Wesley Mouch The economic dictator of the country, Mouch is an unscrupulous mediocrity who begins his political career as Rearden’s “Washington man.” He rises by selling Rearden out regarding the Equalization of Opportunity Bill, thereby winning the favor of James Taggart. Taggart’s patronage enables Mouch to rise to the top of the economic bureaucracy. In the end, with the country in economic collapse, Mr. Thompson wishes to force Mouch’s job on John Galt.
Mr. Thompson Mr. Thompson is the Head of State. He is utterly pragmatic, contemptuous of principles or convictions, and driven by the expediency of the moment. He will make any deal necessary with anybody in order to keep himself in power. Mr. Thompson even believes that he can cut a deal with John Galt who, in his view, has control of a political pressure group—the men of brains. Mr. Thompson is honestly puzzled by Galt’s unwillingness to make a deal with him. In his cynical view, there is no such thing as a man not open to a corrupt deal.
Dr. Floyd Ferris The day-to-day head of the State Science Institute, Dr. Floyd Ferris is a murderous bureaucrat with an unquenchable lust for political power. Dr. Ferris would murder Galt without a second thought rather than give up the power he has gained. Ferris postures as a scientist but is actually hostile to the mind, because the thinkers, he recognizes, don’t unquestioningly obey a dictator’s commands. Therefore, he consistently attacks the mind, as in his book, Why Do You Think You Think?
Dr. Simon Pritchett Dr. Simon Pritchett is the professor who takes Hugh Akston’s place as head of the Department of Philosophy at Patrick Henry University. Like Ferris, Pritchett is a skeptic, attacking the mind’s ability to gain knowledge. When contrasted with Hugh Akston, Dr. Pritchett is an example of the decline of philosophy in an era when the mind is on strike.
Orren Boyle The owner of Associated Steel (a competitor of Rearden’s), Boyle is a friend of Jim Taggart’s and an unprincipled businessman who seeks gain solely by virtue of his connections in Washington. The government’s expropriation of patents gives Boyle the legal right to manufacture Rearden Metal, but Ragnar Danneskjöld blows up his mills, ensuring that the only man to profit from the new metal is the one who created it.
Fred Kinnan The head of the country’s labor unions, Kinnan is a gangster who seeks only power and plunder from his position. However, he’s the most honest of the looters. Most of the looters try to convince themselves that they enslave the country for the “public good.” Kinnan openly admits that he’s a just a criminal seeking the unearned.
