Nader, Ralph (1934–)

Ralph Nader has been a candidate for president of the United States in 1996, 2000, and 2004, a political activist, an attorney, and an author. He became first known to the public in 1966 when he appeared before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on auto safety that came in the wake of his 1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed, which examined engineering practices of American automobiles. Nader's arguments helped the public to identify with the harassment from corporate power that he was experiencing from General Motors, establish for himself a specific political agenda that he would continue to pursue, and framed him as a heroic leader, which helped to give him credibility on areas of public interest including corporate power, consumer rights, environmental issues, and feminism.

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