Back at the CNCV headquarters we were assured that Ward 4 is particularly barren territory, and that student canvassers have it tougher than others. Just under two thirds of the canvassers have nothing to do with either Harvard or M.I.T. and four out of five of them are adults who have lived in Cambridge for over five years. They had gotten encouraging results, not only in the wealthy and academic wards, but also in the working class sections.
Anti-war Italians
In East Cambridge, for instance, although the Irish had been staunchly hawk, the Italians had been outright anti-war or at least eager to listen to the CNCV's arguments. At the same time, the immigrant sections have been very vulnerable to counter-canvassing on the part of the Veterans. The Vet leaflet, which included a picture of an American flag and a short statement about "Freedom is not free," seemed to strike a responsive and ever guilty chord in many Italians. CNCV canvassers found that on Saturday, when the Vet literature began to circulate, the Italians became less prone to long discussions about whether an anti-war vote would encourage the Communists, and more given to dogmatic statements that every American must support his President.
Despite the inroads made by the Veterans, the CNCV is still hopeful that forty per cent of the people who voted last Tuesday voted to end the war. The vote will not be tabulated and announced until November 28. A poll conducted last week by the CNCV showed sixty per cent still undecided, twenty-five per cent intending to vote "yes," and just 15 per cent determined to vote "no."
If you are skeptical about the poll, the CNCV people tell you about the San Francisco vote--thirty six per cent of the people endorsed a statement much stronger than the Cambridge one. The San Francisco referendum demanded immediate ceasefire and withdrawal. The Cambridge statement is more open-ended. It asks only for the "prompt return home of American soldiers from Vietnam"--implying that Johnson could do some bargaining, get some advantages before pulling out. That mildness in the wording, the CNCV hopes, should sway the undecided.
A Machine
Until November 28, when the inevitable press conference will make hay of the "yes" votes, no matter how scarce they may be, the CNCV will be hard put to keep its cause in the headlines. It will, however, use the time to decide on its next move. A machine has been created of inexperienced but zealous precinct captains who could decide to oppose the Democratic party machine and send peace delegates to the Democratic National Convention. The CNCV organization could also turn its sights toward supporting a Gavin or a McCarthy in the April primaries.
"We've broken out of Wards 7 and 8--the Harvard Brattle Street section," says Michael Walzer, Co-Chairman of the CNCV. "We have a lot of options and we'll just have to get together now and decide which ones to pursue."
For the moment, the CNCV headquarters is relaxed. The three-week wait for the vote-counting is aggravating, but it will allow the soldier vote to come in from Vietnam. The hope is that if the soldiers, several hundred strong, vote against the war, the CNCV could steal most of the Vets' thunder and the sign "My Son is a Marine," pasted on more than one door in Ward 4,, could take on a very different meaning.