Ralph Nader and the Chevy Corvair Spark the Consumer Protection Movement
In November of 1965, a young lawyer published a book called Unsafe at Any Speed about the dangers of driving a Chevy Corvair. The car could become unstable and possibly flip if driven in poor conditions or without proper training. The lawyer? Ralph Nader.
It took a while for the book to find its audience, but soon it was on bookshelves across the US and made a celebrity our of Nader. Soon he and his “Nader’s Raiders” were on a spree, advocating for consumer safety.
Big Business Kills the Liberal Consensus
This movement was met with skepticism and fear in the industrial community. Who did this guy think he was? Americans didn’t need “big government” looking over their shoulders! Well, that’s what big corporate leaders thought. They set out to dismantle the consumer safety movement and to convince conservative religious people that safety was actually creeping government interference.
My special guest for this episode is Rick Perlstein, author of The Invisible Bridge and Reaganland.
The New Right Manipulated Evangelicals into Conservative Republican Politics
A small group of men calling themselves The New Right had a major role to play in bonding some evangelicals to the Republican Party. Yet many Christians don’t know who these guys were or how they used money and influence to accomplish their goal.
Let’s meet the fellas. One was named Paul Weyrich. Weyrich’s contribution to the movement is that he knew how to organize people, a skill he learned from watching liberal protests. He was a former radio newsman from Wisconsin, member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church when he thought the Roman Catholic Church became too liberal. He saw how liberals were organizing in the US and decided to do something similar with conservatives. The goal was to bring together politicians, activists, money, and the press to have a unified front. Organizational skills were his secret weapon.
Howard Phillips was a follower of RJ Rushdoony’s Christian Reconstruction plan. He gutted the Office of Economic Opportunity for Richard Nixon and then founded a think tank called The Conservative Caucus. He said “we organize discontent” meaning that the New Right used emotional issues to rile up their base.
Then there was Richard Viguerie. He was the king of bulk mail. The New Right used his services to advocate for their kind of politicians, for Anita Bryant, and to raise money. His company RAVCO was investigated for fraud.
These men and more were vital in bringing some evangelicals into the Republican Party.
Our guest today is Rick Perlstein, author of amazing history books like Reaganland and The Invisible Bridge. Special thanks to my friend Paul Hastings of the Compelled podcast for lending me his voice about the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.
Sources:
Reaganland and The Invisible Bridge by Rick Perlstein
Mobilizing the Moral Majority: Paul Weyrich and the Creation of a Conservative Coalition, 1968-1988 by Tyler J. Poff pages 22-23
The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
Weyrich, Memorandum, April 16, 1973, Paul M. Weyrich Scrapbooks. But accessed through Mobilizing the Moral Majority: Paul Weyrich and the Creation of a Conservative Coalition, 1968-1988 by Tyler J. Poff page 18
Christian Reconstruction: RJ Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism – by Michael McVicar
