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Office of External Communications |
Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Angie Joe |
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The latest candidate to announce his bid for the White House will speak at the University of Houston Tuesday, Feb. 24. Consumer rights advocate Ralph Nader’s lecture will take place in the Cullen Performance Hall. His visit is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the UH department of history and Bob Buzzanco, associate professor of history. Nader announced his intentions to run as an independent Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” In 2000, he ran as the Green Party’s presidential candidate, which was criticized by some for taking away votes from Democratic nominee Al Gore. His first book, “Unsafe at Any Speed” (1965), unveiled the alleged dangers posed by the Chevrolet Corvair, a car produced by General Motors. The book sparked public interest in automobile safety. In its wake, the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed. Nader also has lobbied for the 1967 Wholesome Meat Act, which imposed federal standards on slaughterhouses and required federal inspections of beef and poultry; the Clean Air Act; and the Freedom of Information Act. In 1971, Nader founded Public Citizen, whose mission was to work for consumer justice and government and corporate accountability. Today more than 150,000 people support the six branches of Public Citizen: Congress Watch, Health Research Group, Litigation Group, Critical Mass Energy Project, Global Trade Watch and Buyers Up. Nader has founded other consumer advocacy organizations such as the Center for Responsive Law, the Center for Auto Safety, the Public Interest Research Group, the Disability Rights Center, the Clean Water Action Project, the Pension Rights Center, and the Project for Corporate Responsibility. His supporters – known as “Nader’s Raiders” – have been active in Washington, D.C., since the early 1970s. Other books that Nader wrote or co-wrote include “Corporate Power in America” (1973), “Taming the Giant Corporations” (1976), “Menace of Atomic Energy” (1977), “Who’s Poisoning America” (1981), “Winning the Insurance Game” (1990) and “Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender” (2002).
For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom. |
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