jbgotmar

More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.com
INDIVIDUALISTS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! 55
the campaign. It was a risky move. Neither she nor Frank had worked
regularly for years, and their savings were nearly depleted. But it was
characteristic of Rand that she never did anything halfway. Politics had
been a growing fi xation of hers for years. Here was the chance to live
her principles, to act on behalf of a politician she supported. She would
never have been able to do the same in Russia. Setting aside her unfi nished
novel, she eagerly joined the cause.
The New York Willkie Club was tailor-made for a young, Republicanleaning
author. Willkie’s mistress, Irita von Doren, the book editor of
the New York Herald Tribune, had a strong infl uence on the New York
campaign, which brimmed with writers, editors, and other literati. Here
were people like Rand: passionate about ideas, articulate, willing to
argue endlessly about politics. These were no bohemian radicals talking
about revolution, but establishment fi gures who mingled easily with
the city’s business elite. She told a friend, “I have met a greater number
of interesting men and women, within a few months, than I did in my
whole life, during the Willkie campaign of 1940.” 41
Rand began her volunteer work as a humble typist and fi ling clerk.
Her ascent through the ranks was swift, and within weeks she spearheaded
the creation of a new “intellectual ammunition department.”
Rand taught other volunteers how to skim newspapers for damning
statements by Roosevelt or his running mate, Henry Wallace. These quotations
would then be compiled for use by campaign speakers or other
Willkie clubs. Wallace, in particular, proved a fertile source of objectionable
rhetoric, and Rand sent several volunteers to the local library to
comb through material from his earlier career.
At times Rand butted heads with her superiors in the Willkie campaign.
Her instinct was to highlight Roosevelt’s negative qualities, his
collectivist ideology, and his antagonism to business. The campaign
managers, however, chose to advertise Willkie like a new kind of soap,
stressing his positive qualities. Such mild tactics disgusted Rand. When
she wasn’t researching Roosevelt’s misdeeds, she visited theaters where
Willkie newsreels were shown, staying afterward to fi eld questions from
the audience. These sessions were among the most exciting parts of the
campaign for Rand, who reveled in the chance to share her strong opinions
and argue with strangers. “I was a marvelous propagandist,” she
remembered. 42
Fore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com