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EPILOGUE: AYN RAND IN AMERICAN MEMORY 281
But shortly after the book’s publication Kelley fell from grace when
he agreed to address two libertarian forums. Rand had made clear that
libertarians were beyond the pale, and the Ayn Rand Institute followed
her lead. To Peter Schwartz, writing in the Intellectual Activist, Kelley’s
appearance amounted to “moral sanction” of Rand’s enemies, and he
urged that anyone who collaborated with libertarians be shunned. Kelley
defended himself with a short pamphlet circulated among friends, which
drew a further response from Peikoff, “Fact and Value.” 4
The two sides articulated clear differences. To Kelley, Objectivism was
“a magnifi cent system of ideas. But it is not a closed system.” His outreach
to libertarians was essential, he maintained, if Objectivism was
ever to grow beyond its small circle of adherents. To Peikoff, spreading
Objectivism was nonsensical if the truth and validity of Rand’s ideas
was lost in the process. “Please drop out of our movement: drop Ayn
Rand, leave Objectivism alone,” he wrote. Hovering in the background
was the unacknowledged issue of Kelley’s failure to publicly repudiate
Barbara Branden’s memoir. Unlike the ARI top brass, Kelley considered
its contribution meaningful. And then he was on the outs, the latest
casualty of Rand’s penchant for judgment. 5
Unlike Rand’s earlier victims, Kelley was largely unperturbed by
his ejection from the Objectivist inner circle. After being denied tenure
at Vassar he reconstituted himself as the leader of an independent
Objectivist movement, founding the Institute for Objectivist Studies in
1990. His break with ARI energized emerging groups such as the magazine
Full Context, whose subscribers appreciated Rand but quailed at
the demand that they accept her philosophy uncritically. Kelley’s activities
also helped reunite Objectivists with libertarians, many of whom
remained attentive to Rand despite their dissatisfaction with the developments
of her last years.
Thenceforth ARI and the Institute for Objectivist Studies (later
renamed the Objectivist Center and then the Atlas Society) developed
along parallel tracks. Both transformed themselves into advocacy think
tanks, seeking funding from wealthy capitalists who admired Rand’s
works. They launched newsletters, websites, and online discussion
forums and held annual summer seminars on Objectivism, drawing
strength from a newly vibrant Randian subculture that rekindled itself
on the Internet. Although dogged by the same poor reputation that had
shadowed Rand and NBI, the Ayn Rand Institute benefi tted greatly from
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