Ayn Rand

Ayn (rhymes with "mine") Rand (February 2, 1905 - March 6, 1982) She was born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum, to a Jewish family in Saint Petersburg, Russia. While she grew up in Russia, she watched the Bolshevik revolution bring poverty to her middle-class family. Deciding that communism would lead to the destruction of not only Russia, but the world, she acquired a visa to visit some relatives in Chicago. Once there she vowed never to return to Russia. She then moved to Los Angeles and changed her name to Ayn Rand to protect her family back in Russia.

Her theory of Objectivism has much in common with Libertarian philosophy, though she has said herself that she wants nothing to do with the Libertarian Party.