The Floating Head of Ayn Rand: A Timeline

February 16, 1964: The Leader decides that A=A is ready to announce its existence, and begins to think of a way to strike fear into heart of an irrational world at the same time.

He investigates the possibility of a billboard advertising campaign across America, but is frustrated by Lady Bird Johnson's own campaign to eliminate roadside billboards. He considers releasing giant Rand-shaped balloons in major cities around the world, but is unable to negotiate the purchase of the necessary amounts of helium (designated a National Military Resource by the United States government). Eventually, he settles on jamming the second appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, targeting them for their "anti-Greed and anti-Life haircuts." He assigns his Scientific Squad the task of whipping together a giant broadcasting facility, to be built on A=A's secret island.

It is meant to be a public demonstration of The Leader's ability to lecture America at will, and of the inevitable superiority of the rational mind when backed by lottery winnings. Instead, it fails miserably due to interference from a Soviet attempt to jam the same broadcast. Beyond a few short lines in the back of The Washington Post on the curious disruption of the CBS signal in Podunk, Iowa, no one else notices. A=A's leader swears revenge upon the Soviet Union, The Beatles, Ed Sullivan, CBS, and "those goddamn vacuum tubes from Radio Shack."

Decades later, a highly-trained A=A member will travel to New York in an attempt to assassinate John Lennon at last, only to find out Mark Chapman had been there first.

At The Reality Ranch in San Jose, Rand finds herself strangely attracted to Ringo Starr, drummer for The Beatles, throughout the broadcast. Beyond a few Beavis-like kung-fu kicks, she does nothing about it.

Next: The Head of Ayn Rand Removed At Last