In January 1962, Ayn Rand launched The Objectivist Newsletter, inaugurating simultaneously a weekly column in the Los Angeles Times.

Why did Ayn Rand, best known as the author of two best-selling novels, decide to become an editor as well as a writer? Why did she deem it necessary to start a new publication? How was the goal of publishing The Objectivist Newsletter different from the goal of writing a weekly newspaper column? Who was the newsletter’s target audience? What were the original plans, and how did the plans change? How did she ensure quality control?

At a time when she could not count on the press to represent her words and ideas accurately even when she provided a written text, she was committed to making everything within her own publication fully professional, accurate and representative of her philosophy.

What can we learn, fifty years later, from the history of The Objectivist Newsletter?