Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
AirTalk

Activist legend Tom Hayden remembered by fellow Vietnam War agitator

Activist and writer Tom Hayden in 2009.
Activist and writer Tom Hayden in 2009.
(
Flickr user: KCET departures / creative commons
)
Listen 12:38
Activist legend Tom Hayden remembered by fellow Vietnam War agitator

Famed '60s anti-war activist and longtime California politician Tom Hayden, whose name became forever linked with the celebrated Chicago 7 trial, Vietnam War protests and his ex-wife actress Jane Fonda, has died. He was 76.

He died on Sunday after a long illness, said his wife, Barbara Williams, noting that he suffered a stroke in 2015.

Hayden, once denounced as a traitor by his detractors, overcame his past and won election to the California Assembly and Senate where he served for almost two decades as a progressive force on such issues as the environment and education. He was the only one of the radical Chicago 7 defendants to win such distinction in the mainstream political world.

He remained an enduring voice against war and spent his later years as a prolific writer and lecturer advocating for reform of America's political institutions.

On AirTalk, Larry speaks with his long-time friend and fellow activist Vivien Rothstein about their time in Vietnam and highlights how Hayden's incisive mind kept him driven and inspirational.

With files from the Associated Press.

Guest: 

Vivien Rothstein, Long-time friend of Tom Hayden and fellow activist