Ralph Nader

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Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader

Election date
November 4, 2008
Running mate Matt Gonzalez
Opponent(s) John McCain (R-Presumptive)
Barack Obama (D-Presumptive)
Chuck Baldwin (C)
Bob Barr (L)
and numerous others.
Incumbent George W. Bush (R)

Election date
November 2, 2004
Running mate Peter Camejo
Opponent(s) George W. Bush (R)
John Kerry (D)
Michael Badnarik (LP)
Michael Peroutka (CST)
David Cobb (G)
and numerous others
Incumbent George W. Bush (R)

Election date
November 7, 2000
Running mate Winona LaDuke
Opponent(s) George W. Bush (R)
Al Gore (D)
Pat Buchanan (REF)
Harry Browne (LP)
Howard Phillips (CST)
John Hagelin (NL)
Incumbent Bill Clinton (D)

Election date
November 5, 1996
Running mate Winona LaDuke
Anne Goeke
Madelyn Hoffman
Muriel Tillinghast
Opponent(s) Bill Clinton (D)
Bob Dole (R)
Ross Perot (REF)
Harry Browne (LP)
Howard Phillips (CST)
John Hagelin (NL)
Incumbent Bill Clinton (D)

Born February 27, 1934 (1934-02-27) (age 74)
Winsted, Connecticut
United States
Political party Independent
Other political
affiliations
Green (affiliated non-member)
Reform (affiliated non-member)
Alma mater Princeton University,
Harvard University
Occupation Attorney and Political Activist
Religion Maronite Catholic Church
Website http://www.votenader.org/

Ralph Nader (born February 27, 1934) is an American attorney, author, lecturer, political activist, and candidate for President of the United States in four elections. Areas of particular concern to Nader are consumer rights, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government. He was the first Maronite and Arab American presidential candidate in US history.[1]

Nader has run for President of the United States five times (in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008). In 1992 he ran as a write-in in both the New Hampshire Republican and Democratic primaries, and other primaries. In 1996 and 2000, he was the nominee of the Green Party; in 2004, he ran as an independent, but was also endorsed by the Reform Party.[2] His campaigns have been controversial, with his role in the 2000 election in particular being subject to much debate. Many Democrats accuse Nader of siphoning Democratic votes in key states that may have cost Al Gore the presidency.[3] Nader himself recently stated in a live interview that he believes Al Gore won the presidency in 2000 but that it was "stolen from [Gore]... by the Florida Secretary of State and Jeb Bush" and the US Supreme Court.[4] It is generally stated in the media that he blames the Democrats for George W. Bush's victory that year.[5][6] On February 24, 2008, he announced on NBC's Meet The Press that he is campaigning for the presidency in 2008.[7] Nader is currently the only 2008 presidential candidate calling for the impeachment of president George W. Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney and has made the topic one of his campaign's "Twelve Issues that Matter for 2008."[8][9]

Contents

[edit] Background and early career

Nader was born in Winsted, Connecticut. His parents, Nathra and Rose Nader, were Maronite Catholic immigrants from Lebanon. Rose and Nathra Nader's native language is Arabic,[10] and Ralph has spoken it along with English since childhood.[11][12]

Nathra Nader was employed in a textile mill, and at one point owned a bakery and restaurant where he engaged customers in political discourse.[13]


Nader graduated from Princeton University in 1955 and Harvard Law School in 1958.[14] He served in the United States Army for six months in 1959, then began work as a lawyer in Hartford, Connecticut. Between 1961 and 1963, he was a Professor of History and Government at the University of Hartford. In 1964, Nader moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He also advised a United States Senate subcommittee on car safety. In the early 1980s, Nader spearheaded a powerful lobby against FDA approval of mass-scale experimentation of artificial lens implants. Nader also served as a faculty member at The American University Washington College of Law.

[edit] Taking on the automobile industry

Nader's first consumer safety articles appeared in the Harvard Law Record, a student publication of Harvard Law School, but he first criticized the automobile industry in an article he wrote for The Nation in 1959 called "The Safe Car You Can't Buy."[15] In 1965, Nader wrote Unsafe at Any Speed, a study that purported to demonstrate that many American automobiles were unsafe, especially the Chevrolet Corvair manufactured by General Motors. The Corvair had been involved in numerous accidents involving spins and rollovers, and there were over 100 lawsuits pending against GM in connection to accidents involving the popular compact car. These lawsuits provided the initial material for Nader's investigations into the safety of the car[16] GM tried to discredit Nader, hiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past, and hiring prostitutes to trap him in compromising situations.[17][18] GM failed to uncover any wrongdoing, and never explained resorting to smear tactics instead of defending the car in the popular press, where the company had considerable corporate influence. GM's avoidance of technical journals makes more sense, as it was well known among auto engineers that the early (1960-64) Corvair's swing axle suspension handled miserably.[19][20] Upon learning of GM's actions, Nader successfully sued the company for invasion of privacy, forced it to publicly apologize, and used much of his $284,000 net settlement to expand his consumer rights efforts. Nader's lawsuit against GM was ultimately decided by the New York Court of Appeals, whose opinion in the case expanded tort law to cover "overzealous surveillance".[21]

Nader's advocacy of automobile safety and the publicity generated by the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, along with concern over escalating nationwide traffic fatalities, led to the unanimous passage of the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. The act established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and marked a historic shift in responsibility for automobile safety (which shifted from the consumer to the manufacturer). The legislation mandated a series of safety features for automobiles, beginning with safety belts and stronger windshields.[22][23][24]

A 1972 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety commission report conducted by Texas A&M University concluded that the 1960-1963 Corvair possessed no greater potential for loss of control than its contemporaries in extreme situations.[25] A different account, however, was given in John DeLorean's "General Motors autobiography", On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, 1979 (published under the name of his would-be ghostwriter, J. Patrick Wright), in which DeLorean asserts that Nader's criticisms were valid. The specific Corvair design flaws were corrected in the second half (1965-1969) of the Corvair's production, although by then the Corvair name was irredeemably compromised.

[edit] Activism

Hundreds of young activists, inspired by Nader's work, came to DC to help him with other projects. They came to be known as "Nader's Raiders" who, under Nader, investigated government corruption, publishing dozens of books with their results:

  • Nader's Raiders (Federal Trade Commission)
  • Vanishing Air (National Air Pollution Control Administration)
  • The Chemical Feast (Food and Drug Administration)
  • The Interstate Commerce Omission (Interstate Commerce Commission)
  • Old Age (nursing homes)
  • The Water Lords (water pollution)
  • Who Runs Congress? (Congress)
  • Whistle Blowing (punishment of whistle blowers)
  • The Big Boys (corporate executives)
  • Collision Course (Federal Aviation Administration)
  • No Contest (corporate lawyers)
  • Destroy the Forest (Destruction of ecosystems worldwide)
  • Operation: Nuclear (Making of a nuclear missile)
Nader speaks out against the Iraq War at the September 15, 2007 anti-war protest.
Nader speaks out against the Iraq War at the September 15, 2007 anti-war protest.

In 1971, Nader founded the non-governmental organization (NGO) Public Citizen as an umbrella organization for these projects. Today, Public Citizen has over 140,000 members and scores of researchers investigating Congressional, health, environmental, economic and other issues. Their work is credited with facilitating the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and prompting the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

In the 1970s and 1980s Nader was a key leader in the anti-nuclear power movement. "By 1976, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who later became allied with the environmental movement 'stood as the titular head of opposition to nuclear energy'"[26][27] He advocates the complete elimination of nuclear energy in favor of solar, tidal, wind and geothermal, citing environmental, worker safety, migrant labor, national security, disaster preparedness, foreign policy, government accountability and democratic governance issues to bolster his position.[28]

[edit] Non-profit organizations

In 1980, Nader resigned as director of Public Citizen to work on other projects, forcefully campaigning against what he believed to be the dangers of large multinational corporations. He went on to start a variety of non-profit organizations:

  • Capitol Hill News Service
  • Citizen Advocacy Center
  • Citizens Utility Boards
  • Congress Accountability Project
  • Consumer Task Force For Automotive Issues
  • Corporate Accountability Research Project
  • Disability Rights Center
  • Equal Justice Foundation
  • Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumer Rights
  • Georgia Legal Watch
  • National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform
  • National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest
  • Pension Rights Center
  • PROD (truck safety)
  • Retired Professionals Action Group
  • The Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest
  • 1969: Center for the Study of Responsive Law
  • 1970s: Public Interest Research Groups
  • 1970: Center for Auto Safety
  • 1970: Connecticut Citizen Action Group
  • 1971: Aviation Consumer Action Project
  • 1972: Clean Water Action Project
  • 1972: Center for Women's Policy Studies
  • 1980: Multinational Monitor (magazine covering multinational corporations)
  • 1982: Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
  • 1982: Essential Information (encourage citizen activism and do investigative journalism)
  • 1983: Telecommunications Research and Action Center
  • 1983: National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest
  • 1989: Princeton Project 55 (alumni public service)
  • 1993: Appleseed Foundation (local change)
  • 1994: Resource Consumption Alliance (conserve trees)
  • 1995: Center for Insurance Research
  • 1995: Consumer Project on Technology
  • 1997?: Government Purchasing Project (encourage purchase of safe products)
  • 1998: Center for Justice and Democracy
  • 1998: Organization for Competitive Markets
  • 1998: American Antitrust Institute (ensure fair competition)
  • 1999?: Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest
  • 1999?: Commercial Alert (protect family, community, and democracy from corporations)
  • 2000: Congressional Accountability Project (fight corruption in Congress)
  • 2001: Citizen Works (promote NGO cooperation, build grassroots support, and start new groups)
  • 2001: Democracy Rising (hold rallies to educate and empower citizens)

[edit] Presidential campaigns

[edit] Third-party votes controversy

In the 2000 presidential election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes. In fact, all seven of the other third-party candidates on the ballot Florida each received more than 537 votes see United States presidential election in Florida, 2000.

Proponents of the argument that Nader was the source of Gore's defeat claim that Nader pulled votes from Al Gore, and this tilted the election in Bush's favor. Opponents say that the controversy was due to poor election practices and cite the fact that there were 8 third party candidates on the ballot, both liberal and conservative, and to attribute the deciding factor to one of those candidates is illogical. As well opponents have pointed out Al Gore's need to earn his votes. Moreover, Nader has noted on many occasions that had Gore simply won his home state of Tennessee, he would have won the election.

The claim is that this was Nader's "greatest impact" on the election. Nader himself, both in his book Crashing the Party, and on his website, states: "In the year 2000, exit polls reported that 25% of my voters would have voted for Bush, 38% would have voted for Gore and the rest would not have voted at all."[29]

When asked by MSNBC's Tim Russert about the possibility of preventing a Democratic victory in 2008, Nader responded, "Not a chance. If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, and emerge in a different form." [30]

[edit] Presidential campaign history

1972
"Draft Nader" effort had no ballot line to offer, nor did Nader authorize his name to appear on any ballot until 1992.
1990
Nader considered launching a third party around issues of citizen empowerment and consumer rights. He suggested a serious third party could address needs such as campaign-finance reform, worker and whistle-blower rights, government-sanctioned watchdog groups to oversee banks and insurance agencies, and class-action lawsuit reforms.
1992
Nader stood in as a write-in for "none of the above" in both the 1992 New Hampshire Democratic and Republican Primaries[31] and received 3,054 of the 170,333 Democratic votes and 3,258 of the 177,970 Republican votes cast.[32] He was also a candidate in the 1992 Massachusetts Democratic Primary, where he appeared at the top of the ballot.
1996
Nader was drafted as a candidate for President of the United States on the Green Party ticket during the 1996 presidential election. He was not formally nominated by the Green Party USA, which was, at the time, the largest national Green group; instead he was nominated independently by various state Green parties (in some areas, he appeared on the ballot as an independent).
2000
In the 2006 documentary An Unreasonable Man, Nader describes how, during the second Clinton Administration, he found that he was unable to get the views of his public interest groups heard in Washington, even by then President Clinton's administration. Nader cites this as one of the primary reasons that he decided again to actively run in the 2000 election as candidate of the Green Party, which had been formed in the wake of his 1996 campaign.
In October 2000, at the largest Super Rally of his campaign,[33] held in New York City's Madison Square Garden, 15,000 people paid $20 each[34] to hear Mr. Nader speak. Nader's campaign rejected both parties as institutions dominated by corporate interests, stating that Al Gore and George W. Bush were "Tweedledee and Tweedledum". The campaign also had some prominent union help: The California Nurses Association and the United Electrical Workers endorsed his candidacy and campaigned for him.[35]
In 2000, Nader received 2,883,105 votes, for 2.74 percent of the popular vote,[36] missing the 5 percent needed to qualify the Green Party for federally distributed public funding in the next election, yet qualifying the Greens for ballot status in many new states.
Nader's votes in New Hampshire and Florida vastly exceeded the difference in votes between Gore and Bush.[37] Exit polls showed the state staying close, and within the margin of error without Nader[38] as national exit polls showed Nader's supporters choose Gore over Bush by a large margin[39] well outside the margin of error. Winning either state would have given Gore the presidency, and while critics claim this shows Nader tipped the election to Bush, Nader has called that claim "a mantra — an assumption without data."[40] Michael Moore at first argued that Florida was so close that votes for any of seven other candidates could also have switched the results,[41] but in 2004 joined the view that Nader had helped make Bush president.[42][43] Other Nader supporters argued that Gore was primarily responsible for his own loss.[44] But Eric Alterman, perhaps Nader's most persistent critic, has regarded such arguments as beside the point: "One person in the world could have prevented Bush's election with his own words on the Election Day 2000."[45] Nation columnist Alexander Cockburn cited Gore's failure to win over progressive voters in Florida who chose Nader, and congratulated those voters: "Who would have thought the Sunshine State had that many progressives in it, with steel in their spine and the spunk to throw Eric Alterman's columns into the trash can?"[46] Nader's actual influence on the 2000 election is the subject of considerable discussion, and there is no consensus on Nader's impact on the outcome.[47][48][49][50][51]
2004
Nader announced on December 24, 2003 that he would not seek the Green Party's nomination for president in 2004; however, he did not rule out running as an independent candidate.
Meeting with John Kerry — Ralph Nader and Democratic Candidate John Kerry held a widely publicized meeting early in the 2004 Presidential campaign, which Nader described in An Unreasonable Man. Nader said that John Kerry wanted to work to win Nader's support and the support of Nader's voters. Nader then provided more than 20 pages of issues that he felt were important and he "put them on the table" for John Kerry. According to Nader the issues covered topics ranging from environmental, labor, healthcare, tax reform, corporate crime, campaign finance reform and various consumer protection issues.
Nader reported that he asked John Kerry to choose any 3 of the issues and highlight them in his campaign and if Kerry would do this, he would refrain from the race. Several months passed and Kerry failed to adopt any of Nader's issues as benchmarks of his campaign, so on February 22, 2004, Nader announced on NBC that he would indeed run for president as an independent, saying, "There's too much power and wealth in too few hands."
Paying Nader not to run — Nader also reported in the documentary An Unreasonable Man that many wealthy Democratic donors offered to give money to his public interest groups if he declined to run, however, none of these groups would go a step further to guarantee that his issues would get a fair hearing in Washington. Nader replied, "why should I spend all of your money working on issues that are just going to run into a brick wall in Washington?"
The campaign — Nader's 2004 campaign ran on a platform consistent with the Green Party's positions on major issues, such as opposition to the war in Iraq. Due to concerns about a possible spoiler effect in 2000, many Democrats urged Nader to abandon his 2004 candidacy. The Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, stated that Nader had a "distinguished career, fighting for working families", and that McAuliffe "would hate to see part of his legacy being that he got us eight years of George Bush." Nader received 463,653 votes, for 0.38% of the popular vote.[52] Nader replied to this, in filmed interviews for An Unreasonable Man, by pointing out that, "Voting for a candidate of one's choice is a Constitutional right, and the Democrats who are asking me not to run are, without question, seeking to deny the Constitutional rights of voters who are, by law, otherwise free to choose to vote for me." In this campaign, Democrats accused Nader of having his bid funded by Republicans who wanted a repeat of his effect on the 2000 election.[citation needed]
2008
In February 2007, Nader criticized Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton as "a panderer and a flatterer." Asked on CNN Late Edition news program if he would run in 2008, Nader replied, "It's really too early to say...."[53] Asked during a radio appearance to describe the former First Lady, Nader said, "Flatters, panders, coasting, front-runner, looking for a coronation ... She has no political fortitude."[54] Some Greens started a campaign to draft Nader as their party's 2008 presidential candidate.[55]
In June 2007, Nader said, "You know the two parties are still converging — they don't even debate the military budget anymore. I really think there needs to be more competition from outside the two parties."[56] Nader participated in the Green Party presidential debates in San Francisco on January 13, 2008, though not as an announced candidate. On January 30, 2008, he formed an exploratory committee for another possible run at the presidency, telling CNN he would run again if he could raise the necessary funds.[57]
On February 24, 2008, Nader announced his 2008 presidential bid on Meet the Press.[7] On February 28, 2008, Nader named former San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Matt Gonzalez as his running mate for the 2008 Presidential Election.

[edit] Personal finances

According to the mandatory fiscal disclosure report that he filed with the Federal Election Commission in 2000, he then owned more than $3 million worth of stocks and mutual fund shares; his single largest holding was more than $1 million worth of stock in Cisco Systems, Inc. He also held more than $2 million in two money market funds. Nader owned no car or real estate in 2000, and said he lived on US$25,000 a year, giving most of his stock earnings to many of the over four dozen non-profit organizations he had founded.[58]

In 2000, The New York Times reported that Nader's secretiveness had "spawned a host of dark theories among his critics,"[59] among them a 1990 report in Forbes magazine that reported that Nader lived in a $1.5 million townhouse.[60] Nader told the Times that the townhouse belonged to his sister, which Forbes confirmed.[61][62]

[edit] Recognition

In 1999 an NYU panel of eminent journalists ranked Nader's book Unsafe At Any Speed 38th among the top 100 pieces of journalism of the 20th century.[63] In 1990 Life Magazine,[64] and again in 1999 Time Magazine,[65][66] named Nader one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century. In its December 2006 article on the "100 most influential Americans" in history, in which its ten invited historians voted Nader 96th, The Atlantic Monthly stated: "He made the cars we drive safer; thirty years later, he made George W. Bush the president."[67]

[edit] Works

[edit] Books

Nader at a book signing
Nader at a book signing

Nader has authored, co-authored and edited many books, which include:

  • Unsafe at Any Speed. Grossman Publishers, 1965.
  • Action for a Change (with Donald Ross, Brett English, and Joseph Highland). Penguin (Non-Classics); Rev. ed edition, 1973.
  • Whistle-Blowing (with Peter J. Petkas and Kate Blackwell). Bantam Press, 1972.
  • Corporate Power in America (with Mark Green)
  • You and Your Pension (with Kate Blackwell)
  • The Consumer and Corporate Accountability
  • In Pursuit of Justice
  • Corporate Power in America
  • Ralph Nader Congress Project
  • Ralph Nader Presents: A Citizen's Guide to Lobbying
  • Verdicts on Lawyers
  • Who's Poisoning America (with Ronald Brownstein and John Richard)
  • The Big Boys (with William Taylor)
  • Nader, Ralph. The Good Fight: Declare Your Independency and Close the Democracy Gap. Paperback ed. Harper Collins Pub., 2004.
  • Nader, Ralph. Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender. Paperback ed. St. Martin's Pr., 2002.
  • Nader, Ralph. Cutting Corporate Welfare. Paperback ed. Open Media, 2000.
  • Nader, Ralph, and Wesley J. Smith. No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America. Hardcover ed. Random House Pub. Group, 1996.
  • Nader, Ralph, and Wesley J. Smith. Collision Course: the Truth About Airline Safety. 1st ed. McGraw-Hill Co., 1993.
  • Nader, Ralph, and Clarence Ditlow. Lemon Book: Auto Rights. 3rd ed. Asphodel Pr., 1990.
  • Nader, Ralph, and Wesley J. Smith. Winning the Insurance Game: the Complete Consumer's Guide to Saving Money. Hardcover ed. Knightsbridge Pub., 1990.
  • Nader, Ralph, and John Abbotts. Menace of Atomic Energy. Paperback ed. Norton, W.W. & Co., Inc., 1979.
  • Ralph Nader, Joel Seligman, and Mark Green. Taming the Giant Corporation. Paperback ed. Norton, W. W. & Co., Inc., 1977.
  • Canada Firsts (with Nadia Milleron and Duff Conacher)
  • The Frugal Shopper (with Wesley J. Smith. )
  • Getting the Best from Your Doctor (with Wesley J. Smith. )
  • Nader on Australia
  • The Ralph Nader Reader. Seven Stories Press, 2000. ISBN 1-58322-057-7
  • "It Happened in the Kitchen: Recipes for Food and Thought"
  • "Why Women Pay More" (with Frances Cerra Whittelsley)
  • "Children First! A Parent's Guide to Fighting Corporate Predators"
  • "The Seventeen Traditions" Regan Books, 2007. ISBN 0061238279
  • Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change by Mike Gravel, 2008. Foreword by Ralph Nader.

[edit] Articles

[edit] Selected speeches and interviews

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[edit] Television appearances

Ralph Nader appeared on Sesame Street in 1988. He was featured as "a person in your neighborhood." The song began "A consumer advocate is a person in your neighborhood." This was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as his profession as a consumer advocate was largely self-defined, and he was perhaps the only professional full-time consumer advocate at that time. This song compares him to a postman or a policeman, members of professions whom you may run into on a daily basis. This appearance on Sesame Street was particularly memorable because this was the only time that the grammar of the last line of the song "A person who you meet each day" was questioned and corrected in the show. Ralph Nader refused to sing the grammatically incorrect line, and so a compromise was reached, resulting in Ralph Nader singing the last line as a solo with the modified words: "A person whom you meet each day."[68]

[edit] Video and audio links

RealVideo format.

[edit] Notes

  • An Unreasonable Man (2006). An Unreasonable Man is a documentary film about Ralph Nader that appeared at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
  • Burden, Barry C. (2005). Ralph Nader's Campaign Strategy in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election 2005, American Politics Research 33:672-99.
  • Ralph Nader: Up Close This film blends archival footage and scenes of Nader and his staff at work in Washington with interviews with Nader's family, friends and adversaries, as well as Nader himself. Written, directed and produced by Mark Litwak and Tiiu Lukk, 1990, color, 72 mins. Narration by Studs Terkel. Broadcast on PBS. Winner, Sinking Creek Film Festival; Best of Festival, Baltimore Int'l Film Festival; Silver Plaque, Chicago Int'l Film Festival, Silver Apple, National Educational Film & Video Festival.
  • Bear, Greg, "Eon" — the novel includes a depiction of a future group called the "Naderites" who follow Ralph Nader's humanistic teachings.
  • Martin, Justin. Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon. Perseus Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-7382-0563-X

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Green Party gets serious
  2. ^ "Court OKs Nader on Florida ballot", CNN.com, Cable News Network LP, LLLP, 2004-09-18. 
  3. ^ "Feb. 24: Nader Announces He Will Run for President". |date=2008-02-04 | FoxNews.com, Associated Press, February 24, 2008
  4. ^ {{{last}}}. Interview. Jan. 31, 2008: Live broadcast interview with Ralph Nader, by Amy Goodman, DemocracyNow.org.. 31 January 2008: Interview on DemocracyNow.org (skip to second-half of the interview after the break, past the discussion re John Edwards).
  5. ^ "Feb. 24: Ralph Nader announces third-party run for president". | date=2008-02-24 | International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, February 24, 2008]
  6. ^ "Dispelling the Myth of the Election 2000: Did Nader Cost Gore the Election? by Irene Dieter, CAGP". 
  7. ^ a b "Feb. 24: Ralph Nader, political roundtable", NBC, 2008-02-24. Retrieved on 2008-02-24. 
  8. ^ Getting to know Ralph Nader - The Boston Globe
  9. ^ Twelve Political Issues that Matter - Ralph Nader's Views on the Issues
  10. ^ Ralph Nader's Childhood Roots
  11. ^ CNN.com Specials
  12. ^ Ralph Nader
  13. ^ Mantel, Henriette (Director). (2006). An Unreasonable Man [DVD]. IFC Films.
  14. ^ Candidates / Ralph Nader 2004
  15. ^ Mickey Z. 50 American Revolutions You're Not Supposed To Know. New York: The Disinformation Company, 2005. p.87 ISBN 1932857184
  16. ^ Diana T. Kurylko. "Nader Damned Chevy's Corvair and Sparked a Safety Revolution." Automotive News (v.70, 1996).
  17. ^ Ralph Nader's museum of tort law will include relics from famous lawsuits-if it ever gets built December 2005
  18. ^ President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Federal Role in Highway Safety: Epilogue -The Changing Federal Role May 7, 2005
  19. ^ Independent Suspensions: Swing axle suspension 1998
  20. ^ Original Triumph Spitfire -- Camber Compensator August 21, 1999
  21. ^ Nader v. General Motors Corp., 307 N.Y.S.2d 647 (N.Y. 1970)
  22. ^ Brent Fisse and John Braithwaite. The Impact of Publicity on Corporate Offenders. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1983.
  23. ^ Robert Barry Carson, Wade L. Thomas, Jason Hecht. Economic Issues Today: Alternative Approaches. M.E. Sharpe, 2005.
  24. ^ Stan Luger. Corporate Power, American Democracy, and the Automobile Industry. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  25. ^ Brent Fisse and John Braithwaite, The Impact of Publicity on Corporate Offenders. State University of New York Press, 1983. p.30 ISBN 0873957334
  26. ^ Nuclear Power in an Age of Uncertainty (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, OTA-E-216, February 1984), p. 228, citing the following article:
  27. ^ Public Opposition to Nuclear Energy: Retrospect and Prospect, Roger E. Kasperson, Gerald Berk, David Pijawka, Alan B. Sharaf, James Wood, Science, Technology, & Human Values, Vol. 5, No. 31 (Spring, 1980), pp. 11-23
  28. ^ Frontline interview transcript
  29. ^ Dear Conservatives Upset With the Policies of the Bush Administration — Main Story Archive — Nader for President 2004 — www.votenader.org
  30. ^ Nader to Run Again - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog
  31. ^ THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Write-In; In Nader's Campaign, White House Isn't the Goal February 18, 1992
  32. ^ 1992 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY
  33. ^ Nader 'Super Rally' Draws 12,000 To Boston's FleetCenter
  34. ^ CNN.com - Loyal Nader fans pack Madison Square Garden - October 14, 2000
  35. ^ Nader, the Greens and 2008
  36. ^ 2000 Presidential Election Results
  37. ^ 2000 Official Presidential General Election Results
  38. ^ Decision 2000
  39. ^ THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: THE INDEPENDENT; Relax, Nader Advises Alarmed Democrats, but the 2000 Math Counsels Otherwise - New York Times
  40. ^ Democrats Upset at 'Spoiler' in 2000 Race
  41. ^ Michael Moore message
  42. ^ THE CONSTITUENCIES: LIBERALS; From Chicago '68 to Boston, The Left Comes Full Circle - New York Times
  43. ^ Convictions Intact, Nader Soldiers On - New York Times
  44. ^ S/R 25: Gore's Defeat: Don't Blame Nader (Marable)
  45. ^ Ralph Nader on Jon Stewart
  46. ^ Alexander Cockburn. "The Best of All Possible Worlds." The Nation.November 9, 2000.
  47. ^ abstract of THE ROOTS OF THIRD PARTY VOTING The 2000 Nader Campaign in Historical Perspective. By: Allen, Neal; Brox, Brian J.. Party Politics, Sep2005, Vol. 11 Issue 5, p623-637, 15p, 3 charts
  48. ^ abstract of If it Weren't for Those ?*!&*@!* Nader Voters we Wouldn't Be in This Mess: The Social Determinants of the Nader Vote and the Constraints on Political Choice. By: Simmons, Solon J.; Simmons, James R.. New Political Science, Jun2006, Vol. 28 Issue 2, p229-244, 16p, 5 charts, 1 graph
  49. ^ Did Ralph Nader Spoil a Gore Presidency? A Ballot-Level Study of Green and Reform Party Voters in the 2000 Presidential Election
  50. ^ The Dynamics of Voter Decision Making Among Minor Party Supporters: The 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, British Journal of Political Science (2007), 37: 225-244
  51. ^ Minor Parties in the 2000 Presidential Election
  52. ^ 2004 Presidential Election Results
  53. ^ Nader Leaves '08 Door Open, Slams Hillary Reuters, February 5, 2007.
  54. ^ Ralph Nader: Hillary's Just a 'Bad Version of Bill Clinton' Feb. 16, 2007
  55. ^ DraftNader.org
  56. ^ Nader ponders run, calls Clinton 'coward'
  57. ^ Mooney, Alexander. "Nader takes steps towards another White House bid", CNN Political Ticker, Cable News Network LP, LLLP., 2008-01-30. 
  58. ^ Nader Reports Big Portfolio In Technology
  59. ^ James Dao. Nader Runs Again, This Time With Feeling The New York Times, April 15, 2000,
  60. ^ Peter Brimelow, Leslie Spencer. Ralph Nader, Inc. Forbes, Sept 17, 1990.
  61. ^ James Dao. Nader Runs Again, This Time With Feeling The New York Times, April 15, 2000.
  62. ^ Peter Brimelow, Leslie Spencer. Ralph Nader, Inc. Forbes, Sept 17, 1990.
  63. ^ Barringer, Felicity. "MEDIA; Journalism's Greatest Hits: Two Lists of a Century's Top Stories", NY Times, 1999-03-01, pp. 2. 
  64. ^ Deparle, Jason. "Washington at Work; Eclipsed in the Reagan Decade, Ralph Nader Again Feels Glare of the Public", NY Times, 1990-09-21. 
  65. ^ Ralph Nader. The American Program Bureau.
  66. ^ Kelly, James. ""A Triumph of the Newsmagazine's Craft"", Time.com, Time Inc., 2006-05-15. "Nearly 100 Influentials were on hand that evening, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ralph Nader, Will Smith, George Lucas, Nobel laureate James Watson, Bill Belichick and Dr. Andrew Weil." 
  67. ^ The Top 100: The Most Influential Figures in American History. Atlantic Monthly 62 (December 2006).
  68. ^ David Borgenicht, Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets, and Songs, 1998 and 2002 reprint, ISBN 1-4028-9327-2

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Party political offices
New political party Green Party Presidential candidate
1996 (4th), 2000 (3rd)
Succeeded by
David Cobb
Preceded by
Pat Buchanan
Reform Party Presidential candidate
2004 (1) (3rd)
Incumbent
Notes and references
1. Most recent presidential election as of 2005
Persondata
NAME Nader, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American attorney and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Winsted, Connecticut, United States
DATE OF DEATH living
PLACE OF DEATH