Ralph Nader

If there was one man who had a huge impact on the automobile it would be Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader has accomplished many things throughout his like most of which changed the automobile for the better. He is also a well known activist and advocate. Ralph Nader has helped improve vehicle safety to what we know it as today.

A little history on Ralph Nader, he was born on February 27, 1934 in Winsted, Connecticut. He grew up and “played with neighborhood kids, and he was an avid Yankees fan, but in his spare time he eagerly read the Congressional Record and other unlikely writings(Essortment).” After graduating from Gilbert School in 1951, he entered the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University. After graduating from Princeton in 1955 with a major in government and economics, he then enrolled into Harvard Law School. While in “Harvard he had studied auto injury cases and came to believe that design flaws, rather than driver mistakes, were a result of a larger number of car accidents. After graduating in 1958, Nader set up a small legal practice and traveled widely.

Nader finally ended up in Washington D.C. In Washington is where Ralph Nader made all of his well known accomplishments. Ralph Nader is most well known for his knowledge on automobile safety. He has ran into many issues but he has also had a lot of good things happen as well.

Nader is certainly known for his book he wrote in 1965. The title of this book is “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile.” The book was basically a report on the practices of the American automobile industry, particularly General Motors. Because Nader concentrated mostly on General Motors, they ended up trying to quiet Nader by hiring investigators to undermine his credentials. Even with GM trying to quiet Nader his book had brought the issue of automobile safety into the spotlight where it could no longer be ignored.

Ralph Nader has sent the shocking message of The Safe Car You Can't Buy was that the “auto industry placed a premium on style, speed, and cost in designing cars but that its concern with safety was no more than a nod to a stepchild(Biography).” During the 1950s, 40,000 people a year died in the 5 million yearly car accidents. But because, according to one industry representative, a square foot of chrome sells ten times more cars than the best safety-door latch, “Detroit spent more time and “money tuning car-door slams than developing seat belts or a steering wheel that wouldn't impale the driver in a head-on collision(Biography).”

Ralph Nader not only wrote a book but he also was responsible for many other accomplishments. Some of these were the Occupational Safety and Health Administration also known as OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA, and also he

adopted the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. These three subjects had not only a great influence on automobiles, but also on the work force and people themselves. OSHA helps mandate safety in the workplace while the EPA mandates the emissions and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act mandates all the safety features which go into the vehicle and are safe enough to be put on the road.

There were also hundreds of young activists whom were inspired by Ralph Nader’s work, and the came to DC to help him with some other projects. These young activists were known as “Nader’s

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