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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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Session:         Page of 1029

Q:

Not believing it, but that's what she gave as an example.

Cerf:

That's what she gave. Of course I should have said, “I certainly would. I would have taken out a lot of those ‘begats.'”

Anyway, at this final meeting, she wouldn't stop arguing. I kept telling her, “Ayn, I've got to go home.” It was about six o'clock and we had a dinner date that night. We went downstairs, and she was still repeating that I had promised her that I wouldn't change her copy. I finally got into a taxicab, and she was still on the corner talking as I drove away. Finally she gave her ultimatum, “You're going to print every word I've written, or I won't let you publish the book.” I said, “That's that. Get yourself another publisher.” I was adamant on this. Imagine putting your imprint on a book like that!

Well, New American Library, who don't seem to care what they print, took it. I must say, I don't think that anybody ever read these essays because I never heard one word of criticism, but there it is in the book. I never even saw a review of it.

When Kennedy was assassinated that fall, I wrote Ayn asking, “Don't you agree now that this was wrong?" She didn't agree at all. She said that the assassination had nothing to do with what she had to say. It didn't change her opinion one iota.





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