Nader, Ralph (1934–)

RALPH NADER, a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author, was born in Winsted, Connecticut, on February 27, 1934. In 1955, Nader received a B.A. magna cum laude from Princeton University, and in 1958 an LL.B. with distinction from Harvard University. His career began as a lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1959 and from 1961 to 1963 he lectured on history and government at the University of Hartford. In 1965 and 1966, he received the Nieman Fellows Award and was named one of ten Outstanding Young Men of Year by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1967. Between 1967 and 1968, he returned to Princeton as a lecturer, and he continues to speak at colleges and universities across the United States.

Nader's documented criticism of government and industry has had widespread effect on public awareness and bureaucratic power. He is the “U.S.'s toughest customer” as Time magazine noted. His inspiration and example have galvanized a whole population of consumer advocates, citizen activists, and public interest lawyers who in turn have established their own organizations throughout the country. Nader is opposed to corporate welfare and the dangerous convergence of corporate and government power. Nader first made headlines in 1965 with his book Unsafe at Any Speed, a scornful indictment that castigated the auto industry for producing unsafe vehicles. The book led to congressional hearings and a series of automobile safety laws passed in 1966.

In his career as consumer advocate, he founded many organizations including the Center for Study of Responsive Law, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights Center, the Pension Rights Center, the Project for Corporate [Page 324]Responsibility, and a monthly magazine, The Multinational Monitor. He has built an effective national network of citizen groups that have had a major impact in areas ranging from tax reform to nuclear energy to health and safety programs. As the New York Times said, “What sets Nader apart is that he has moved beyond social criticism to effective political action.”

In the mid-2000s, Nader lectures on the growing “imperialism” of multinational corporations and of a dangerous convergence of corporate and government power. With the passage of trade treaties like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), this merger of corporate and government interests is escalating. His magazine, The Multinational Monitor, tracks the global intrusion of multinational corporations and their impact on developing nations, labor, and the environment.

Nader's overriding concern and vision is presently focused on empowering citizens to create a responsive government sensitive to citizens' needs. The top of Nader's agenda has been defending the U.S. civil justice system. Corporate lobbyists and certain legislators have worked on both the federal and state levels to restrain consumers' rights to seek justice in court against wrongdoers in the area of product liability, securities fraud, and medical negligence. Nader recently coauthored a book on corporate lawyers and the perils of the legal system entitled No Contest.

Nader transformed consumerism into a movement that could effectively counter the power wielded by business in the marketplace and by government policy makers. Nader's leadership gave the consumer movement a proactive, visionary dimension. Through a process that he once described as “documenting your intuition,” Nader spent the latter half of the 1960s investigating a host of abuses against individuals by American business and government. His reports spurred passage of new laws addressing unsanitary conditions in meatpacking and poultry production, the dangers of natural gas pipelines, radiation emissions from television sets and X rays, and hazardous working conditions in coal mines.

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