Judy Gumbo Albert and Tom Hayden, 1969.
REMEMBERING TOM HAYDEN
Peace activist and spiritual leader Rabbi Arthur Waskow and activist and SDS vet Carl Davidson, joined Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio, Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, 2-3 p.m. (CT), to discuss the life and legacy of Tom Hayden. Listen to the podcast here:
Peace and justice activist Tom Hayden, founding spirit of SDS, principal author of the Port Huron Statement, and arguably the most influential figure in the Sixties New Left, died Sunday, October 23, 2016, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 76.
Tom was a dear friend and colleague: a frequent contributor to The Rag Blog, a regular guest on Rag Radio, and a strong supporter of all our efforts.
This is one of several tributes to Tom Hayden we are publishing on The Rag Blog.
Tom Hayden has died.
Tom was brilliant, irascible, loyal and strong-minded; he was also ecumenical, occasionally grumpy, but very generous, with a powerful intellect that covered up a heart of gold.
I knew Tom well in the late 1960s and ‘70s He, Stew, and I roomed together first in Oakland at a home owned by anti-war vet Don Duncan, then at 2917 Ashby in Berkeley, where Tom paid the rent. We continued our friendship during the Chicago 8 trial, and remained close after I came back from Vietnam where we had mutual friends.
I last talked with Tom at the 2015 Power of Protest conference. I last talked about Tom to Bobby Seale this past week at the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party to let Bobby know Tom was ailing.
Stew wrote a poem before he died; its first line goes, “Let me raise a cup to my fallen pals.” Now Tom is one of them. As he was of mine. Sad.
[Judy Gumbo Albert was a founding member of the Youth International Party (Yippie!), along with Abbie and Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Nancy Kurshan, Paul Krassner, and Judy’s late husband Stew Albert. Judy has a Ph.D. in sociology and spent the majority of her professional career as an award-winning fundraiser for Planned Parenthood. She lives in Berkeley, California, and is currently writing her memoir, Yippie Girl, which is also the name of her website.]
- Find articles by and about Tom Hayden on The Rag Blog.
- Listen to Thorne Dreyer’s interviews with Tom Hayden on Rag Radio.
- Read “Thorne Dreyer: As Port Huron Turns 50,” at Tom Hayden’s Democracy Journal, and at Truthout.
