This is the 50th anniversary of Ralph Nader’s Unsafe At Any Speed a book that launched the modern consumer movement. It took only five months for Congress to pass and President Johnson to sign into law the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission. According to the Center for Auto safety NHTSA’s design standards, recalls, and general auto-safety-related measures would reduce the rate of deaths per mile driven by nearly 80 percent.

Over time he put thousands of “Nader’s Raiders” to work investigating cars, nuclear power, pipeline safety, food and drug safety, airline safety, water and air pollution, antitrust enforcement, corporate governance and shareholder democracy, clean energy, tax reform, income and wealth inequality, campaign-finance reform, pension rights, old-age homes, occupational hazards, healthcare, smoking, freedom-of-information laws, multinationals, the Educational Testing Service, veterans’ affairs, land management, whistle blowing, trade policy, insurance, procurement—a seemingly endless list of vital issues with profound, real-world consequences.

He also found time to launch four presidential campaigns. He still produces a column every week, opened the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted and travels widely lecturing and writing. He has an opinion on almost everything.

We don’t know just what he will talk about, but considering it’s Ralph Nader the evening is certain to be interesting.

All Salisbury Forum programs are free and open to the public.