PRESIDENT, SDS, 1962-1963; COORDINATOR OF ANTI-
WAR DEMONSTRATIONS, CHICAGO, AUGUST 1968

New Left Activist.

A major voice in defining the New Left, Hayden started out in the civil rights movement and worked as a community organizer in Newark, New Jersey, before he visited North Vietnam and became involved in organizing the opposition to the Vietnam War.

Background.

Born and brought up in Royal Oaks, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Hayden attended the University of Michigan, where he edited the Michigan Daily and in fall 1960 helped to organize VOICE, an independent student political party that eventually became the Ann Arbor chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Civil Rights Activist.

In fall 1961, after graduating from the university, Hayden became a field secretary for SDS, working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was beginning its...