Ralph Nader's Biography and List Of Accomplishments

It is difficult to name anyone who, over the last half century, has made more important contributions to the United States legal, political and business systems than Ralph Nader. Indeed, many of the changes that Nader has effected have become so integrated into mainstream culture that his accomplishments are now taken for granted.

For example, did you know that it is Ralph Nader who was responsible for the creation of OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and the Consumer Product Safety Administration? And did you know that Nader was instrumental in the adoption of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Wholesome Meat Act, and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act? (Indeed, it was Ralph Nader who maneuvered the auto industry into making airbags available on American cars.) However, more than anything else, Nader is responsible for a wholesale shift in contemporary attitudes toward consumer rights, public safety, humane business practices, and open government.

Ralph Nader (1934-) was born in Winsted, Connecticut, the son of Lebanese parents. As a young man, Nader excelled in school, graduating magna cum laude from Princeton University (1955) and with distinction from Harvard Law School (1958). In 1963, at the age of 29, Nader hitchhiked to Washington, DC, where he found a job working for the Assistant Secretary of Labor (Daniel Moynihan). Over the next few years, Nader spent time researching for Moynihan, writing for The Christian Science Monitor and The Nation, and advising a Senate subcommittee on automobile safety.

In 1965, when he was 31 years old, Nader published a seminal book, "Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile". The book was a report on the practices of the American auto industry, particularly General Motors. Nader showed that the auto industry consistently sacrificed safety for the sake of profits, even to the point of refusing to implement important features such as seat belts. GM retaliated by hiring private investigators to pry into Nader's life, even going so far as to try to trap him in a compromising position. To GM's surprise, Nader proved to be the most innocent, clean-living person in the entire District of Columbia. The detectives failed to dig up any dirt and when Nader found out about it, he successfully sued GM for invasion of privacy. On March 22, 1966, the President of GM (James Roche) was forced to appear before a Senate subcommittee and publicly apologize to Nader.

Within a year, Nader's book had led to a series of new national automobile safety laws. At the same time, Nader was using his money from the GM settlement to fund even more investigations. In the summer of 1969, Nader hired a large number of young activists who came to D.C. to work on his new projects. Their work was prodigious and highly effective, and they soon came to be called "Nader's Raiders" (a name that was coined by Washington Post reporter William Greider). By 1972, Nader and his co-workers had published 17 books, documenting serious problems in many areas of government and business. There were a large number of investigations related to the public interest, resulting in significant improvements and changes.

Why was Ralph Nader so effective? Aside from his obvious intelligence and persistence, Nader had a genius for organization. His method was to inspire people to take an interest in public affairs, help them set up viable organizations to work towards their goals, and then disengage and let the organizations develop on their own.

Over the years, Nader has inspired the creation of dozens of organizations devoted to investigating many different areas of the law, government, the environment, and public affairs. Perhaps the most famous such organization is Public Citizen, founded by Nader in 1971 to serve as an umbrella organization for a miscellany of projects. (Nader resigned as director in 1980.) Another well-known group of organizations are the Nader-inspired Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), college organizations for idealistic students who want to work on projects in the public interest. (When I was an undergraduate at the University of Waterloo in Canada, back in the early 1970s, I went to see Nader talk. What I heard inspired me, and I went on to start the very first PIRG in Canada.)

In recent years, Ralph Nader has enlarged his crusade into the mainstream political arena by running for President. In 1996 and 2000, he ran as a member of the Green Party, receiving (in 2000) almost 3 percent of the popular vote. In 2004, he ran again, this time as an independent candidate. As a presidential candidate, Nader's presents a platform of enlightened populism. His feeling that there is "too much power and wealth in too few hands" has led him to campaign for workers' rights, affordable housing, environmental justice, universal healthcare, campaign finance reform, free education through college, and more controls on corporate power. He is also in favor of shifting more of the tax burden onto corporations, relieving the strain on middle- and lower-class taxpayers.

On a larger scale, Nader warns of the growing "imperialism" of huge, multinational corporations: an evolution that, he feels, has led to a grand convergence of corporate and government power. As such, Nader opposes what he calls "autocratic trade treaties", such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade).

There are two sides to Ralph Nader: the dedicated, consumer activist; and the unbending, often intolerant fanatic. As you can see, there are two sides to Ralph Nader. There is the dedicated, consumer activist who has -- against all odds and in the face of continued opposition -- managed to inspire and galvanize a large number of people into taking practical, effective action. However, there is also Nader the extremist: an unbending, often intolerant fanatic. For example, Nader not only labors tirelessly for his causes, he demands that others do the same, particularly those who work for him (who are typically paid very little for their efforts).

Over the years, Nader's antipathy towards big business and big government has also served to harden him, turning him into a cynic who refuses to compromise or even consider the arguments of those who disagree with him. Moreover, in the name of the public interest, he has aligned himself with the trial lawyer lobby, often working against legal reforms in a way that is questionable for one who describes his full-time job as "public citizen".

Still, this is only to be expected. The appetite grows upon what it feeds and, for decades, Nader has been a professional iconoclast. As he puts it, "You've got to keep the pressure on, even if you lose. The essence of the citizen's movement is persistence." It is common for such men to become fossilized in their beliefs as they grow older. Nevertheless, Nader is a great man: a highly effective and passionate idealist who has spent a lifetime asking the question, "What can I do for my country?", rather than "What can my country do for me?"

List Of Accomplishments:
Sorry I wasn't able to complete the links on all of the info on the acts he has been involved with - it's a mammoth job!

Instrumental in the passing of the following legislation:

National Automobile and Highway Traffic Safety Act (1965)
Clean Water Act
Clean Air Act (1970)
Co-Op Bank Bill (1978)
Law establishing Environmental Protection Agency (1970)
Consumer Product Safety Act
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Mine Health and Safety Act
Whistleblower Protection Act
Medical Devices safety
Nuclear power safety
Mobile home safety
Consumer credit disclosure law
Pension protection law
Funeral home cost disclosure law
Tire safety & grading disclosure law
Wholesome Meat Act
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act
Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act
Wholesome Poultry Product Act
Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1970
Safe Water Drinking Act
Freedom of Information Act
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act

Founded or sponsored the following organizations:

American Antitrust Institute
Appleseed Foundation
Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest
Aviation Consumer Action Project
529 14th Street, NW Suite 923
Washington, DC 20045
Tel: (202)638-4000
Fax: (202)638-0746

Buyers Up
Capitol Hill News Service Center for Concerned Engineering
Center for Auto Safety
Center for Insurance Research
Center for Justice and Democracy
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for the study of Responsive Law - 1969
Center for Women Policy Studies
Citizen Action Group
Citizen Advocacy Center
Citizen Utility Boards
Citizen Works
Clean Water Action Project
Clearinghouse for Professional Responsibility
Congress Project
Congress Watch
Congressional Accountability Project
Connecticut Citizen Action Group
Consumer Project on Technology
Corporate Accountability Research Group
Critical Mass Energy Project
Democracy Rising
Disability Rights Center
Equal Justice Foundation
Essential Information
FANS (Fight to Advance the Nation's Sports)
Fisherman's Clear Water Action Group
Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights
Freedom of Information Clearinghouse
Global Trade Watch
Government Purchasing Project
Health Research Group
Litigation Group
Multinational Monitor
National Citizen's Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest
National Insurance Consumer Organization
Ohio Public Interest Action Group
Organization for Competitive Markets
Professional Drivers (PROD)
Professionals for Auto Safety
Public Citizen
Pension Rights Center
Princeton Project 55
PROD - truck safety
Public Citizen's Visitor's Center
Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGS)
Resource Consumption Alliance (conserve trees) 1004
Retired Professionals Action Group
Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest
Tax Reform Research Group
Telecommunications Research and Action Center
The Visitor's Center
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice

Some of the books Ralph Nader has written or helped produce:

Unsafe at Any Speed
Action for a Change(with Donald Ross, Brett English, and Joseph Highland)
Whistle-Blowing (with Peter J. Petkas and Kate Blackwell)
Corporate Power in America (with Mark Green)
You and Your Pension (with Kate Blackwell)
The Consumer and Corporate Accountability
Corporation Nation: How Corporations are Taking Over Our Lives -- and What We Can Do About It
Taming the Giant Corporation (with Mark Green and Joel Seligman)
Verdicts on Lawyers
The Menace of Atomic Energy (with John Abbotts)
The Lemon Book
Who's Poisoning America (with Ronald Brownstein and John Richard)
The Big Boys (with William Taylor)
Winning the Insurance Game (with Wesley Smith and J. Robert Hunter)
Canada Firsts
The Frugal Shopper (with Wesley Smith)
Collision Course (with Wesley Smith)
The Case Against Free Trade: GATT, NAFTA, and the Globalization of Corporate Power
No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and Perversion of Justice in America (with Wesley Smith)
Civic Arousal
The Ralph Nader Reader
The Good Fight: Declare Your Independence and Close the Democracy Gap (Ralph signed this book for me)
In Pursuit of Justice
Cutting Corporate Welfare
Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender
The Seventeen Traditions (2007). I love this book - it's all about how Ralph was raised including the values his parents instilled in him. If you want to know how such a man was molded, this is a great little book.

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