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FROM NOVELIST TO PHILOSOPHER, 1944–1957
implicit praise of equality as a social good was a particular sore spot.
When Friedman and Stigler refused to alter their text, Read inserted a
critical footnote, stating, “Even from the standpoint of those who put
equality above justice and liberty, rent controls are the height of folly.”
His willingness to publish a pamphlet he disliked indicated the paucity of
libertarian intellectual resources at the time. That two economists with
legitimate academic positions would take a public stand against rent
control was enough to ensure FEE’s support. Still, the whole episode was
problematic. In addition to incurring Rand’s wrath the pamphlet alienated
Friedman and Stigler, who were deeply offended by Read’s unauthorized
footnote. For many years they refused any collaboration with
FEE or Read, until fi nally reconciling through their mutual connection
to the Mont Pelerin Society. For her part, Rand felt betrayed by Read’s
failure to understand the principles at stake in their work and wounded
by his disregard for their “ghost” agreement. 47
Only weeks later Read added insult to injury when he sent Rand
a sheaf of anonymous comments on her short article, “Textbook of
Americanism.” Rand had written the piece for The Vigil, the offi cial publication
of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American
Ideals, the Hollywood anti-Communist group that had recruited her to
its board. “Textbook” was a very brief piece that included her fi rst published
discussion of rights. Written in the style of a catechism, the piece
defi ned a right as “the sanction of independent action.” Rand offered
a secular defense of natural rights, which were “granted to man by the
fact of his birth as a man—not by an act of society.” Paramount in the
“Textbook” was the noninitiation principle, the idea that “no man has
the right to initiate the use of physical force against another man” (she
capitalized the entire phrase for emphasis). 48 The noninitiation principle,
sometimes called the nonaggression principle, can be traced to
thinkers as varied as Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and Herbert Spencer.
Placing it at the center of her natural rights theory, Rand breathed new
life into an old idea.
At Rand’s urging, Read shared the “Textbook of Americanism” with
the FEE staff and selected donors, all “men high in the country’s business
and academic life.” The principle of noninitiation in particular
appealed viscerally to Read. But most FEE friends were less enthusiastic.
Rand had not spelled out or defended her basic premises, and much
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