Born February 27, 1934
Winsted, Connecticut

Consumer advocate, lawyer, author

Ralph Nader. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Best known for his role in shaping the consumer support movement of the 1960s, Ralph Nader was also the founder of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). He was the man who remade the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the government agency charged with promoting business competition and protecting consumers from unfair or harmful business practices. Nader touched every aspect of American consumers' lives by demanding that companies provide safe products and by forcing the federal government to regulate corporations. He also created a new form of social activism in the 1960s that was very different from the sit-ins, rallies, and riots that marked the decade. Nader encouraged students to politely and persistently dig up the facts on corporate and governmental abuses and to use that information to create change...