Ralph Nader

"There's no ticket of admission for active citizenship. Anybody can get through that gate, and anybody can ask that basic question that gets the ball rolling." In 1965 Ralph Nader asked a question that shocked America. In his book Unsafe at Any Speed he asked why thousands of Americans were being killed or injured in car accidents when the technology already existed to make our cars safer. The automobile industry resisted Nader's suggestions furiously, but public outcry forced government and industry to apply new safety standards, and to include devices like shoulder harnesses and air bags which have saved thousands from death or injury. Ralph Nader didn't stop there. His concept of full-time citizenship led him to form groups such as Public Citizen which have exposed corporate and governmental negligence and corruption and won important new protections for Americans as citizens and consumers. More than 30 years after he began his crusade for automobile safety, Ralph Nader continues his efforts to make government and business accountable to the people, and to make all Americans aware of their rights and of their own power to defend them.