--- title: Tom Hayden Dies: Helped Define 1960s Activism for SDS description: The lawmaker, who has died at 76, drafted the Port Huron Statement for Students for a Democratic Society. Here's what the manifesto said. canonical: https://time.com/4542668/tom-hayden-port-huron-statement/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-24T17:42:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:22:44.093Z article:section: History og:title: Tom Hayden Dies: Helped Define 1960s Activism for SDS og:description: He drafted the Port Huron Statement in 1962 og:url: https://time.com/4542668/tom-hayden-port-huron-statement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53278088fb4da90c/6988ab50a988ca4c406b9df5/gettyimages-564017023.jpg?branch=production&width=1067&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1067 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: Tom Hayden is photographed on 10/23/2006 in his Culver City. Hayden is a founding member of the New og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Hayden Dies: Helped Define 1960s Activism for SDS twitter:description: He drafted the Port Huron Statement in 1962 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53278088fb4da90c/6988ab50a988ca4c406b9df5/gettyimages-564017023.jpg?branch=production&width=1067&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Tom Hayden Helped Define 1960s Student Activism With This Manifesto by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 24, 2016 5:42 PM UTC  Tom Hayden is photographed on Oct. 23, 2006, in Culver City, Calif. Tom Hayden is photographed on Oct. 23, 2006, in Culver City, Calif.Gary Friedman—LA Times / Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 24, 2016 5:42 PM UTC Activist-turned-lawmaker Tom Hayden [died](http://time.com/4542255/tom-hayden-anti-war-activist-dies-obituary/) on Sunday at 76, leaving behind a legacy rooted in 1960s counterculture and social activism. In the early years of that decade, Hayden was one of the founders of the influential activist organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). While his career was both long and varied, those early years with SDS remained a highlight, thanks in part to a document that he was instrumental in producing—a manifesto that outlined the left’s vision for the future and galvanized a generation of activists. After the group’s first national convention in Port Huron, Mich., Hayden wrote a 30,000 word manifesto known as the [Port Huron Statement](http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/huron.html). The 1962 document was billed as an “agenda for a new generation.” “We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit,” it begins. As TIME [wrote](http://time.com/vault/issue/1968-05-24/page/59/) in 1968, the manifesto affirms that change is possible in all facets of American life via a participatory democracy where individuals “share in those social decisions determining the quality and direction of his life.” [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) The manifesto calls for political life rooted in principals that included a positive view of politics and public, group decision making. Economic ideals ranged from incentivizing work beyond money to “democratic social regulation” of major resources. The group also denounced violence, despite members’ penchant for confrontation. (For example, SDS members participated in the [protests](http://time.com/vault/issue/1968-09-06/page/46/) at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; Hayden was later [prosecuted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1969-09-26/page/24/) for his own involvement.) The lengthy, detailed document sought to unify the youth of the left behind common ideals, calling on college students to take a central role in shaping the nation’s future: --- > “” --- Hayden and other SDS members hand delivered the manifesto to the White House before distributing 60,000 copies, according to the Chicago [_Tribune._](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-tom-hayden-dead-chicago-seven-20161024-story.html) By the late 1960s, 35,000 young people were connected with SDS, which had chapters on 250 college campuses across the U.S. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4542668/tom-hayden-port-huron-statement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4542668/tom-hayden-port-huron-statement/"},"headline":"Tom Hayden Helped Define 1960s Student Activism With This Manifesto","datePublished":"2016-10-24T17:42:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:22:44.093Z","description":"He drafted the Port Huron Statement in 1962","url":"https://time.com/4542668/tom-hayden-port-huron-statement/","keywords":["remembrance","History","activism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53278088fb4da90c/6988ab50a988ca4c406b9df5/gettyimages-564017023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt53278088fb4da90c/6988ab50a988ca4c406b9df5/gettyimages-564017023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tom Hayden is photographed on 10/23/2006 in his Culver City. 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