Joan Kennedy Taylor (Interviewed April 4, 2004)

Joan Kennedy Taylor was the former publisher of one of the first Objectivist themed magazines, Persuasion, and a Rand associate for over twenty years.

During our interview, I was surprised to learn that a group of Objectivists put together a conference in Washington, DC, during the Vietnam War, in an effort to end the military draft. - DS

Kennedy Taylor:  "It was very successful. We got a couple of hundred people at the conference. [One of the speakers,] Martin Anderson, decided that he would like to work on the presidential campaign and he went to see Nixon and he said, “I'm down here speaking on the economics of the draft and I thought maybe I could persuade you to make [elimination of the draft] one of your issues.” 

Nixon, who had been raised a Quaker, said yes, he'd be interested. And he hired Marty to be one of his aides. He went from being an aide in the campaign, to being an aide in the White House, to being the person who was the liaison with the commission that was supposed to decide what should be done with the Army. He got them all to decide unanimously for abolishing the draft."

I was astounded that I had never heard this story before. The elimination of  the military draft was an enormously significant advance for liberty in America, and Objectivists played a key role. How relevant too, given the recent rumblings in favor of restoring the draft.