TOM HAYDEN
- Activist -
G'day folks,
I've always had time for those who are prepared to stand up for what they believe in. This man is one of them. Thomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden was an American social and political
activist, author and politician, who was director of the Peace and
Justice Resource Center in Los Angeles County, California.
“Looking
back on the '60s, it was a crisis of the elders. They led us into the insanity
of Vietnam and away from the path we were on in the civil rights and student
movement. The lesson is to try not to repeat that. I can't be young again, but
the responsibility of the elders is to listen to and empathize with what is
going on with young people.”
Tom
Hayden was a vocal antiwar and civil rights activist throughout the 1960s and
1970s. He became a progressive writer who served in the California State
Assembly and State Senate.
Born on
December 11, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan, Tom Hayden became known as a radical
anti-war and civil rights activist in the 1960s. He married actress Jane Fonda,
and served a combined 18 years in the California State Assembly and State
Senate. After his political career, Hayden wrote for major publications
and advance his ideals for social reform as director of the Peace and Justice
Resource Center. He died on October 23, 2016.
Early Years
Thomas
Emmet Hayden was born to parents John and Genevieve on December 11, 1939, in
Detroit, Michigan. He continued to live with his mom after his parents divorced
when he was 10, although he remained close to his dad through regular fishing
expeditions and trips to sporting events. Hayden began thinking about a career
as a foreign correspondent while a student at Dondero High School, but became
more interested in social reform after enrolling at the University of Michigan.
Social Activist and Political Career
A
co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1961, Hayden also
joined the Freedom Riders in the South after authorities refused to enforce
desegregation of pubic buses. He was jailed in Albany, Georgia, for
attempting to desegregate a railway station. While incarcerated, he began
drafting the famed Port Huron Statement, which introduced the concept of
"participatory democracy" to a wider audience. Hayden later became
president of SDS and helped form the Economic Research and Action Project to
spur civil rights progress.
During
the mid-1960s, Hayden worked with inner-city New Jersey residents as part of
the Newark Community Union Project and began traveling to Hanoi, Vietnam. He
was arrested for protesting at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago,
becoming one of the "Chicago Seven" defendants who were convicted for
conspiracy to incite violence but later had their convictions overturned.
Wed
briefly to fellow activist Sandra "Casey" Cason in his early 20s,
Hayden married actress-turned-activist Jane Fonda
in 1973. That same year, the couple had a son together, actor Troy Garity (born
Troi O’Donovan Garity Hayden). In addition to producing such anti-war movies as
Introduction to the Enemy, the couple sought to win over political
converts by giving speeches throughout the country, and transformed their Santa
Barbara ranch into an egalitarian children's camp.
“I didn’t want to report on the world; I
wanted to change it.” - Tom Hayden
Following
an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 1976, Hayden formed the Campaign for
Economic Democracy and became chairman of the California SolarCal Council. He
ran for public office again in 1982, and served in the California State
Assembly for 10 years.
Hayden
and Fonda divorced in 1990. He married Canadian actress Barbara
Williams shortly after being voted into the California State Senate in 1992.
Despite helping to pass more than 100 measures during his time in office,
tackling issues ranging from small-business tax relief to the reduction of gang
and domestic violence to the welfare of shelter animals, his political career
stalled. Hayden fell short in his attempts to become governor of California in
1994 and mayor of Los Angeles in 1997, and failed to secure a spot on the Los
Angeles City Council in 2001 after leaving the State Senate.
Hayden
and Williams adopted a son, Liam, in 2000.
Later Years & Death
Having
already published several books, including his 1988 autobiography, Reunion:
A Memoir, Hayden focused more on writing in the new millennium with regular
contributions to such publications as The New York Times, The
Huffington Post and The Nation. He also became the director of the
Peace and Justice Resource Center in Culver City, California, through which he
continued to share liberal ideas, support social and environmental and animal
welfare causes, and speak out against wars for the remainder of his life. In
2015, he published Listen, Yankee!: Why Cuba Matters.
After a
lengthy illness, Hayden died on October 23, 2016 in Santa Monica, California at
the age of 76.
Clancy's comment: May he rest in peace.
I'm ...
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