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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com56THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943Her coat emblazoned with Willkie campaign buttons, she joined theranks of the city’s soapbox preachers. On promising street corners shewould begin an anti-Roosevelt, pro-Willkie diatribe, quickly drawingcrowds attracted by the novelty of a woman campaigner with a Russianaccent. When a listener jeered at her for being a foreigner, Rand jeeredright back. “I chose to be an American,” she reminded him. “What didyou do?” 43These spontaneous sessions began to shake Rand loose from her preconceivednotions about American voters. Before campaigning, Randhad been suspicious of American democracy. Instead of government of,for, and by the people, she thought the state should be “a means forthe convenience of the higher type of man.” 44 Her earliest fiction, heavywith contempt for the masses, reflected this sensibility. Now she foundherself impressed by the questions her working-class audience askedand their responsiveness to her capitalist message. She said of her timein the theaters, “[It] supported my impression of the common man,that they really were much better to deal with than the office and theMadison Avenue Republicans.” 45 It seemed that the faceless crowds shecondemned, rather than their social and intellectual betters, understoodthe dangers of the Roosevelt administration.Most questions she fielded were about the war in Europe, however.Every voter wanted to know whether the candidate would involve theUnited States in the conflict. Most dreaded the idea of sending their boysoverseas, even though the situation in Europe was deteriorating rapidly.Germany, Italy, and Spain had gone fascist, and Britain remained thelone outpost of liberal democracy. Britain’s prime minister, WinstonChurchill, beseeched Roosevelt for money and material. Roosevelt’shands were tied by restrictive neutrality acts, but he was increasinglyconvinced that the United States must play a role in the European war.Still, there were powerful pressures against any involvement. Neithercandidate wanted to risk alienating the isolationists or the equally powerfulinternationalists. Both charted a careful course between the two. 46On the front lines of the campaign Rand sought to gloss over Willkie’sequivocation. She herself doubted Willkie was sincere when he spokeout against the war, but she did her best to convince voters otherwise,walking the thinnest line between truth and falsehood. “[I]t would havebeen much better if he had come out against any help to the allies,”