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WHO IS JOHN GALT? 1957–1968
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occurs, the international mess we have come to accept as the norm is
developed, the very words that bureaucrats and politicians are today
uttering as excuses and reasons, appear in its pages.” Barron’s, a leading
New York fi nancial newspaper, began a lead story on oil import quotas
with mention of Atlas Shrugged, commenting, “To judge by what
has happened since early 1959, when the decree took effect, Miss Rand
deserves high honor as a prophet.” 32
In 1966 Rand added to her nonfi ction quiver with Capitalism: The
Unknown Ideal, a collection of speeches and previously published articles.
In addition to work by Rand and Nathan, the book also featured
essays by Alan Greenspan and Robert Hessen. The book refl ected the
symmetry and hierarchy of Objectivism, for it was intended to explain
the ethical theory Rand had depicted in her novels and outlined in The
Virtue of Selfi shness. She called her new book a “nonfi ction footnote
to Atlas Shrugged” that rested upon the “necessary foundation” of her
earlier work. Accordingly it was tuned to applications and extensions
rather than basic philosophy. The fi rst section, “Theory and History,”
addressed specifi c economic issues such as monopoly, regulation of the
airwaves, and copyright law. “Current State” collected Rand’s thoughts
on contemporary political issues. Rand now had an equal number of
fi ction and nonfi ction books in print but still garnered little respect as a
philosopher from the outside world. The New Republic jabbed at her in
a sarcastic review: “With engaging self-confi dence, [Nathaniel Branden]
hits out at Dr. Erich Fromm. Mr. Alan Greenspan has a go at the antitrust
laws. . . . But, unquestionably, Miss Rand remains Top Bee in the
communal bonnet, buzzing the loudest and zaniest throughout this all
but incredible book.” 33 Reviews like these ignored the growing strength
of Objectivism but also indicated the limitations of Rand’s appeal. She
had failed to storm the temples of high culture, yet the mandarins did
not notice that outside the gates she was inspiring a rising generation of
politicized youth.
The paperback edition of Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, released a
year later, included one of Rand’s most important political statements,
her major argument against the Vietnam War and the draft. In “The
Wreckage of the Consensus,” fi rst delivered as a speech to Boston’s Ford
Hall Forum, Rand denounced the Vietnam War, calling it a “hideous
mess” that “does not serve any national interests of the United States.” 34
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