The Famous Mike Wallace Interview with Ayn Rand

This video of America's greatest philosopher, Ayn Rand, might be the most important interview you have ever watched.

by Ayn Rand | Feb 1, 2026 | Philosophy

“Novelist Ayn Rand talks with Wallace about the personal philosophy underpinning her books The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, as well as the economy, welfare, the American political system, and taxes.” Originally broadcast 1959. Posted to YouTube by the Ayn Rand Insitute with permission of The Mike Wallace Interview Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, and Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Learn more about Ayn Rand and AynRand.org

Ayn Rand

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A mind operating from prior conclusions does not go looking for evidence that might challenge them. It looks for evidence that confirms, and mistakes the confirmation for proof.

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Writing in 1957, decades before Effective Altruism had a name or a giving pledge, Ayn Rand described altruism’s core demand: that need functions as “the first mortgage on your life and the moral purpose of your existence.”

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