Whitney Wesley Hadden

1949 -

Whitney Wesley Hadden
Whitney Wesley Hadden. Image Source: Buccaneer, 1969.

In 1967, Whitney Hadden enrolled at ECU following his graduation from J. H. Rose High School. At East Carolina, he emerged as one of the leading liberal voices in the student body, early on supporting the new black student movement and its push for anti-discriminatory reforms, and ECU’s anti-Vietnam War movement. Hadden was also a member of the politically active Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, and founding chairman of GAP, a student group that significantly advanced the cause of students’ rights and academic freedom on campus.

Notably, during the December 1969 anti-war march staged by the ECU Moratorium Committee, Hadden mobilized GAP to serve as “marshals,” ensuring that the march proceeded in an orderly fashion, without fragmentation. When two ECU students were arrested the same month for putting up posters advertising the upcoming appearance in Raleigh of Dr. Ralph Abernathy (1926-1990), president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Hadden and GAP organized a “silent demonstration” at the Greenville Post Office – federal property and so not easily in the jurisdiction of local police – with GAP members wearing gags symbolizing Greenville’s efforts to violate their rights to free speech.

In the spring of 1969, when a black student committee and SOULS presented a list of ten demands for positive racial change on campus, Hadden authored a full-page report on the demands published in the East Carolinian. He also joined the group of students who confronted Jenkins at his residence on Fifth Street in an effort to quicken the pace of positive change on campus. Later, following the arrest of four black students for blocking cafeteria lines as a means of protesting the slow pace of administrative change, Hadden and GAP circulated a petition objecting to the use of police force as a means of maintaining discipline on campus.

Hadden also served as one of the editors of the East Carolinian and contributed a number of pieces to the paper through his column, “The Pendulum Swings to the Left” and “Left of the Wright Window.” A noted poet, Hadden published some of his verse in the college’s literary and arts magazine, REBEL, and the Dept. of English’s publication, Tar River Poets.

In 1969, Hadden left ECU, having become one of Pitt County’s first conscientious objectors. That year he moved to New York to perform alternative service as an inhalation technician at the New York University Hospital. After being released from that work due to poor vision, Hadden remained in New York City earning a living as he could by means of street performances of magic and card tricks.

In 1970, he began studies at Lynchburg College in Virginia, finishing a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and comparative religion in 1972. During that time, even though not a student at ECU, Hadden remained connected with radicals on campus and contributed, as before, to the East Carolinian. In one of his publications, a review of Ho Chi Minh’s (1890-1969) prison diary, Hadden compared the North Vietnamese Communist leader’s poetry to classical Chinese styles of the Tang dynasty. In another piece, Hadden sought to explain the satiric cover imagery used in an issue of ECU’s literary magazine, REBEL, facetiously entitled Supah Rebel, that some blacks found offensive. Most controversially, Hadden published a lengthy interview he did with his friend, Larry Little, then head of the Black Panther Party of North Carolina.

Hadden entered the Virginia Theological Seminary but eventually shelved his pursuit of the ministry to follow his longstanding love for magical performance. In the mid-1970s, he emerged as an impressive stage magician and soon modified his last name, for professional purposes, to Haydn. An award-winning performer, Hadden now lives in Los Angeles and continues his work as a stage magician with his Pop Haydn character who is based on a nineteenth century con-man and medicine show performer. The character, “Whit ‘Pop’ Haydn” was recognized by Gov Andy Beshear of Kentucky and awarded the honor “Kentucky Colonel” in 2020. Hadden is a seven-time award-winner and past vice-president of the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

As a liberal student leader in the late 1960s and early 1970s and then later as a professional magician, Hadden distinguished himself as an astute humanist dedicated to outstanding service to the causes of social justice and public entertainment.

Additional Related Material

Brothers of Delta Sigma Phi. Image Source: Buccaneer, 1969.

“Students protest arrest – 27 busted under new city ordinance.” Image Source: Fountainhead, December 6, 1969.

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Citation Information

Title: Whitney Wesley Hadden

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 3/1/2021

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