The Madison Citizens for a Vote on Viet Nam was an ad hoc group opposed to United States military involvement in Viet Nam. Their purpose was to put the question of the war before the Madison public on the primary ballot of April 2, 1968 in the form of a referendum and to insure as large a vote as possible.
In January, 1967, several concerned citizens attempted to put the question on the spring, 1967, ballot, but they did not have enough time to procure the necessary number of signatures and to appear before the City Council. In August, 1967, Maurice Zeitlin, a professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, began to collect prominent local men and women to be sponsors of efforts aimed at the 1968 ballot. After the confrontation on October 19, 1967, between the UW administration, the students, and the city police over the right of Dow Chemical Company to recruit on campus, Zeitlin was able to enlist the aid of many students. Working with the Concerned Democrats (“Vote No” to Johnson campaign) in the wards, the MCVV managed to collect more than the requisite 6,700 signatures by the December 22, 1967, deadline.
In January, 1968, MCVV was reorganized to be nonpartisan and independent of all other movements such as the McCarthy for President campaign. On January 25 the City Council approved inclusion of the referendum on the primary ballot, after which a massive publicity campaign began. A downtown office was rented as headquarters with a part-time secretary. In March several attempts were made to enlist the endorsement of nationally known political candidates without much success. Advertising and voter registration were more effective. On April 2, 1968, the referendum calling for an immediate cease-fire and eventual withdrawal received nearly 45 per cent of the votes, indicating rapidly growing dissatisfaction with the role of the United States in Viet Nam. The group was disbanded soon after the primary.
