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It's June 1, 1968. In northeast San Francisco, a taxi comes to a stop in front of the Fairmont Hotel,

a six-story building with Greek columns and gilded furniture,

the kind of place where people with money and influence get together for cocktails.

The back door of the cab swings open, and Tom Hayden steps out into the cool night air.

Hayden hands a few crinkled bills to the driver and tells him to keep the change.

Then he begins hurrying to the entrance of the Fairmont, well aware that he's already running short

on time. Hayden is 28 years old. He's got shaggy brown hair and is wearing a faded plad

shirt. His appearance doesn't exactly scream political power, but Hayden has risen to become one

of the most influential social activists in America. He's a leader of what's being called the

New Left, a coalition of activists working to address a broad political agenda from civil rights

to environmentalism. He was one of the founders of the National Organization Students for a

Democratic Society, and recently, Hayden has been spearheading protests against the Vietnam War.

Some of these events have grown large, but in just a couple of months, Hayden and his fellow

activists are going to mobilize for what could be their biggest action yet. National politicians

are descending on Chicago, where Democrats are going to nominate their candidate for the upcoming

presidential election. The event is guaranteed to score plenty of coverage from the media,

and Hayden is planning to piggyback on all that attention. The plan is now to lead a large protest

outside the convention, in an effort to pressure the Democrats to stop supporting the Vietnam War.

Hayden might be able to organize thousands of protesters, and with that kind of power in numbers,

they could have a real impact, and maybe even force the party to adopt a new policy against the war.

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