--- title: Tom Hayden Never Stopped Pushing for Peace and Justice description: As both an activist and an elected leader, Tom Hayden brought the cruelties of war to the public's attention. canonical: https://time.com/4547313/tom-hayden/ author: Eric Garcetti article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-27T10:22:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:27:10.190Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Tom Hayden Never Stopped Pushing for Peace and Justice og:description: He fought for rights for all og:url: https://time.com/4547313/tom-hayden/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2f4097e2db50cea/6988abaf524fc029d3df9ffb/bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tom Hayden Never Stopped Pushing for Peace and Justice twitter:description: He fought for rights for all twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2f4097e2db50cea/6988abaf524fc029d3df9ffb/bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Eric Garcetti: Tom Hayden Never Stopped Pushing for Peace and Justice by [Eric Garcetti](https://time.com/author/eric-garcetti/) ## Eric Garcetti Oct 27, 2016 10:22 AM UTC  Peace activist Tom Hayden speaks in New York in September 1972 Peace activist Tom Hayden speaks in New York in September 1972Bernard Gotfryd—Getty Images by [Eric Garcetti](https://time.com/author/eric-garcetti/) ## Eric Garcetti Oct 27, 2016 10:22 AM UTC I first met Tom Hayden at the Democratic National Convention. No, we weren’t in Chicago in 1968, but in Los Angeles in 2000\. His passion was inspiring and contagious. Tom was a relentless activist and a loyal friend–a giant who never stopped pushing for peace and justice. He firmly believed that a strong democracy is a democracy in which we listen to one another and one in which we don’t just hit the streets, but we also jump into the electoral and legislative processes. As both an activist and an elected leader, Tom brought the cruelties of war to the public’s attention, confronted environmental degradation and fought tirelessly for equal rights for all. His work took him abroad to conflict zones and brought him home to the streets of Los Angeles–where he saved lives by negotiating a gang truce, and took up the cause of protecting tenants from unfair rents. I will miss his sharp intellect and righteous stubbornness. His legacy will be an example for generations to come. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4547313/tom-hayden/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4547313/tom-hayden/"},"headline":"Eric Garcetti: Tom Hayden Never Stopped Pushing for Peace and Justice","datePublished":"2016-10-27T10:22:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:27:10.190Z","description":"He fought for rights for all","url":"https://time.com/4547313/tom-hayden/","keywords":["activism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2f4097e2db50cea/6988abaf524fc029d3df9ffb/bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Garcetti","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-garcetti/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2f4097e2db50cea/6988abaf524fc029d3df9ffb/bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace","caption":"bernard-gotfryd-tom-hayden-new-york-activist-peace","creditText":"Bernard Gotfryd—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4547313/tom-hayden/","name":"Eric Garcetti: Tom Hayden Never Stopped Pushing for Peace and Justice"}}]}] ```