Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader (Throwback)

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Whether it's pesticides in your cereal or the door plug flying off your airplane, consumers today have plenty of reasons to feel like corporations might not have their best interests at heart. At a moment when the number of product recalls is high and trust in the government is low, we're going to revisit a time when a generation of people felt empowered to demand accountability from both companies and elected leaders — and got results. Today on the show, the story of the U.S. consumer movement and its controversial leader: the once famous, now infamous Ralph Nader.

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Transcript

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0:18.7	Learn more at plus.npr.org.
0:27.1	Hi, nice to meet you. Come on in.
0:34.1	The year is 1960.
0:36.2	Now, what kind of car are we looking for today?
0:38.4	You've got an urge to hit the open road
0:40.4	to touch the black asphalt
0:42.0	of the nation's new interstate highways
0:44.2	that are being built all around the country.
0:46.5	I think you're going to love this.
0:48.5	Now, all you need is the perfect car.
0:51.3	They just released this model.
0:53.5	Compact, sleek, a thing of beauty.
1:02.2	Have a safe drive. You turn on your car radio and that iconic summer place song starts playing.
1:10.2	When you hit the highway, you roll your window down,
1:13.6	letting the wind rush through your hair.
1:15.6	This is the American dream,
1:17.6	riding in an American car on an American road,
	...

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