Hayden (previously) was a political radical who was tried alongside Bobby Seale, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin during the notorious "Chicago Seven" (nee "Chicago Eight") trials following on the 1968 Democractic Party Convention. He went on to serve honorably in the California state assembly and senate.
Hayden, who had once been married to Jane Fonda, died at 76 in Santa Monica after a lengthy illness.
Writing about Hayden's role in the 1960s New Left, Nicholas Lemann, national correspondent for The Atlantic, said that "Tom Hayden changed America", calling him "father to the largest mass protests in American history", and Richard N. Goodwin, who was a speechwriter for presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, said that Hayden, "without even knowing it, inspired the Great Society.[9] Staughton Lynd, though, was critical of the Port Huron and New Left concept of "participatory democracy" stating, "we must recognize that when an organization grows to a certain size, consensus decision-making is no longer possible and some form of representative government becomes necessary."[10]
Tom Hayden [Wikipedia]
Tom Hayden, famous anti-Vietnam war activist, dies aged 76
[BBC]
(Image: Tom Hayden, PD)
