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THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943
the climax was set everything else in the novel had to remain tentative.
Even worse, she felt like “a fake anytime I talk about my new novel,
when I don’t yet know the central part of it, when nothing is set.” 26 She
writhed in agony at her writing desk, caught in her fi rst ever case of “the
squirms,” her phrase for writer’s block.
As Rand planned and drafted The Fountainhead her dislike of Roosevelt
continued to fester. To most Americans, Roosevelt was a hero, a paternal
fi gure who had soothed their fears and beveled the sharp edges
of economic crisis. He was unquestionably the most popular political
fi gure of the decade, if not the century. But among a small subset
of commentators dark mutterings about Roosevelt were becoming
more common. Criticism came from many quarters. To adherents of
traditional laissez-faire economic doctrine, Roosevelt was foolhardy
in his clumsy attempts to right the economy with state power. To his
opponents Roosevelt was a virtual dictator, wantonly trampling on the
Constitution as he expanded the government’s reach into business,
law, and agriculture. Like few presidents before, his actions spawned a
cottage industry dedicated to attacking him, known as the “Roosevelt
haters.” 27
Rand avidly consumed this literature. Mencken remained a particular
favorite. She had fi rst been drawn to his work by their shared interest
in Nietzsche. Now she began regularly reading American Mercury, the
magazine he founded, and absorbed his growing suspicion of Roosevelt.
She also followed the writing of Albert Jay Nock, a magazine editor,
essayist, and the author of Our Enemy, the State. Nock and Mencken
were the fi rst to call themselves “libertarians,” a new coinage meant to
signify their allegiance to individualism and limited government, now
that Roosevelt had co-opted the word “liberal.” Libertarians were few
and far between, although some had gained positions of prominence.
At the New York Herald Tribune a columnist for the weekly book review,
Isabel Paterson, was making waves with her vitriol against Roosevelt.
Rand read Paterson regularly. 28
In 1937 Rand added her voice to this growing chorus, dispatching
a blistering letter to the New York Herald Tribune in response to
Roosevelt’s proposal that additional justices be added to the Supreme
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