"Moo U"and the 26th Amendment: Registering for Peace and Voting for Responsive City Government

In July 1971 the 26th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. As a result, over eleven million eighteen‐ to twenty‐year‐olds gained the right to vote. Among them were a group of Iowa State University students in Ames, many of them active opponents of the Vietnam War. Starting with a statewid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Peace and change 2004-01, Vol.29 (1), p.48-80
Main Authors: Brown, Clyde, Pluta Brown, Gayle K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College Students
Countercultures
Iowa
Local Government
Registration
Vietnam War
Voters
Voting Behavior
Youth Movements
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Summary:In July 1971 the 26th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. As a result, over eleven million eighteen‐ to twenty‐year‐olds gained the right to vote. Among them were a group of Iowa State University students in Ames, many of them active opponents of the Vietnam War. Starting with a statewide weekend Register for Peace conference in August 1971 as part of Allard Lowenstein's “Dump Nixon” movement, they engaged in an extensive voter registration drive on campus. Motivated by perceived excesses of local political authority during the May 1970 Cambodian invasion and Kent State–Jackson State protests and mistreatment of counterculture youth, they organized a broad coalition and endorsed a slate of candidates in the November municipal election. They conducted a comprehensive voter education and get‐out‐the‐vote effort, modeled on anti‐Mayor Daley aldermanic campaigns in Chicago, which resulted in victory for their candidates and in a city government more responsive to their concerns.
ISSN:0149-0508
1468-0130
DOI:10.1111/j.0149-0508.2004.00283.x