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Ralph NaderLawyer, consumer rights advocate
Date of Birth: 27.02.1934
Country:  Lebanon |
Content:
Biography of Ralph Nader
Early Life and EducationRalph Nader was born in Winsted, Connecticut, to Nader and Rose Nader, Orthodox Arab Christians from Lebanon. Despite his family's religious background, Nader never specified his own religion. His father, Nader Nader, worked in a textile factory and also owned a bakery and restaurant, where he engaged visitors in political discussions. Nader has a brother, Shafeek Nader, who founded the Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest and passed away in 1986 from prostate cancer. He also has two sisters, Laura Nader Milleron, a Ph.D. holder and anthropology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and Claire Nader, a Ph.D. holder and founder of the Council for Responsible Genetics.
Legal Career and Activism
Nader graduated from Princeton University in 1955 and Harvard Law School in 1958. After serving six months in the U.S. Army, he began his career as a lawyer in Hartford. Between 1961 and 1963, he was a professor of history and public administration at the University of Hartford. In 1964, Nader moved to Washington and got a job with Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then the Assistant Secretary of Labor. He later wrote as a freelance author for The Nation and Christian Science Monitor, and also advised the Senate Commission on automobile safety.
In the early 1980s, Nader fought against a powerful lobby opposing the FDA's approval of a large-scale experiment on artificial lens implants. He later published articles in The Progressive Populist. Nader gained significant attention in 1965 when he published the book "Unsafe at Any Speed," which examined the unsafe design practices of many American automobiles, particularly the Chevrolet Corvair and other General Motors vehicles. General Motors attempted to discredit Nader by hiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past, as well as hiring prostitutes to entrap him. However, no compromising information on Nader was found. When Nader discovered these attempts, he successfully sued General Motors for invasion of privacy, forcing the company to issue a public apology and winning a $425,000 compensation. A significant portion of this amount went towards expanding his consumer advocacy efforts.
Activism and Nader's Raiders
Inspired by Nader's work, hundreds of young activists joined his projects and became known as "Nader's Raiders." Led by Nader, they investigated cases of government corruption and published dozens of books with their findings. In 1971, Nader founded the non-governmental organization Public Citizen as an umbrella organization for all these projects. Today, Public Citizen has over 140,000 members and conducts numerous investigations into congressional activities, healthcare issues, environmental concerns, and more. The organization's efforts have contributed to the passing of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
