Ralph Nader is a great American.
I'm shocked at "Educated" people who make brash statments about him.
My manager, a $250k+ dude say that "Nader is a IDIOT, he's the one who made them get rid of the Corvair"
HUH ?
Unsafe at any Speed pointed at many things, the deal with the Corvair was a suspension problem that was easily fixed. Other things Nader pointed out were non-padded dashes etc.
April 1959 an article published in The Nation,
"The Safe Car You Can't Buy,"
in which he declared, "It is clear Detroit today is designing automobiles for style, cost, performance and calculated obsolescence, but not -- despite the 5,000,000 reported accidents, nearly 40,000 fatalities <<-
IN 1959 !
NHTSA, a Nader product->>
March 1966 hearings opened amidst intense public interest, and, with Nader's lobbying, led to Warren Magnuson's celebrated hearings a few weeks later and eventually two new laws to promote auto and highway safety.
A new federal agency,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Between 1966 and 1969, his findings(Nader) helped spur passage of new laws dealing with the unsanitary conditions of meatpacking and poultry production, the first significant reform of those industries since 1907;
the dangers of natural gas pipelines;
radiation emissions from television sets and X-rays;
and hazardous working conditions in coal mines.
Reforms that were achieved through happenstance of tragedy
"the Flammable Fabrics Act of 1953"
and the thalidomide drug tragedy pushed through the 1962 drug effectiveness amendments(babies born with NO Legs or Arms)
"Nader's Raiders"
Hand picked brilliant students from Harvard, Princeton etc scared the daylights out of Washington exposing corruption, kickbacks, special interest "actions' and many other things including Air, Water and Food Pollution
i.e.
"The Interstate Commerce Omission"
by Robert C. Fellmeth, 1970)
"Vanishing Air"
by John Esposito, 1970
"The Chemical Feast"
by James Turner, 1971
"Water Wasteland"
by David Zwick and Marcy Benstock, 1971
"Old Age: The Last Segregation"
by Claire Townsend, 1971
exposed Nursing Home fraud and horrific conditions
"Sowing the Wind"
by Harrison Wellford, 1972
Hazards of pesticides
"The Madness Establishment"
by Franklin D. Chu and Sharland Trotter, 1972
exposing Mental Health Center malpractices
3 more groups founded by Nader by 1970
the Center for Auto Safety
the Project on Corporate Responsibility
the Public Interest Research Group-> undertook assorted projects. One petitioned the FDA to require disclosures of the phosphate content of laundry detergent. Another waged a lawsuit to have the FDA require better health warnings on birth control pills. Two PIRG attorneys moved to West Virginia to mobilize community opposition to Union Carbide's stifling air pollution
http://www.nader.org/history_bollier.html
The list of massive achievements is almost endless.
Lets review Presidential Candiate Al Gores contributions,
1. He invented the internet
I rest;
), I was under the impression from my personal recollections at the time, that it was more to do with the head-on crash protection, or lack thereof, that really had him going.
Linear Mode
