Loading ...The Father Of Consumer Advocacy - Ralph Nader
By: Habeeb Salloum/Contributing writer
Lawyer, activist, author politician, but above all a determined and eloquent advocate of consumers, Ralph Nader, has been, for decades, like a moving star, flickering on the North American scene. Since the early 1960s, he has been the U.S.A.’s most renowned and effective crusader for consumer safety and worker’s rights and named, by The Atlantic and Time Magazine, as one of the hundred most influential figures in American history. Often in deep conflict with big business and government, he has been a symbol of America’s industrial malaise. Idealistic and modest with Spartan habits, his lifestyle is almost monk-like. He has little interest in worldly possessions, dedicating his life to serving the interest of the general public.
Ralph, born in Winsted, Connecticut in 1934, was the son of the Lebanese immigrants from Arsoun[1], Nathra and Rose (Bouziane) who owned a bakery-restaurant[2]. After graduating from Gilbert School in 1951, he entered Princeton and graduated magna cum laude in 1955, majoring in economics and government. He, then, went on to Harvard Law School where he developed an intense distaste for the university’s narrow intellectualism and moral complacency – a feeling that set him on the way to try and cure the nation’s ills.
After serving in the army, he set up a small law practice in Hartford, Connecticut. However, with a feeling of deep social consciousness, he became distressed at the abuse of power and the indifference of American big business. Nader, then an unknown twenty-nine-year old attorney, abandoned his law practice, and hitchhiked to Washington, D.C., to begin his long odyssey of professional citizenship.
He rose to fame in the early 1960s when he took on General Motors for its unsafe auto record. In 1965, his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, came out. The chief target of the book was General Motors’ popular ‘Corvair’ car with its unsafe features. Generally, this soon to become bestseller, documented how Detroit habitually subordinated safety for style for profit. The book, taking on the largest corporation in the world, initiated a true revolution in auto manufacturing and inspired a great deal of public interest. It catapulted auto safety into the public spotlight, leading to the passage, in 1966, of the ‘National Traffic and Motor Safety Act’ – an unprecedented attempt to regulate the powerful auto industry.
Thereafter, Nader became renowned as a David slaying a Goliath. Yet, he did not see his newfound celebrity status as a base for political gain, riches or respectability in the powerful Establishment. Instead, he saw his work as a tool for contributing to a new form of citizenship – to true patriotism. He saw his mission was to make corporations and government more humane, ethical and concerned.
From the late 1960s to our times, Nader has gathered evidence, proposed constructive reforms and alerted Congress, media and the public about the many issues related to economics, environmental pollution, excessive corporate influence, health and safety. His disciples, who became known as ‘Nader’s Raiders’, have been active since the 1970s. Nader, along with his ‘Raiders’ have been instrumental in the enactment of laws and regulations to problems of public concern and these have greatly benefitted the public.
Nader and his Raiders were largely responsible for the passage or establishment of the ‘Clean Air Act’, ‘Consumer Product Safety Commission’, ‘Environmental Protection Agency’, ‘Freedom of Information Act’, ‘Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and ‘Wholesome Meat Act’. In addition, Nader has founded through the years some dozen organizations, a good number still active. Among these are the: ‘Center for Auto Safety’ ‘Center for Responsive Law’, ‘Clean Water Action Project’, ‘Disability Rights Center’, ‘Pension Rights Center’, ‘Project for Corporate Responsibility’, ‘Public interest Research Group’, and ‘Public Citizen’.
Besides his famous book, Unsafe At Any Speed, Nader has authored, co-authored and edited dozens of works such as Corporate Power in America, Taming of Giant Corporations, Menace of Atomic Energy, Winning the Insurance Game, No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America, Unstoppable, The Seventeen Traditions, The Seventeen Solutions – all but to name a few, and his most recent, Return to Sender: Unanswered Letters to the President, 2001-2015.
Nader began to take part in American politics in 1992 – thereafter running three times for president of the U.S. under the banner of the Green Party – the only serious one in 2000 when he garnered some 2.5% of the vote. His campaigns centered on taking large corporations to task and his platform highlighted issues such as education, environment, poverty and trade. Even though, in the three elections, he never received more than a few percent of the vote, his campaigns brought to light major problems, hidden away by the traditional Democratic and Republican parties.
Ralph Nader on Election Day in 2000, when he was the Green Party’s nominee for President.
Through the years Nader has been a looming nemesis for big business. He has many times exposed the misdeeds of the corporate sector and the country’s political system, sparking debates on a wide range of public issues. His campaign on product safety, workers’ rights and greater corporate accountability became the nation’s agenda.
He has spent a lifetime, without letup, fighting on behalf of ordinary people, continuing year after year, to speak and propagate his views at colleges and universities across the U.S. There are very few Americans in our times that command his prestige and respect.
In 1967 the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce named him one of the ten ‘Outstanding Young Men of the Year’. Life magazine has ranked him as one of the country’s most influential Americans of the 20th century. There is no question that the legacy that Nader has achieved in his years of his consumer advocacy is very significant.
One can see this in the new acts and laws, the far more plentiful shopper-oriented information and the numerous new governmental programs designed to protect consumers and workers. Nader has also strongly influenced a national network of activists who are fighting to protect the ordinary people’s rights – a no less important achievement. His successes in helping people to attain their rights and workers their safety have been so integrated into American culture that they are now taken for granted. Yet, the ‘father of consumer advocacy’ has not stopped his mission. He continues on his seemingly never-ending task to better and correct the lives and safety of the American people.
Habeeb Salloum
[1] At the time, Arsoun was in Syria, duly noted on the WWI registration card for Nathra Nader on June 5, 1917.
[2] Highland Sweet Shop and 414 Main and Highland Lunch at 416 Main (1930 Torrington, Connecticut City Directory), Highland Sweet Shop 414 Main Highland Arms Restaurant 410 Main (1938 Torrington, Connecticut City Directory), Highland Bakery 416 Main (1956 Torrington, Connecticut City Directory)
