SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – Tom Hayden was long past his heyday of political rebellion and the Chicago 8 trial when he died on Sunday at age 76. But in American culture, he remained an enduring symbol of a time when young people took history into their own hands.
Hayden reinvented himself many times, moving from the streets in the 1960s to the halls of California government in the 1970s, going from a longhaired protester who stunned many by marrying glamorous actress Jane Fonda to a lawmaker in a suit and tie.
But even when his hair turned white, he never escaped his past.
Tom Hayden’s 1960s were a decade of dissent marked by civil rights sit-ins, anti-war marches, the Chicago riots and scenes of kids being tear-gassed and clubbed on American campuses.
He spoke many times about the era that planted his name in the American consciousness as a radical firebrand, anti-Vietnam War protester and defendant in the Chicago 8 conspiracy trial.