R.I.P., Tom Hayden
I engaged in argument with Tom Hayden within minutes of meeting him for the first time. It was July 2, 2003, and the issue was the treatment of the American flag in a roundtable discussion at the Presidio Officers’ Club in San Francisco. I was making the argument that the left had made a grave mistake by ceding the flag as a symbol of the status quo in the 1960s. I believe that the noble causes of the time — civil rights, free speech, opposition to the Vietnam War — represented the best of patriotism. Hayden made an impassioned counterargument, pointing out that the flag could also be a symbol of repression, noting that the Stars and Stripes was the last thing some American Indians saw before their slaughter by the U.S. cavalry.
Hayden and I stayed in touch since that evening, and he wrote occasional pieces for our opinion pages. The last time I saw him was at a conference on the criminal justice system at the University of Southern California a couple of years ago. During our lunch break on campus, he spoke of his frustration that so many did not understand the evolution of Los Angeles and how certain neighborhoods, including the one around USC, had outgrown their stereotypes.
To converse with the middle-aged Hayden was to marvel at how he had maintained his commitment to the causes and principles that propelled him into national prominence as a radical of the 1960s, and later brought him into the more structured world of the state Legislature, even as his legend was never diminished by ego, polish or pretense. Hayden stopped shouting, but he never stopped thinking — or caring.
Tom Hayden died last week at 76. He was an American original, a hero of a generation that challenged the world order. And, while he may not choose these words, he was an American patriot who stood resolute for American values.