To Leonard Read [Letter 265]

September 12, 1946 

Mr. Leonard E. Read
The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.
Irvington-on-Hudson, New York

Dear Leonard: 

I offered you my services, without charge, to protect your publications from internal treachery. 

You chose not to take advantage of the offer. And you have published a booklet [Roofs or Ceilings?] which is, without exception, the most pernicious thing ever issued by an avowedly conservative organization. 

I presume that you do not know what your booklet actually advocates. So I had better tell you: it advocates the nationalization of private homes. 

When you come to Los Angeles, I will be glad to discuss this with you, if you want me to. 

I cannot attempt to do it in a letter. 

If you feel that you owe me an explanation, I would like to hear it. 

Sincerely,

Ayn Rand

P.S.
I have shown a few passages out of your booklet (no, not page 10) to my secretary. Without any advance comment by me, his comment was: “Jesus Christ!”

In his reply on September 19, 1946, Read characterized AR’s letter as “Isabellish” (referring to Isabel Paterson’s well-known adversarial attitude) and wrote “I owe no man or woman on this earth any explanation of my conduct.”