December 3, 2014

Nathaniel Branden (April 9, 1930 to December 3, 2014) was part of a circle of followers around Ayn Rand,(1905 to 1982) a group which included later luminaries such as Alan Greenspan. The theorist of "Objectivism" a set of beliefs stressing the values of capitalism, and the possibility of superior people, who do not blame others for their circumstances, began an affair with Brandon. The respective spouses were made aware of the situation. This was the 1950s, and the affair lasted a few years. It sounds possible that Branden's additional and later affair with a young woman led to the bitter breakup. According to Branden's New York Times obituary Rand accused him of financial irregularities. Not knowing what happened, I can only say it sounds a bit ordinary all around.

Later, after her death, Nathaniel Branden wrote about their time together in Judgment Day: My Years with Ayn Rand (1989).

In this book, he mentions her cat, which she had named Frisco, after a character, Francisco d'Anconia, in one of her own novels. He recounts their dialogue about the cat, which took place after he had commiserated with Rand over her many years before achieving acclaim.

Branden: Do you realize Frisco can't understand any of this. Can't conceive of it?

Rand: Yes, and that is what I love about him. I said that about Wynand's cat in The Fountainhead - the purity of a consciousness incapable of grasping human irrationality or evil.

Branden's book about Ayn Rand was not well received. The New York Times book review, said:

Renegades from extremist movements are seldom likable in their new incarnations: their justifications ring hollow, their demands for sympathy tend to sound whiny....Mr. Branden compounds this inherent problem by replacing his Objectivist rhetoric with a massive dose of psychobabble from the California human-potential movement, in whose therapeutic vineyards he has fashioned a second, and apparently successful, career.

That career involved an emphasis on 'self-esteem' which is quite a distance from Rand's objectivism. Other books he published after the breakup include:

The Psychology of Self-Esteem (1969)
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (1994)
Taking Responsibility (1996)
and
The Art of Living Consciously (1997).