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Nader and the Corvair: GM edition tells whole story
Automotive News
May 5, 2008 - 12:01 am ET
General Motors would be just as happy if it had never heard the name Ralph Nader. Unless you were on the scene 40 years ago, you wouldn't believe the trouble that that painfully smart young attorney caused the General.
In 1965, Nader wrote a book that trashed the Chevrolet Corvair as Unsafe at Any Speed. Lawsuits were filed by people injured in Corvair crashes. GM suspected Nader was in cahoots with the plaintiffs' lawyers and maybe was getting a cut of anything they collected.
So GM hired private detectives to investigate Nader. But GM's gumshoes were so inept, they never could have made it on a TV show.
Nader spotted them immediately. He avoided them and told a Senate subcommittee about it.
GM was in deep trouble. Nader was under subpoena to appear before that subcommittee — and one simply does not harass a Senate witness. GM President Jim Roche went before the subcommittee and apologized to Nader on what Roche called “the worst day of my life.”
Nader sued GM for invasion of privacy and was awarded $425,000. In a delicious bit of poetic justice, Nader said he would use the money to continue his investigation of GM.
For the rest of the story, read Automotive News' GM 100th anniversary edition, How General Motors Changed the World, on Sept. 15. For information, go to www.autonews.com/gm100.
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