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SPEAKER_01: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. Today's beautiful mind is a controversial 20th century writer and philosopher who's had an outsized impact on various American political movements well into the 21st century. Let's talk about Ayn Rand. Alisa Rosenbaum was born on February 2nd, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia to an upper middle class Jewish family. Her father was a prosperous pharmacist. Alisa, the eldest of three children, was tutored at home as a child and later enrolled in a progressive school before she excelled academically. She had a much harder time socializing with other students and was fairly isolated. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the Russian monarchy was overthrown by the communist Bolsheviks, Alisa's father's pharmacy was confiscated by communist authorities. The family was deeply affected by this and Alisa resented the event for the rest of her life. Alisa attended Leningrad State University where she studied history. After graduating in 1924, she started a degree at the State Institute for Cinematography and Screenwriting and got the opportunity to move to the United States. She left under the pretext of learning about the American film industry to bring back that knowledge to the Soviet Union. Alisa Rosenbaum arrived in the US in 1926 and immediately changed her name to Ayn Rand. Ayn lived with cousins in Chicago for her first six months and then made her way out to Hollywood. Once in LA, a chance encounter with producer Cecil B. DeMille led to a job as an extra in one of his films. Eventually, she turned this into a job as a junior screenwriter. While working for DeMille, Ayn met actor Frank O'Connor and the two were married in 1929. Soon after, Ayn was hired to work in the wardrobe department at RKO Radio Pictures. Within the year, she was head of the department. At night, she diligently wrote stories, plays, and film outlines. Ayn's first play, Night of January 16th, was produced in Los Angeles in 1934. It was an ode to individualism in the form of a courtroom drama. After running successfully in LA, Ayn and her husband moved to New York City to oversee the play's production on Broadway, where it also had a successful run. Ayn's first novel, We the Living, was published two years later in 1936. It's a semi-autobiographical romance focused on how Soviet totalitarianism subjugated the individual and individual interests to those of the state. The combination of overt romance and philosophy combined in a single work of fiction was a winning formula Ayn would use again and again in her novels. In 1936, Ayn also started work on the first of her two major novels. Published seven years later in 1943, The Fountainhead is the story of a genius architect who blows up a public housing project he designed after it was altered against his wishes by government bureaucrats. He's subsequently put on trial and eventually delivers a lengthy speech in his defense in which he argues for individualism over collectivism and egoism over altruism. The jury acquits him on all charges. The Fountainhead received a majority of bad reviews from literary critics, but its popularity spread by word of mouth, and it was soon a bestseller. Ayn sold the movie rights to Warner Brothers and wrote the screenplay herself.
SPEAKER_04: This is Howard Rohr, possessed of a great talent, but unwilling to compromise his ideals at any price.
SPEAKER_01: In 1945, Ayn began sketching out what's generally considered to be her masterwork, Atlas Shrugged. Based heavily on concepts already discussed in The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged imagines a world on the verge of economic collapse in which collectivists have exploited the most productive and creative citizens to benefit the undeserving and laziest members of society. A band of elite producers, led by hero John Galt, essentially go on strike to force the government to recognize their economic freedom and greater value to society. The heroes then watch as the national economy and the social system are destroyed because of their absence. Ayn called her philosophy, as laid out in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, objectivism. She described it as,
SPEAKER_00: He has to hold reason as an absolute, which I mean that he has to hold the reason as his only guide to action, and that he must live by the independent judgment of his own mind, that his highest moral purpose is the achievement of his own happiness, and that he must not force other people, nor accept their right to force him, that each man must live as an end in himself and follow his own rational self-interest.
SPEAKER_01: Atlas Shrugged was an immediate bestseller, though it was thoroughly attacked by critics from across the political spectrum for its perceived immorality, selfishness, and general misanthropy. Ayn's fame grew along with the popularity of her novels, and she spoke at universities and appeared on TV shows like 60 Minutes. Ayn developed a large following, particularly among libertarians and laissez-faire capitalists and published newsletters about her beliefs and the tenets of objectivism. Still, she was constantly frustrated by her inability to gain acceptance from academic philosophers and other serious intellectuals. Ayn died in New York City on March 6, 1982 of heart failure. At her funeral, a six-foot flower arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign was placed near her casket. After her death, Ayn's work continued to have a major impact on society. Many historians and political scientists believe that her works contributed to the increased popularity of libertarianism in the United States during the 1990s and 2000s. Starting in 2009, Ayn also served as a major influence on the Tea Party movement. It's for these political influences that Ayn is mostly remembered today. As always, we'll be taking a break for the weekend, but tune in on Monday for the story of Another Beautiful Mind. This week of Encyclopedia Wamanica was brought to you by Audible. Right now, for a limited time, you can get three months of Audible for just $6.95 a month. That's more than half off the regular price. Just go to audible.com, that's A-U-D-I-B-L-E, .com slash encyclopedia, or text encyclopedia to 500-500. If you wanna learn more about Ayn Rand, you can listen to both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged on Audible. Again, right now, for a limited time, you can get three months of Audible for just $6.95 a month. Visit audible.com slash encyclopedia, or text encyclopedia to 500-500 now. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you on Monday.
SPEAKER_09: Bye.
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