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- IDEAS OF TOM HAYDEN
TOM HAYDEN’S LIFERegardless of your opinion of Hayden as an activist or as a person, you’ve gotta admit he’s led a pretty interesting life so far. "Tom Hayden changed America", wrote the national correspondent of The Atlantic, Nicholas Lemann. Born December 11, 1939, he has lived in Los Angeles since 1971. As his own website (www.tomhayden.com) admits, though, he was best known for his 16-year marriage to actress Jane Fonda. Together, they participated in many controversial events demonstrating their opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1968, he was arrested as a member of the "Chicago Seven" for inciting a riot at the Democratic National Convention. In 1969 and 1970, he was a prominent defendant in the Chicago Seven trial. Along with four other defendants -- Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Rennie Davis and David Dellinger -- Hayden was convicted of intent to riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The other defendants, who were not convicted, were John Froines and Lee Weiner. All the defendants, including Froines and Weiner, were acquitted of additional conspiracy charges. Later, even those “intent to riot” convictions were overturned by a federal appeals court, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court based its decision on procedural errors by U.S. District Judge Julius Hoffman. Undaunted by his legal trouble, Hayden continued with his activism. He later served as a “freedom rider.” The freedom riders were a group of mostly white students from the north who traveled to the American south in efforts to assist racial desegregation the South. As some former radicals did, Hayden decided to run for elected office. He was elected to the state Assembly in 1982 -- and when he was elected as a state assemblyman 20 years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported, “he was regarded warily as an invader and outlaw by his fellow lawmakers, some of whom even tried to expel him from the Legislature as a "traitor."” This didn’t stop him, as he was elected to the state Senate in 1992, the culmination of seven consecutive electoral victories representing the west side of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Until he was forced out by term limits, he was "the conscience of the (California State) Senate", wrote Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters. While he didn’t pass much legislation -- his radical views often polarized even friendly legislators -- he sponsored numerous bills, including legislation on behalf of women, African-Americans and Latinos and Holocaust survivors. He backed pro-labor, anti-sweatshop legislation -- which you might expect of a former 1960s radical. But mainstream groups honored him, too. Hayden was called the "legislator of the year" by the American Lung Association for taking on the tobacco industry. While a state legislator, he was given kudos by the Sierra Club and the California League Conservation Voters for backing protection of endangered species and pro-environment record, hailed by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for his civil rights achievements, praised by the Jewish National Fund for his support of Israel, and on and on. Hayden fought against university tuition increases, fought for reform of the K-12 educational system, and decried the prominence of special interest waste and abuse of power in California politics. Hardly a single issue activist or politician. Unlike many of his fellow radicals, Hayden never decried the existence of the political system as such. Indeed, his tenure as a state senator was not the first time Hayden had influenced legislative agendas. At least one prominent political figure, presidential assistant Richard Goodwin, has said that Hayden “created the blueprint for the Great Society programs” of Lyndon Baines Johnson during his tenure as an advocate for the working poor. He is currently married to the actress Barbara Williams. He has an infant son with Williams. Hayden also has two grown children from his earlier marriage to Fonda. Activist, convict, husband of actress; activist, convict with his sentence overturned, former husband of actress; politician, author, again husband of different actress. It’s been a tumultuous ride for Hayden, even when he wasn’t married to Barbarella. (Look it up, kids). IDEAS OF TOM HAYDENPerhaps the most important item to read in studying the ideology of this and other radical organizations is the Port Huron Statement, the founding document of Students for a Democratic Society, which was written by Tom Hayden in 1962. Hayden wrote the Port Huron Statement while a student at The University of Wisconsin. Then statement encouraged other students to research and understand the world at large, and more, to take action. What kind of action? Well, lots of different kinds, of course. As one might expect given the racial intolerance prevalent in America at the time -- remember, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was still two years away -- Hayden decried the injustice of the discrepancy in material wealth and economic opportunity between the white and black communities. In fact, he credits that issue as one of the factors inspiring the SDS movement: When we were kids the United States was the wealthiest and strongest country in the world; the only one with the atom bomb, the least scarred by modern war....Many of us began maturing in complacency. As we grew, however, our comfort was penetrated by events too troubling to dismiss. First, the permeating and victimizing fact of human degradation, symbolized by the Southern struggle against racial bigotry, compelled most of us from silence to activism. SDS moved from a mere problem identification mode to a serious institutional analysis of American politics. Like many of the so-called New Left groups of the time, the SDS had socialist leanings -- not necessarily the hard Marxist leaning of various communist groups, but a general desire for leveling the economic playing field in the United States. Recognizing that this would require revolutionary change, the SDS got its name from a desire for what they termed “true democracy,” using rhetoric reminiscent of early American rabble rousers such as Thomas Paine. Although mankind desperately needs revolutionary leadership, America rests in national stalemate, its goals ambiguous and tradition-bound instead of informed and clear, its democratic system apathetic and manipulated rather than "of, by, and for the people."...The worldwide outbreak of revolution against colonialism and imperialism, the entrenchment of totalitarian states, the menace of war, overpopulation, international disorder, supertechnology - these trends were testing the tenacity of our own commitment to democracy and freedom and our abilities to visualize their application to a world in upheaval. Even in his youth, Hayden recognized that power could not truly be challenged without alliances between various progressive groups. That includes student groups, workers, and other activists of various stripes. The conclusion of the Port Huron Declaration reads: To turn these possibilities into realities will involve national efforts at university reform by an alliance of students and faculty. They must wrest control of the educational process from the administrative bureaucracy. They must make fraternal and functional contact with allies in labor, civil rights, and other liberal forces outside the campus. They must import major public issues into the curriculum - research and teaching on problems of war and peace is an outstanding example. They must make debate and controversy, not dull pedantic cant, the common style for educational life. They must consciously build a base for their assault upon the loci of power. As students for a democratic society, we are committed to stimulating this kind of social movement, this kind of vision and program in campus and community across the country. If we appear to seek the unattainable, as it has been said, then let it be known that we do so to avoid the unimaginable. While Hayden has never focused on one issue to the exclusion of all others, it is certainly possible to decide based on his activist priorities which are the most important to him. Like many of his vintage, the Vietnam War provided his activist awakening. Especially because of the nuclear age, pacifism and the avoidance of war were a pressing concern for Hayden: as he wrote then, “the enclosing fact of the Cold War, symbolized by the presence of the Bomb, brought awareness that we ourselves, and our friends, and millions of abstract "others" we knew more directly because of our common peril, might die at any time...” It seems, then, that Hayden and SDS defended a multidisciplinary activism that recognized the need for progressive groups of all stripes to come together toward overlapping goals. Naturally, there was tension in this: many labor groups distrust environmentalists because of perceived inattention to the cause of workers, for example. Thus, even people that consider themselves “progressive” on one or more issues might not be given to the kind of movement-building that SDS advocated. And, of course, if one is not progressive at all, one would hardly be given to support any of the prevailing agendas that Hayden or his allies would. Let us turn to the latter group now, and some of the charges they have levied against Hayden, the SDS, and indeed the 1960s in its entirety. 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