by Research History In 1959, when Ayn Rand was relatively unknown, Mike Wallace conducted her first interview. This broadcast stirred up quite a controversy. The Russian-American philosopher and novelist called her philosophy Objectivism. Her beliefs seemed strange and extreme from an American’s point of view,  but when you consider her experience as a Russian at the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917  it begins to make sense. When Rand was twelve, she and her family had their lives disrupted  by the Bolshevik party under Vladimir Lenin. This resulted in the eventual confiscation of her father’s pharmacy and they were forced to flee to Crimea. Personal experience and cultural context are the staples…