Tom Hayden, Anti-War Activist, Dies At 76 — Cause Of Death Related To 2015 Stroke


Tom Hayden, a 1960s anti-Vietnam war activist, has died at age 76.

Hayden is many things: a radical defendant during the Chicago seven trial, an anti-Vietnam war advocate, and the ex-husband of actress Jane Fonda.

Tom Hayden died on Sunday after struggling with a long illness, according to his wife, Barbara Williams, as reported by the Guardian. The cause of death may have been connected with a stroke he suffered in 2015.

Hayden was criticized and called a traitor by his critics due to his stance on the Vietnam war. He served as a member of the California assembly and a senator for almost two decades. As a progressive, Tom’s influence in the political arena was far-reaching and wide, and he often fought for issues related to education and the environment. His popularity as a political figure rose to new prominence when he became one of the seven defendants during the Chicago seven trial.

As a member of the “Chicago 7” activists, Hayden was tried for conspiracy and incitement charges on account of protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. He was eventually acquitted of both charges.

As one of the founding members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Hayden was one of the central figures in the anti-war and civil rights movements formed in the 1960s. He authored the group’s defining manifesto, the Port Huron Statement.

The University of Michigan alumni also traveled to the Deep South to take part in the “freedom rider” protests against racial segregation. He got beaten and arrested in one of the voter-registration campaigns he joined.

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti went on Twitter to honor Tom Hayden’s life.

“A political giant and dear friend has passed. Tom Hayden fought harder for what he believed than just about anyone I have known. RIP, Tom.”

Hayden spent his later years as a lecturer and writer by fighting for reform in the country’s political institutions. He wrote and edited 19 books, including Reunion, a memoir of his path to protest and a dissertation on the political struggles of the 1960s.

“Rarely, if ever, in American history has a generation begun with higher ideals and experienced greater trauma than those who lived fully the short time from 1960 to 1968,” he wrote.

A New York Times book review of his memoir Reunion called Hayden “the single greatest figure of the 1960s student movement.”

Hayden later became director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center, a nonprofit think tank that investigates the ongoing U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, as well as drug policy and global poverty.

Tom Hayden worked as a columnist and editor for the Nation magazine.

His personal papers, 120 boxes worth covering his life since the 1960s, were given to the University of Michigan in 2014. The stack contains information on civil rights and anti-war activities, as well as 22,000 pages of government surveillance files.

“One of your prime objectives,” former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wrote in a memo, “should be to neutralize him in the New Left movement.”

“I can’t wait till after I’m dead [to make the archives public],” Hayden told Al Jazeera after handing over the “Tom Hayden” papers.

“A lot of this stuff was moulding or on the verge of moulding. It occurred to me it would be important to turn it over to some responsible researchers and archivists while I am alive and alert because it would help me go through it and share what is there with others, with professors, graduate students, with interested undergraduates.”

Hayden’s 1961 marriage to civil rights worker Sandra Carson lasted only two years. He met Jane Fonda at an anti-war rally. They got married in 1973 and welcomed a son, Tory Garity. Hayden and Ms. Fonda divorced in 1990. He later married Canadian actress Ms. Wiliams in 1993.

Hayden supported Hillary Clinton in her bid for the presidency before his death. A former Bernie supporter, Tom Hayden wrote a piece for the Nation, “I Used to Support Bernie, but Then I Changed My Mind,” to explain why he switched his support for Clinton.

[Featured Image by Michael Buckner/Getty Images]

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