AN INTERVIEW WITH THE WASHINGTON POST
MONDAY, JULY 16, 2012 AT 11:12PM
This interview, conducted by Laura Hambleton, was originally published at The Washington Poston July 16, 2012.
TOM HAYDEN, 1960S RADICAL AND EX-HUSBAND OF JANE FONDA, REFLECTS ON LIFE AT AGE 72
Few symbolized 1960s radicalism as boldly as Tom Hayden: co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society, Freedom Rider in the South, member of the Chicago Eight put on trial for disrupting the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Vietnam war protester. Later he earned fame in other ways, by marrying actress and activist Jane Fonda (from whom he is long divorced) and serving in the California legislature. Now in his 70s, Hayden writes every day — newspaper columns, books, tweets — as part of a “moral obligation” that he says he feels to speak out. “I made that commitment after my heart surgery, which was at the time of 9/11, and I have kept that pledge,” he says. Hayden spoke to The Post from his office in Culver City, near Los Angeles.— Laura HambletonHow are you?I just turned 72. Physically, the deterioration is kind of obvious, but I’m on the lucky side of things. I’ve had heart surgery 10 years ago and carotid [artery]