October 20, 2011 * Washington, D.C.

• Public Citizen celebrated 40 years of progress with a festive gala on Thursday, October 20, 2011. Nearly 600 friends and supporters shared the night with us as we reflected on decades of amazing accomplishments and looked to the future. Speakers included Peabody Award-winning journalist Bill Moyers; U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.); founder Ralph Nader; founder and former Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen board member and commentator Jim Hightower; and Public Citizen President Robert Weissman.
  
  Our ever-humorous MC was television producer and Public Citizen board member Steve Skrovan. Also on hand were Public Citizen founders Dr. Sidney Wolfe and Alan Morrison. The night was inspiring and heartwarming. Thanks to all who came! On this page are videos, photos and information about all we have done over the past four decades. The video above tells about how we got started and what we've done.

  Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinichon on the 40th Anniversary of Public Citizen

  Pollution, dangerous devices, unsafe workplaces, unsafe food, an unsound financial system -- these are all the products and by-products of corporations. They are also wildly unpopular. In fact, poll after poll shows the wide margins of public support for making our environment cleaner, our products safer, and our justice system more responsive to the needs of average people – just the opposite of what corporations do if left unchecked.

  But experience teaches us that public opinion does not automatically translate into public policy and public laws. Congress and state legislatures respond not so much to public opinion as to organized opinion. Organized opinion makes itself heard because it employs experts. Organized opinion has staying power; therefore it can participate in the years of legislative battles until its views prevail. Organized opinion monitors legislators and regulators, and it lets them know when they are not performing as desired. To the extent that anti-social corporate behavior is legal or is tolerated, that is an achievement of organized corporate opinion over public opinion.

  Fortunately, corporations do not have free reign, and they don't win every time -- far from it. For the past four decades, Public Citizen has translated public opinion into social action. On Capitol Hill, Public Citizen is one of the most effective advocates on the side of the People. Through Public Citizen, the People have advocates, scientists, doctors, attorneys, writers and graphic designers working for them. Before judges, regulators and legislators, in front of editorial boards and television cameras, Public Citizen represents what the People want and deserve. Public Citizen has earned a reputation for integrity, persistence, and creativity. Both visionary and relevant, Public Citizen has been a force for good in the halls of Congress and across this nation.

  There is still much work to be done. The challenges are great. But there is a huge public appetite for the work Public Citizen does. The recent manifestation of Occupy Wall Street and similar protests around the country reflects how urgent is the demand for social and economic justice. If Public Citizen didn't already exist, we would have to invent it. Thankfully, the pursuit of justice builds on a history of struggle and progress. Hundreds of advocates and dozens of leaders have stewarded Public Citizen to this day, its 40th anniversary. Congratulations on being just the right age to help us deal with the problems of our time.

	More images from our 40th Anniversary Gala . . .
	See gala photos by Glittarazzi...




Other remarks

	Transcript of remarks by Joan Claybrook, former president of Public Citizen.
	Transcript of remarks by Bill Moyers, Public Citizen 40th Anniversary Gala Keynote Speaker.
	Read The Nation's coverage of Bill Moyers' speech.
	Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich on the 40th Anniversary of Public Citizen