Chevrolet Corvair begat Bush 43

I've decided that the real and true reason that Bush is president (rather than Al Gore) is because General Motors copied the Volkswagen Beetle's rear swing-arm suspension on one of the car models it developed in the 1950s. I can spell it out for you:

In late 1959, Chevrolet began selling the Corvair as a 1960 model.

On January 13, 1962, famous comedian Ernie Kovacs was instantly killed when his Corvair wagon spun out of control on a wet roadway and crashed into a power pole.

Using, among other things, film supplied by Ford Motor Company (a competitor of General Motors) Ralph Nader came to national prominence with the publication of "Unsafe at Any Speed," an expose on the American automobile industry. Although the Corvair was prominently profiled in the book, it was only one of several vehicles examined.

Without the fame associated with the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed, it is highly unlikely that Nader would have mounted a third-party presidential bid in 2000, which arguably would have resulted in Gore taking Florida, and the election.

Incidentally, in 1972 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration exonerated the Corvair's design, declaring that it was no less safe than other automobiles designed in it's era.