a movie version of Atlas Shrugged and/or a remake of The Fountainhead, and in the sale of the movie rights of Anthem to Star Log Group; in the forthcoming release of the movie of the fifty-year-old We the Living; in the high prices offered and paid for first editions of Ayn's books and letters; in the host of crossword puzzles that cannot be completed without the name of the writer of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged; in the question "What Ayn Rand novel begins with 'Who is John Galt?'" in the game of Trivial Pursuit; in bumper stickers which read, "Who is John Galt?;" in desk calendars featuring famous quotations from writers; in the constant public mentions of Ayn in such unlikely places as the popular movie of a few years ago Boys in the Band and a Simon and Garfunkel recording and the film remake of Heaven Can Wait and the movies King of Hearts and Lost in America; in the recommendation of the fast food chain Burger King, that its executives read Ayn's books; in letters to the editors of newspapers and magazines throughout the country, still dotted with comments about Ayn Rand. Ayn often said, only partly joking, that she would know her ideas were having a crucial impact on the culture when they had worked their way down from the ivory towers of the universities through popular writings and finally to mass market comic books; then she could be certain that her philosophy had become a part of the conventional wisdom. She would have been amused to learn that she has won this victory — as witness Steve Ditko, creator of the cartoon "Spider Man."

In the late 1940s, describing the success of The Fountainhead, Ayn said: "I did not know that I was predicting my own future when I described the process of Roark's success: 'It was as if an underground stream flowed through the country and broke out in sudden springs that shot to the surface at random, in unpredictable places."' The stream has become a tidal wave, shooting out in every direction and to every continent of the world. The story of the influence of a series of novels on philosophic thought is unprecedented in literary history; it is a saga worthy of an Ayn Rand novel. It is Ayn's best statement of the power of the lone individual.

As one observes the bright sparks of thought that emanated from one mind and one ferocious will continuing to send out their lengthening rays, perhaps one can also see a small, passionately stalwart figure marching steadfastly forward into history.

63 Not all of the people discussed above, or in the pages that follow, are wholly committed to Objectivism; many have significant disagreements; but all have been powerfully affected by her work and acknowledge an intellectual debt to Ayn Rand.