I wrote my senior thesis on Ralph Nader ’55 (Princetonians, Oct. 21) after interviewing him for a publishing project a couple of friends and I were involved in. Nader told us a story about being an undergraduate and visiting the offices of The Daily Princetonian, where he presented the editor on duty with a bird that had been killed by the spraying of the DDT pesticide on campus. He told the paper it should be investigating what was happening. Nothing came of his efforts that day.

After that interview we were inspired to do our jobs as reporters better, and to train the next crop of editors to be equally critical.

Re-reading Marc Fisher ’80’s piece (“Ralph Nader ’55’s Paradise Lost,” Dec. 6, 1989) now, I wonder how the nation has managed to ignore or forget so much of the Reagan legacy as it pertains to the growing power of our corporations at the expense of individual and environmental protections. The recent recession resulted in financial ruin as millions of Americans became long-term unemployed. Yet most of Wall Street and corporate America survived intact. Indeed, not a single criminal conviction has been recorded.

Rather than needing to imagine what Nader would think of all this, I am pleased to have the opportunity to read what he really has thought. I hope some of the reporters covering the current presidential campaign take the time to read his recent book, Return to Sender, as well. Perhaps it will help inform them on topics they should be questioning the candidates about.