The Floating Head of Ayn Rand: A Timeline

February, 1972: As Buchanan and Rand's affair ends, five burglars are arrested at the Watergate Hotel, home of the Democratic Party's National Committee. Connections emerge between the burglars and White House staff member G. Gordon Liddy, but are ignored by most media. Only Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein follow the story.

Throughout their investigation of the scandal, the two are given valuable inside information by the Floating Head of Ayn Rand. Their efforts contribute to the downfall of Richard Nixon. Washington insiders speculate that Rand sought revenge for Nixon's lack of interest in her testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities some twenty-five years before. None guess her real reason: that Buchanan's secret penchant for poodles, lollipops and balloon-patterned children's wallpaper had led her to consider him "a wishy-washy mystic, with not a single ounce of reason within him."

Woodward and Bernstein detail their experiences in All The President's Men; later, the book is turned into a successful movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. Strangely, neither version mentions Rand. Instead, the source is transmogrified into a senior White House official nicknamed "Deep Throat." Woodward and Bernstein refuse to answer any questions about Rand's involvment, instead holding out the carrot of "Deep Throat's" eventual unmasking after his death.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Rand and G. Gordon Liddy -- talk show host, guest star of 18 Wheels of Justice, and one of the few Watergate figures to serve time in jail -- become lovers after they meet at a pre-Academy Awards dinner in Los Angeles. The 1981 affair is short-lived: Liddy breaks off the relationship after Rand confesses her secret role in Watergate.

From Hearings Regarding Communist Infiltration of the Motion Picture Industry, as printed by the US Government Printing Office. Rand testified on October 20, 1947.

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