UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Interview #1383
ROSEN, MICHAEL

ROSEN, MICHAEL (1948-)
Undergraduate
At UW: 1966-1970

Interviewed: 	May 7, 2014
Interviewer: 	Troy Reeves
Index by: 	Stephen A. Pierce
Length: 	1 hour, 7 minutes
Series: 	Vietnam Era at UW-Madison

Abstract: In his May 2014 interview with Troy Reeves, Michael Rosen reflects on his undergraduate years at UW-Madison. He devoted particular attention to the development of his political views during his years at UW and how he was involved in a number of key social movements there during the 1960s, such as the  Dow Chemical riot, the draft resistance movement, and the black students’ strike. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program.

Key Words: University of Wisconsin-Madison; George Mosse; Dow Chemical riot (1967); Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Harvey Goldberg; alcohol on campus; Wisconsin Draft Resistance Union (WDRU); Democratic National Convention 1968; “Black Thursday” (UW-Oshkosh Black students’ demonstration); Willie Edwards; Black Students’ Strike (1968); Milwaukee.

First Interview Session (May 7, 2014): Digital File

Time	Keywords
00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:23	Question: When did you come to UW and why? Answer: Rosen talked about being a student from 1966-1970, which was a natural choice since his parents had gone to UW. He recalled being a Badger fan very early. 

00:02:52	Follow up: Had you been to Madison before coming? Answer: No; he talked about driving through the Midwest to get to Madison and being impressed by the industry of northeastern Indiana and Chicago. When he arrived at UW, he was impressed by the size of everything, citing the impression Camp Randall made on him.

00:04:54	Question: Had you been involved in politics/activism in New Hampshire? Answer: He explained how he’d been elected president of his class during his junior year, a year during which Cold War conflicts surfaced. He talked about conflicts going on between the very conservative NH legislature and townspeople, and cited the example of defending his younger brother when he held an anti-Vietnam poster and nearly getting run out of the town when he expressed opposition to the prevailing conservative views.

00:09:23	Question: Did you have any inclination to get involved in student activism at UW? Answer: Not really; but he’d read Ramparts, Wright’s Native Son, and Griffin’s Black Like Me in HS, and, being Jewish in a very Anglo-Saxon area, was sensitive to discrimination. Asked by the interviewer about this discrimination, he related his discomfort with strong Christian religious references in Boy Scouts and having someone taunt him calling him “Jew-girl”. He also said his father’s WWII experience sensitized him to the fact that discrimination existed and moral people should fight it.

00:14:41	Question: Classes freshman year? Answer: He only recalled European Social History with George Mosse, which he had fond memories of because Mosse himself was his TA. He related several memories about Mosse that demonstrated Mosse’s interest in his students. Follow up: Were you intending to major in history? Answer: He said he didn’t know what he wanted to major in his first year.

00:17:11	Question: Hangouts that year? Answer: He talked about the dining hall, the Brat House, and the Rathskellar. Follow up: Did you stay in Madison that summer? Answer: No; he went back home.

00:18:28	Question: The Dow riot? Answer: He talked about being at the Dow riot, though not in the building. Having attended some SDS meetings and being politically active, he tried to get one of his friends out of the building, though he wasn’t particularly committed to that action. Follow up: How did you feel about it? Answer: Like many students, he said, he was outraged at the police’s behavior, noting that they weren’t trained for crowd control at the time.

00:21:57	Question: Where were you staying that year? Answer: He was in an apartment. Follow up: Were you deciding on a major? Answer: He recalled that Mosse’s class had ignited his interest in history, and he related French and African-American history courses that he took that year. He compared the styles and intellectual positions of Mosse and Harvey Goldberg, who was much more flamboyant and radical.

00:26:29	Question: Martin Luther King assassination? Answer: He recalled this being an important turning point for him, motivating him to become more of an activist. He talked about a phone call he made to his parents expressing these ideas. 

00:27:51	Follow up: Was there conflict with your parents over Vietnam? Answer: No; his parents were also opposed to the war. He talked about his father’s WWII experience and his protest efforts against Vietnam at UNH.

00:29:25	Question: Social life during this period? Answer: He related how his social venues shifted from bars and restaurants to people’s apartments, though he discussed the 3.2% beer on campus.

00:31:06	Follow up: But the King assassination was pivotal? Answer: Yes; after the Dow riot, he noted, “SDS got obliterated” as its leadership got expelled, so a new group called the Wisconsin Draft Resistance Union developed. He listed some of the leaders of the Union—Paul Buhle and others—but noted that he didn’t consider himself leadership at the time.

00:33:31	Follow up: Summer 1968? Answer: During this summer, WDRU decided to do a “Vietnam Summer” patterned after “Mississippi Summer,” so he accompanied a friend to Waukegan IL to organize working class youth against the War. He recounted one encounter the movement had with police in the town, which led to his arrest. Follow up: Anything else from that summer? Answer: He recalled writing an article in which he argued that the content of a movement was important in organizing youth.

00:38:17	Question: The 1968 Democratic National Convention? Answer: He supposed he must have been at home in NH or in Madison, because he wasn’t there. His memory of it was of watching it and being politically outraged.

00:39:44	Follow up: What were your political leanings? Answer: Disgusted with the political system, he couldn’t remember if he voted that year. He recalled being enamored with Kennedy and upset by his assassination, but had become politically alienated during the Johnson ramp-up to Vietnam.

00:42:11	Question: How concerned were you about being drafted? Answer: The year they came out with the numbers, he remembered, he was susceptible to draft. But he failed his physical examination, which he said he prepared for with the help of WDRU.

00:43:34	Follow up: Fall of 1968? Answer: He was living in an apartment on Wilson St, and had become friends with some black students including Willie Edwards. Follow up: The Oshkosh movement? Answer: He said he went up to Oshkosh with some of his friends to try to build support for the movement, but Madison black students didn’t feel they had the organization to do more for Oshkosh students. 

00:46:00	[no question] Continuing to talk about the lead up to the black students’ strike, he recounted how in February 1968, Nathan Hare from SFSU spoke at UW’s “Sympo-sium,” met with Edwards and encouraged him to take a more radical direction. Immediately after this, Edwards called a meeting to announce an upcoming strike.

00:49:55	[no question] He discussed calling the strike, experiencing some early successes, and making a “convoluted” speech calling for white students to support it. Toward the end of the strike, he recalled, some students engaged in some petty violence.

00:51:20	Follow up: The 13 demands? Answer: Rosen didn’t remember this meeting. He also talked about how this semester became a “pass/fail” semester, because after the Black Students’ strike came the TA strike.

00:53:30	Follow up: Other things you did to help the strike? Answer: He said he wasn’t involved to develop opinions, but rather to help mobilize white students.

00:55:42	Question: Talk about events in your senior year? Answer: He said he participated in these events, but he was getting ready to leave UW and was not thus integral to them. He discussed his reaction to the Sterling Hall bombing.

01:00:40	Question: What were you doing in Milwaukee? Answer: He got a job doing non-union construction immediately out of undergraduate. Follow up: Activism there? Answer: He explained how he got involved in some community activism while in Milwaukee. They discussed the irony that he wasn’t involved in a union in Milwaukee, and he explained how during the 1960s, unions were not perceived as particularly progressive.

01:04:31	Follow up: Reflections? Answer: Rosen said that his time at UW shaped him both as a professional and an activist.

01:06:51	End of First Interview Session

End of Oral History #1383