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On October 17, 1951 Ayn and Frank moved to New York City permanently to live in one of the skyscrapers that Ayn loved so dearly. "I love New York. It is a city, and I suppose that I am one of those decadent products of civilization that do not feel at home outside of a big city." In late 1950 Ayn received a fan letter from a young psychologist, Nathaniel Branden. He first visited Ayn and Frank in 1951 at their home in New York. Being much impressed by Branden, Ayn supported his efforts in creating the Nathaniel Branden Institute that taught Ms Rand's "Objectivism" philosophy. It is reported that she and Nathaniel had a long term affair that both spouses, Frank O'Conner and Barbara Branden, where aware of. In 1968 Ayn dropped her support of Branden accusing him of personal and professional indiscretions. Ayn worked full time on "Atlas Shrugged" (originally named The Strike) before finishing it in 1957. Ayn visited numerous steel plants and major railroads during her research. She was especially enthralled with riding in the engine compartment of a train to Albany. She felt that Atlas Shrugged encompassed her entire philosophy of Objectivism. It took her over 2 years to write John Galt's radio speech to the world, from July 29, 1953 to October 13, 1955. It was 57 pages of the almost 1100 page novel. "It is a mystery story , not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder...and rebirth...of a man's spirit" During a television interview in 1961 Ayn stated that...
"I don't know whether I will ever write fiction again. The difficulty is that Atlas Shrugged was the climax and completion of the goal I had set for myself at the age of nine...I can never surpass Galt." In 1961 she published the book "For the New Intellectual", and started a monthly publication"The Objectivist Newsletter" in 1962. Her popular, but controversial book, "The Virtue of Selfishness" was published in 1964. Ayn Rand spoke yearly for the next 12 years at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston to full houses. She made her first television appearance with Mike Wallace in 1959....and was later interviewed by Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow Show, and Phil Donahue Show in 1979, to name a few. Mike Wallace commented..."...and she would take any questions. She was perfectly open and you could see the mind at work, and she liked the joust of tough questions and direct answers". In 1978 Ayn's husband Frank began showing signs of arterial sclerosis with some memory loss and disorientation. Earlier, Ayn had a cancerous lesion from her lung removed that forced her to stop smoking. Ayn and Frank had always been very close, despite the difficult time during her affair with Nathaniel Branden. They would often be seen holding hands, and using pet names for each other...Frank called Ayn "kitten fluff" and Ayn's name for Frank was "cubbyhole". Frank O'Conner died in November 1979 at the age of 82. The loss of Frank devastated Ayn and she sunk into a deep depression. She would eventually snap out of it and resume her work by writing a television script for a TV miniseries of Atlas Shrugged (yet to be produced). Her last lecture would be in New Orleans in late 1981. Ayn Rand died at her home in New York from heart failure on March 6, 1982, at the age of 78.
"One feels certain that somewhere in one's surroundings or within one's reach...a proper, human way of life is possible to human beings, and justice matters." 
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