Ralph Nader: Biography, Accomplishments, Books, Car Safety, History, Views - Interview (2010)

• published: 19 Aug 2013
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Ralph Nader (/ˈneɪdər/, Arabic: رالف نادر; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. Nader came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of his book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers in general, and most famously the Chevrolet Corvair. In 1999, a New York University panel of journalists ranked Unsafe at Any Speed 38th among the top 100 pieces of journalism of the 20th century. Nader is a five-time candidate for President of the United States, having run as a write-in candidate in the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary, as the Green Party nominee in 1996 and 2000, and as an independent candidate in 2004 and 2008. Hundreds of young activists, inspired by Nader's work, came to DC to help him with other projects.[citation needed] They came to be known as "Nader's Raiders" and, under Nader, investigated government corruption, publishing dozens of books with their results: Nader's Raiders (Federal Trade Commission) Vanishing Air (National Air Pollution Control Administration) The Chemical Feast (Food and Drug Administration) The Interstate Commerce Omission (Interstate Commerce Commission) Old Age (nursing homes) The Water Lords (water pollution) Who Runs Congress? (Congress) Whistle Blowing (punishment of whistle blowers) The Big Boys (corporate executives) Collision Course (Federal Aviation Administration) No Contest (corporate lawyers) Destroy the Forest (Destruction of ecosystems worldwide) In 1971, Nader co-founded the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Public Citizen with fellow public interest lawyer Alan Morrison as an umbrella organization for these projects. Today, Public Citizen has over 225,000 members[25] and investigates congressional, health, environmental, economic and other issues. Nader wrote, "The consumer must be protected at times from his own indiscretion and vanity."[26] During the Watergate affair Nader challenged the dismissal by Robert Bork of Nixon's special prosecutor Cox in the aftermath of the Saturday Night Massacre.[27] In the 1970s and 1980s Nader was a key leader in the antinuclear power movement. "By 1976, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who later became allied with the environmental movement, 'stood as the titular head of opposition to nuclear energy'."[28][29] The Critical Mass Energy Project was formed by Nader in 1974 as a national anti-nuclear umbrella group.[30] It was probably the largest national anti-nuclear group in the United States, with several hundred local affiliates and an estimated 200,000 supporters.[31] The organization's main efforts were directed at lobbying activities and providing local groups with scientific and other resources to campaign against nuclear power.[30][32] Nader advocates the complete elimination of nuclear energy in favor of solar, tidal, wind and geothermal, citing environmental, worker safety, migrant labor, national security, disaster preparedness, foreign policy, government accountability and democratic governance issues to bolster his position.[33] Nader was also a prominent supporter of the Airline Deregulation Act.[34] For his activism, Nader received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen in 1974, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_nader Image By Ragesoss (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons