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A ROUND UNIVERSE 145
a strange edge to her personality.) A night owl who loved to stay up late
arguing the fi ne points of economic theory, even Rothbard could not
keep up with Rand. For days afterward he felt depressed.
Still, Rothbard’s meeting with Rand had been eye-opening. Despite
his allegiance to Mises, Rothbard was bothered by the Austrian’s antipathy
to natural rights. Like Rand, he was a natural moralist and wanted
to ground his economics in something deeper than utilitarianism.
Through Rand Rothbard learned about Aristotelian epistemology and
“the whole fi eld of natural rights and natural law philosophy, which [he]
did not know existed.” 31 He went on to explore these fi elds through his
own reading. Eventually he combined Austrian economics and natural
rights philosophy to create his own brand of anarchist libertarianism.
Rothbard acknowledged that Rand had taught him something of value.
Yet he disliked her intensely and kept his distance. Rand’s growing charismatic
powers could both attract and repel.
As Rand began training her own cadre of thinkers, she became less
interested in the laborious task of converting others to her worldview.
It was simply easier to start from scratch. Unlike Mises, Rothbard, and
Hayek, the young people she met through Barbara and Nathan were not
grounded in alternative approaches to politics or the free market. They
were receptive to her comprehensive view of the world, her unifi ed fi eld
theory of existence. Other libertarians wanted to argue with Rand, but
the Collective merely listened.
Against this background Dwight Eisenhower’s 1951 presidential
nomination became a real turning point for Rand. In a tight convention
Eisenhower, a decorated war hero, had narrowly ousted Senator Robert
Taft, the presumptive Republican nominee. Taft, known in the Senate
as “Mr. Republican,” was the last major politician to vocalize views
shared by Rand and her libertarian friends. He vigorously opposed the
New Deal, fought against labor unions, and questioned the wisdom of
American involvement overseas. By contrast, Eisenhower was a genial,
noncontroversial fi gure who offered Americans a reassuring, steady
hand at the tiller after the upheaval of the Depression and war. He was
so popular, and his political views so moderate, that both parties courted
him as a presidential prospect.
Rand was alert to the dangers of such a nominee. Eisenhower was
akin to Hayek, a destroyer from within, a false friend who would dilute
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