Anti-Vietnam War activist dies at 76

WASHINGTON: Peace activist Tom Hayden, whose radical views were at the forefront of the anti-Vietnam War movement in the 1960s, has died. He was 76.

Hayden´s wife, Canadian actress and author Barbara Williams, told CNN that he died late Sunday at the UCLA Medical Centre in Santa Monica, California, from complications related to a 2015 stroke.

On Twitter, his official account hailed him as a "1960s radical who became a champion of liberal causes."

Hayden was a member of the "Chicago 7" convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and incitement to riot over anti-Vietnam War protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The conviction was overturned on appeal.

As an ideological leader of the influential Students for a Democratic Society, he authored its Port Huron statement, a visionary document that still inspires anti-authoritarian and pro-democracy movements today.

"We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit," reads the document´s first line.

He later served for almost two decades as a California state lawmaker, both in the State Assembly and the Senate, and was married to actress and fellow political activist Jane Fonda from 1973 to 1990. The couple had a son, Troy Garity. Hayden also had a son, Liam, with Williams. Liberal leaders quickly paid tribute to Hayden.