Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right (55 page)

24
. Ruth Hill, Oral History, ARP.

25
. Jack Bungay, Oral History, ARP; Walter Seltzer, Oral History, ARP.

26
. “Actress Peggy O’Neil Dead in Writer’s Home,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 14, 1945, A1; Oral History interview with June Kurisu; Albert Mannheimer to Ayn Rand, undated, ARP 0031–13A.

27
. B. Branden,
The Passion of Ayn Rand
, 197, 250.

28
. Ruth Hill, Oral History, ARP.

29
. Henceforth for clarity’s sake I refer to the manuscript by its published title,
Atlas Shrugged
.

30
. Rand purchased the volume edited by Richard McKeon,
The Basic Works of Aristotle
(New York: Random House, 1941), a classic tome of about 1,500 pages with excerpts from the
Organon, On the Heavens, The Short Physical Treatises
, and
Rhetoric
and the complete texts of
On the Soul, On Generation and Corruption, Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics
, and
Poetics
in their entirety. AR to Isabel Paterson, July 26, 1945,
Letters
, 179.

31
. In 1948 Niebuhr was on the cover of
Time
magazine, an indication of the widespread interest in his ideas. Richard Wightman Fox,
Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1985); Patrick Allitt,
Catholic Intellectuals and Conservative Politics in America, 1950–1985
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993); Edward Purcell,
The Crisis of Democratic Theory: Scientific Naturalism and the Problem of Value
(Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1973),
chapter 8
.

32
. Biographical Interview 14, March 3, 1961. “A is A” is not a phrase from Aristotle but a canonical way to explain basic laws of logic. Rand used the phrase to indicate her agreement with Aristotle’s Law of Identity. Her later use of Aristotle was often inaccurate. According to Rand, Aristotle believed that “history represents things as they are, while fiction represents them as they might be and ought to be.” However, as two scholars sympathetic to Rand conclude, this attribution “misquotes Aristotle and misrepresents his intent.” See Stephen Cox, “Ayn Rand: Theory versus Creative Life,”
Journal of Libertarian Studies
8 (1986): 20; Louis Torres and Michelle Marder Kamhi,
What Art Is: The Aesthetic Theory of Ayn Rand
(Chicago: Open Court Press, 2000), 63. An alternative interpretation of Rand’s usage is given in Tore Boeckmann, “What Might Be and Ought to Be: Aristotle’s Poetics and
The Fountainhead
, ” in
Essays on Ayn Rand’s
The Fountainhead, ed. Robert Mayhew (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007). It appears that Rand drew this concept not from Aristotle, but from Albert Jay Nock. In
Memoirs of a Superfluous Man
(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943), 191, Nock writes, “History, Aristotle says, represents things only as they are, while fiction represents them as they might be and ought to be.” In her copy of the book, Rand marked this passage with six vertical lines. Peikoff Library Collection, ARA.

33
.
Journals
, 263, 246–47 Isabel Paterson to AR, December 30, 1943, ARP 145-PA2; Isabel Paterson to AR, August 30, 1945, Box 4, Isabel Paterson Papers, Hoover Presidential Library, henceforth Hoover NARA.

34
.
Journals
, 281.

35
. “Notes on the Moral Basis of Individualism,” July 9, 1945, ARP 32–11B. 11B. These notes are not included in the published version of Rand’s
Journals
.

36
.
Journals
, 291, 281, 285.

37
.
Journals
, 305, 299. Daryll Wright traces a similar shift in “Ayn Rand’s Ethics: From
The Fountainhead
to
Atlas Shrugged,”
in
Essays on Ayn Rand’s
Atlas Shrugged, ed. Robert Mayhew (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009).

38
. B. Branden,
The Passion of Ayn Rand
, 189.

39
. Frank Lloyd Wright to AR, April 23, 1944, reprinted in
Letters
, 112. Her comments on Wright are in
Journals
, April 12, 1946, 412–15. For more on their relationship, see Donald Leslie Johnson,
The Fountainheads: Wright, Rand, the FBI and Hollywood
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2005).

40
. Isabel Paterson to AR, December 15, 1943, Box 4, Hoover NARA.

41
. Leonard Read to Rand, July 1946, ARP 146-RE2; Leonard Read to AR, May/June 46, ND, “Monday,” ARP 146-RE2. There is no written record of their original agreement, but letters between the two indicate it was a well-established understanding. Rand signed her letters to Read “your ghost” and Read referred often to her responsibilities, urging her at one point, “Please keep on considering your ghost position seriously.” Leonard Read to AR, July 22, 1946, ARP 146-RE2.

42
. AR to Leonard Read, February 28, 1946,
Letters
, 259.

43
. Leonard Read to AR, August 22, 1946, and Leonard Read to AR, March 4, 1946, ARP 146-RE2. Read explained that he could never get foundation status for an “individualist” foundation but could for one dedicated to economic education.

44
. Milton Friedman and George Stigler,
Roofs or Ceilings?
, in
Verdict on Rent Control
(London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1972), 18–32. 32. Quote from Milton Friedman and Rose D. Friedman,
Two Lucky People: Memoirs
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 151.

45
. AR to William Mullendore, September 20, 1946,
Letters
, 320–237.

46
. AR to Leonard Read, September 12, 1946,
Letters
, 320; AR to Rose Wilder Lane, October 9, 1946,
Letters
, 332.

47
. Friedman and Stigler both described the incident at length in their memoirs. See Friedman and Friedman,
Two Lucky People
,
chapter 9
; George Stigler,
Memoirs of an Unregulated Economist
(xsNew York: Basic Books, 1988), chapter 10.

48
. See Ayn Rand, “Textbook of Americanism,”
The Vigil
, May 1946, 1, and
The Vigil
, June 1946, 2. The full “Textbook” appeared in the May, June, and July 1946 issues of
The Vigil
.

49
. Of the thirteen responses Read received, four offered a complete endorsement, one a critical rejection, and the rest varied degrees of qualified endorsement. See “To Foundation Staff from L. E. R. Re. Textbook of Americanism,” undated, and attached responses, ARP 146-RE3.

50
. AR to Leonard Read, November 2, 1946; Leonard Read to AR, November 5, 1946; AR to Leonard Read, November 20, 1946; Leonard Read to AR, November 23, 1946, all in ARP 146-RE3.

51
. See William Holtz,
Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane
(Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1993), especially 273–76, 379–85.

52
. Richard Cornuelle, Oral History outtakes, ARP.

53
. Rose Wilder Lane to AR, October 11, 1946, ARP 142-LAx.

54
. AR to Rose Wilder Lane, November 30, 1945,
Letters
, 238; AR to Rose Wilder Lane, August 21, 1946,
Letters
, 307.

55
. Rose Wilder Lane to AR, August 24, 1946, ARP 142-LAx.

56
. Rose Wilder Lane to AR, October 11, 1946, ARP 142-LAx.

57
. AR to Rose Wilder Lane, November 3, 1946,
Letters
, 343–50.

58
. Rose Wilder Lane to AR, November 6, 1946, ARP 142-LAx.

59
. AR to Rose Wilder Lane, December 1946,
Letters
, 353.

60
. AR to Rose Wilder Lane, November 3, 1946,
Letters
, 350.

61
. AR to Marie Strachnov, August 8, 1946,
Letters
, 302.

62
. Ayn Rand, “Screen Guide for Americans,”
Plain Talk
, November 1947,37–42, reprinted in
Journals
, 356.

63
. Ayn Rand, “Testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, October 20, 1947,”
Journals
, 380. Contemporary reaction is in Joseph North, “Torquemada in Technicolor,”
New Masses
, November 4, 1947; Garry Wills, introduction to Lillian Hellman,
Scoundrel Time
(Boston: Little Brown, 1976), 1–2. 2. Rand’s testimony is covered in Robert Mayhew,
Ayn Rand and
Song of Russia:
Communism and Anti-Communism in 1940s Hollywood
(Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005).

64
. Mayhew,
Ayn Rand and
Song of Russia, 379.

65
. Rand’s notes about her testimony are reprinted in
Journals
, 381–86. 86. AR to Edna Lonigen, March 26, 1949, ARP 111–01D.

66
. AR to Isabel Paterson, February 7, 1948,
Letters
, 189–90.

67
. Isabel Paterson to AR, January 19, 1944. On another occasion she threatened, “to come out there in person and spank you to a blister” if Rand kept up her habit. Isabel Paterson to AR, June 7, 1944, ARP 145-PA4. See also Isabel Paterson to AR, November 30, 1943, and November 8, 1944, ARP 145-PA2.

68
. Isabel Paterson to AR, November 8, 1944, Box 4, Hoover NARA.

69
. Isabel Paterson to AR, February 29, 1944, Box 4, Hoover NARA.

70
. AR to Isabel Paterson, July 26, 1946,
Letters
, 176.

71
. Isabel Paterson to AR, July 30, 1945, ARP 145-PA4.

72
. Isabel Paterson to AR, July 30, 1945, ARP 145-PA4

73
. Isabel Paterson to AR, January 19, 1944, ARP 145-PA3

74
. Isabel Paterson to AR, July 30, 1945, ARP 145-PA4.

75
. AR to Isabel Paterson, August 4, 1945,
Letters
, 182, 184.

76
. Isabel Paterson to AR, August 9, 1945, ARP 145-PA4.

77
. Ibid.

78
. AR to Robert Bremer, November 2, 1946,
Letters
, 339.

79
. AR to Isabel Paterson, April 11, 1948,
Letters
, 205; Isabel Paterson to AR, April 7, 1948, ARP 145-PA7.

80
. Isabel Paterson to AR, April 29, 1948, Box 4, Hoover NARA; AR to Isabel Paterson, May 8, 1948,
Letters
, 212.

81
. Biographical Interview 14; Isabel Paterson to AR, undated, ARP 145-PA7. Taken as a whole, Paterson’s chapter does not bear the stamp of Rand in any significant way. Her style of argument is dramatically different from Rand’s, for she uses specific examples drawn from history, economics, and religious thought. Nor were Paterson’s conclusions the same as Rand’s. While criticizing humanitarianism for its unintended consequences, she does not reject traditional morality altogether: “Nor is it suggested that the virtues of good people are really not virtues.” Isabel Paterson,
God of the Machine
(1943; New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1993), 236. Instead she draws attention to the neglected importance of production and the distortions of modern, state-supported philanthropy. Steven Cox reaches similar conclusions about the plagiarism allegation in
The Woman and the Dynamo: Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America
(New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2004), 306–12.

82
. Isabel Paterson to AR, undated, ARP 145-PA7; AR to Isabel Paterson, May 17, 1948,
Letters
, 216.

83
. Biographical Interview 15, March 31, 1961.

84
. Ibid.; William Mullendore to AR, June 29, 1948, ARP 144-MFx.

85
. AR to Isabel Paterson, May 17, 1948,
Letters
, 215; Biographical Interview 15; William F. Buckley Jr., “RIP, Mrs. Paterson (A Personal Reminiscence),”
National Review
, January 28, 1961, 43. In later years Rand would continue to recommend Paterson’s
God of the Machine
, but she did not acknowledge her publicly as an important influence.

86
. AR to Isabel Paterson, July 26, 1945,
Letters
, 179; AR to Isabel Paterson, February 28, 1948,
Letters
, 197.

Chapter 5

1
. The film was moderately successful at the box office but received mixed reviews, including a negative review in the
New York Times
. Bosley Crowther, “In a Glass House,”
New York Times
, July 17, 1949, X1; “Ayn Rand Replies to Criticism of Her Film,”
New York Times
, July 24, 1949, X4. For academic analyses of the film, see Robert Spadoni, “Guilty by Omission: Girding the ‘Fountainhead’ for the Cold War (Ayn Rand),”
Literature-Film Quarterly
27, no. 3 (1999): 223–32; Merrill Schleier, “Ayn Rand and King Vidor’s Film
The Fountainhead
: Architectural Modernism, the Gendered Body, and Political Ideology,”
Journal of The Society of Architectural Historians
61, no. 3 (2002): 310–31; Merrill Schleier,
Skyscraper Cinema: Architecture and Gender in American Film
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009). In addition to analyzing the gender dynamics of the film and book and their relation to architectural modernism, Schleier provides deep detail on Rand’s creative process, but curiously suggests that Roark dynamited Cortland Homes with the intent of erecting a skyscraper in its place (vii). For more on the making of the film, see Jeff Britting, “Adapting the Fountainhead to Film,” in
Essays on Ayn Rand’s
The Fountainhead, ed. Robert Mayhew (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007); Barbara Branden,
The Passion of Ayn Rand
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1986), 208–13; Biographical Interview 12, January 22, 1961.