RALPH NADER first made headlines as a young lawyer in 1965 with his book Unsafe at Any Speed, a scathing indictment that lambasted the auto industry for producing unsafe vehicles. The book led to congressional hearings and the passage of a series of automobile safety laws in 1966. Nader also went on to found a wide variety of organizations, all aimed at advancing corporate and government accountability. An author, lecturer, attorney, and political activist, Nader was cited by the Atlantic in 2006 as one of the one hundred most influential figures in American history; Time magazine has called him the ＂US’s toughest customer＂; and in 1974, a survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report rated him as the fourth most influential person in the United States.