Dennis James Hayward (October 14, 1915 - September 3, 1990) was an American politician best known as a longtime Senator from Illinois, the Senate Majority Whip from 1965-69 and the Senate Majority Leader from 1969-1973, and as the Democratic Presidential candidate in the 1972 election. After losing the 1972 election to Clyde Dawley, the acrimony from the contentious election and doubts about his ability to negotiate with Dawley undermined his power, and the Senate Democrats voted to elevate the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Doc Newton, to Majority Leader. He was the second consecutive Democratic Senate leader to launch an unsuccessful Presidential bid and lose power immediately afterward.