If you're older, you have probably heard of 1960s anti-war activist Tom Hayden.

He first achieved notoriety from being part of the "Chicago Seven" -- activists who protested the Vietnam War during the 1968 Democratic Convention, and were indicted for crossing state lines to incite a riot.

At one point, Hayden was called "the father of the largest mass protests in American history", and "inspired the Great Society without even knowing it". Hayden was a huge hero to the counterculture at the time.

Five years later, he married Jane Fonda, with whom he stay married for 17 years, until 1990. They had one son together, Troy Garity, who became a semi-successful actor. Garity starred in an ahead-of-its-time 2003 TV movie called "Soldier's Girl", about an army private who fell in love with a local transgender drag performer.



Hayden also got into California politics in the 1990s, and was elected to both the state senate and the state assembly.

The first time I ever saw Tom Hayden scared of anything was when he met our own Master Scalir.


There was a weekly social event at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in West Los Angeles, called "Friday Night Live". For awhile I was even calling Friday night episodes of PFA Radio "Friday Night Live", as a cryptic reference to it. It sort of had a singles vibe to it, but it wasn't really a singles party. It was more of a free social event where (mostly 20s and 30s) Jews would get together as Shabbat began. There were various snacks provided, including Manischewitz Wine in little cups. The entire party was free, and was very popular among young Jews in the area. You technically had to be 21 to go, but this wasn't really enforced.



Master Scalir was obsessed with Friday Night Live, and went every single week from the beginning of it in the '90s until 2007 or so. If you remember Colleen, she was the reason he decided to break his "streak" and finally stop going. Prior to that, he had been there every single week.

I went there on and off. When I was single, I went more, because I had less to do on Friday nights, and would go directly there after work. When I had a girlfriend, I would still go occasionally, and just not treat it as a singles party. Even when I was single, I didn't really try to find anyone to date there, and more would just walk around with Scalir and laugh at his antics. Ken befriended various other quirky dudes he met there, whom he called "characters", and introduced me to all of them as well. It was entertaining to observe Ken's antics with all of them, though I never really wanted to get close to any of these people like Ken did.

There usually wasn't anyone famous at Friday Night Live, but one night Tom Hayden came there for some reason. I think he was running for office or promoting something. Anyway, he was kind of aimlessly walking around, and it seemed a lot the young people there didn't recognize him, since he was more of a famous figure in the '60s and '70s, which was before much of this 2003 crowd was even born.

Ken, of course, instantly recognized him, and ran up to him.

"Tom Hayden!!", he excitedly said,. "I can't believe you're here, I've always wanted to meet you! You're my political idol!"

Hayden was looking a little bit nervous, but politely indulged Ken and greeted him.

"This guy here," Ken said pointing to me, "... is my friend Todd. He's a Republican. You probably wouldn't agree with him on anything. But I'm a Democrat, and I know every detail of your entire career!"

Ken then started reciting a bunch of obscure things about Hayden's political and activist life. I could tell at this point he was very uncomfortable, and was worried he was in the presence of a crazy stalker. He didn't realize that Scalir was completely harmless and would never hurt a fly.

As Ken started reciting off everything Tom had ever done, Hayden was looking around to see if there was anyone else around trying to get his attention, but sadly for him, nobody was in the immediate vicinity.

Finally, Tom Hayden realized the he was standing right next to someone unlikely to be obsessed with him or dangerous -- me.

Remember, Ken described me as both a Republican and his friend. Clearly I couldn't be an obsessed fan of his like Ken was, and clearly I couldn't personally despise Democrats or I wouldn't be friends with Ken. Tom virtually ignored Ken at this point, and started small talk with me. I had a pleasant conversation back with him, actually feeling bad for the guy, and was trying to calm down Ken, whom I could tell was scaring him.

I thought it was hilarious that onetime communist Tom Hayden, who stood down the Chicago police in 1968, was now finding safety in a conversation with a Republican.

Finally, Tom saw someone he recognized walk by, and said, "Hey it was great meeting you guys, I've gotta go talk to my friend over there", and walked away.

Ken said something like, "Wow... Tom Hayden!", and I informed him that he actually scared the guy, which Ken wasn't aware of.

"But you're the Republican and I'm the one who agrees with him! Why was he afraid of me?", Ken asked.

"That's exactly why he wasn't afraid of me. He knew I wasn't obsessed with him in any way."

Ken realized he came on too strong, and felt a little bit bad.


Tom Hayden died in 2016, at the age of 76. Even though I didn't agree with his politics, he was nice when I met him, and I felt bad that I got to witness one of the few instances where he was ever truly scared.

RIP