text: As with We the Living, Rand's later success allowed her to get a revised version published in 1946, and this sold over 3.5 million copies.The Fountainhead and political activism During the 1940s, Rand became politically active.She and her husband were full-time volunteers for Republican Wendell Willkie's 1940 presidential campaign.This work put her in contact with other intellectuals sympathetic to free-market capitalism.She became friends with journalist Henry Hazlitt, who introduced her to the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises.Despite philosophical differences with them, Rand strongly endorsed the writings of both men throughout her career, and they expressed admiration for her.Mises once called her "the most courageous man in America", a compliment that particularly pleased her because he said "man" instead of "woman".Rand became friends with libertarian writer Isabel Paterson.Rand questioned her about American history and politics during their many meetings, and gave Paterson ideas for her only non-fiction book, The God of the Machine.Rand's first major success as a writer came in 1943 with The Fountainhead, a novel about an uncompromising architect named Howard Roark and his struggle against what Rand described as "second-handers" who attempt to live through others, placing others above themselves.Twelve publishers rejected it before Bobbs-Merrill Company accepted it at the insistence of editor Archibald Ogden, who threatened to quit if his employer did not publish it.While completing the novel, Rand was prescribed the amphetamine Benzedrine to fight fatigue.The drug helped her to work long hours to meet her deadline for delivering the novel, but afterwards she was so exhausted that her doctor ordered two weeks' rest.Her use of the drug for approximately three decades may have contributed to mood swings and outbursts described by some of her later associates.