Identifier,913042
Interviewee,Robert H. Arnold
Date,3/25/14
Interviewer,"John Horan, II"
Abstract,"Robert H. Arnold born in Massachusetts, but made his mark in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Arnold begins his story by discussing his time during World War Two, and he mentions several harrowing experiences he had abroad, and challenging experiences he had once he came back state-side. After his time in the war, Arnold had several offers. He could have studied law at Yale or became part of an executive training program at General Electric, a program that he had begun before the war. instead of these opportunities, he took a job in his father-in-law's real estate firm, where he would rise up to become senior partner. He then mentions his work as mayor of Cleveland Heights and how he believed in bipartisanship, something he thinks is not happening these days. After he describes his foray into politics, he closes the interview by going into detail about what he did to breakdown segregation laws as a real estate agency."
Tags,"Boston, Pearl Harbor, Cleveland, Amherst College, World War 2, combat, near-death experiences, prisoner of war camps, Cain Park, Cleveland Heights, General Electric, Yale Law School, real estate, Cleveland Association of Realtors, Ohio Association of Realtors, Natonal Association of Realtors, politics, mayor, integration, The Academy, lawsuits, Avery Friedman "
Special Notes,"Phone rings at minute 55, but was not answered"
0,"Introductions, Born April 12, 1920 in the Greater Boston Area"
1,He was there from the age 5 til college; he came to Cleveland because of his wife who was a fifth-generation Clevelander; He went to Amherst College; They decided to get married just before Pearl Harbor
2,He was drafted from Roxboro in Cleveland Heights; He got drafted in May 1942 and married in January 1942; He served overseas in Africa and Italy - received four combat stars
3,"At the very end of the Italian Campaign, his colonal was appointed to invade S. France and asked him to be his aide; He was supposed to deal with the logistics of supplies; Needed a blue card to be able to find out about the logistics"
4,"Tells a story about a lieutenant who wanted info and Robert wouldn't give it to him, got threatened with a court marshal; Overseas for over two years; On his way back he was on a merchant marine cargo ship"
5,"He says his ship was sabotaged twice before he got to the straights of Gibraltor; the other ships in the convoy left them behind because they had been away for so long and the war was over; They got the ship repaired and commenced, one day he woke up to the ship in silence asked the first mate why"
6,"The first mate told him that there was a German U-boat 200 yards away, they had spent all morning trying to convince the commander that the war was over - he did not know because he was on radio silence"
7,"He's sure if they did not convince him to not fire, the U-Boat commander could have killed them easily; Not the most harrowing experience, he was 30 feet from getting killed; His cousin was stationed in Italy and he met his cousin up and just as they were saying goodbye the germans bombed the harbor"
8,"They went below to protect themselves, but on the other side of the wharf (20-30 ft) a bomb had gotten into another cargo ship, but did not go off - would have died if it did"
9,"His wife lived with her mother and father in Cleveland Heights while he was stationed overseas; She kept a running correspondance with him, but whatever he wrote back was censored as classified"
10,"He spent about 2 years and 8 months in Europe; he came back and they said they might use him in the Pacific, but before they reassign him they gave him sealed orders - him and his wife were going to live in a hotel in Miami FL for a period of time "
11,They were to live in Miami so he could show that he had readjusted to civilian life; Said that he got whatever he wanted if he wanted to golf a limo would pick him up and he would play
12,"Says things appeared magically, and it was unusual time; By the end of the time where they thought he had rehabilitated, they told him that he should consider his assignment to be the manager of the hotel; he had lived at the hotel and seen what went on"
13,"Says that wives of Generals would pull rank and the kids knew it as well; He told them he did not want the assignment, and they thought that something was wrong with him so they sent him to a psychatrist, who decided there wasn't anything wrong with him - sent him to Harrisburg and things got messed up"
14,"He says that he had plenty of points to be discharged because of his service; explains how points are acquired; While he was in Florida the war ended, but he did not get discharged they sent him to a prisoner of war camp, but he did not want anything to do there"
15,"He thought he was going to a true POW camp of members of the other side, but what he found was this was a camp of american POWs who had violated laws - it was in Harrisburg PA; The colonel there was from West Point but never saw war, asked him to help him in exchange for an out"
16,He did what the colonel asked and got a superior rating on the task; He had two letters that he was supposed to present to officers at the Pentagon that would have been helpful to him; Got to the right person in the Pentagon and he got reassigned to a place in Niagara Falls because that waas as close to Cleveland as they could get him
17,"It was another  POW camp, but this time it was what it should have been - actual prisoners who were on the otherside; None of the officers there had seen overseas combat; The commanding officer of the germans came up to Robert and saw the decoration on his chest and asked him a question about an event that happened during the war"
18,"It was a tremendous assult, but they repelled it; This convinced the German that Robert was one of them and to listen to what he said; He made them a deal, finish what he asked and whenever they got done they could do whatever they wanted"
19,"The commanding officer wanted to know why: he told him that he had a list of work and if they completed it by 3:30 he would give them the day off, otherwise the Germans would loaf all day; didn't believe him and reassigned him; Because the war was really over he pressed his C.O. to process his discharge but he did not want to do that, so Robert went above him and he finally got his discharge"
20,"He says that many prisoners of war went to the United States, had an advantage and a disadvantage: things were nicer, but they would be the last ones processed and released"
21,"In his case, the men who were prisoners were pleased because they had someone there who knew what they went through during the war; Came back to Cleveland in June or July 1945"
22,He thinks it was in the third quarter of 1945 moved into a rental in Cleveland Heights; had one kid who had never met him and then they had another child lived near Cain Park
23,"Discribes an event at Cain Park that they had while he lived near it and he could hear it, these plays would last a week"
24,When he was Amherst he went down to Yale and took the PreLaw exams; He had a friend whose father was on the board at Yale Law and was a lawyer representing Standard Oil; This man said that Robert was in the top fifty and he had a scholarship to go to Yale Law
25,"Meanwhile, he was on his way back from this meeting when another fraternity brother stopped him and convinced him to get interviewed for General Electric - pre-executive training, and he got a notice two weeks later that they wanted him to work for them - this all (Yale and GE) happened before Pearl Harbor"
26,"He says that his wife at the time took another half year at Smith, the GE program wasn't far and it was convienent; he got promoted and raises and they said they would send him to a business school free of charge, but this is when Pearl Harbor happened and he had to leave"
27,They said that they would keep the job for him whenever he got back from service; While he was away his father-in-law started a real estate business and asked him to help him out in Cleveland Heights; He thought about it while he was away; Realized that in GE there would be a lot of politics going on
28,"He decided that at GE he would always have someone above him, but if he sold real estate then he could make his own way and be his own boss; He decided to try it because the job at GE was a standing offer; He got lucky and led in sales the first 5 months he was there so he stayed for 2.5 years"
29,His father-in-law's partner came into Robert's office and told him that he was leaving to start a business in California; Then his father-in-law came in and offered him the position of junior partner
30,"His father-in-law gave him a choice of either having his sales thrown into the pot for management or he keeps all or a part of his salary as a salesman; he opted for the first choice to help the company grow, surprised his father-in-law"
31,"Says it was a smart decision, he made less money than he could have in the first few years, but the business started to grow and his salary with it; 4 or 5 years after that his father-in-law asked him to become a senior partner; As his father-in-law got older and sick, he promised him he would take care of his son"
32,He left the company when he was about 65 and decided to go back to law school at 70; He went to CWRU law school and told him that he wanted to get his degree to help his family pro bono - not to practice
33,"The dean told him about a paralegal course, which was a perfect fit for Robert and his goals; He was with a bunch of 21 and 22 year olds, he graduated number 1 in the class even though it was a challenge; he was also interested in gemology"
34,He went to the national history museum to see the crown jewels which were on display in a special exhibit; because of this he wanted to know more about gems; He asked around for a course in gemology
35,"He found a woman who was tops in the field and asked her about a course, and she taught him alone because no one had signed up yet; he jumped at the chance and studied with her equipment and got his certificate in gemology - did this all after he was 70 years old"
36,"He was mayor of Cleveland Heights, but he wanted to give background - he became president of the Cleveland Board of Realtors"
37,"When he served his term, people asked him to become the president of the Ohio Association of Realtors, and then the national association asked him to be a board member of the national association"
38,"They also asked him to be a vice president of the association, calls this a dividing line and where he became politically minded; while he was active with the national association he became chair of national political affairs - he wasn't a lobbyist "
39,"He fostered a policy of telling the lobbyist not to decide yes or no on an issue, but instead used a guideline of supporting legislation for private enterprise in the housing market; on other bills they would do the work but not take a position"
40,He got to know a lot of the staff as well as a lot of prominent people through this policy; during this time he felt that a lot of people did not have an appreciaition for the United States; so what he did to correct that was to set up a seminar to teach people to become better participants in the country
41,They gave seminars all over the country in the big cities and they had great turn out; after he gave a lesson one of the students came up to him and asked him for help getting out and doing something - this man also told him that he should run for office
42,"He ran for office in the council of Cleveland Heights and he won in the late 70s, after two years he ran for mayor and won; the most wonderful feeling he had was when he retired from office; He never saw corruption in Cleveland Heights"
43,"Even other mayors recognized how great Cleveland Heights was, but they thought that the people were too involved; he thought that this was good; He is a registered republican and instead of isolating democrats he listened to them"
44,He had a policy of listening to the best plan for Cleveland Heights regardless on where it came from (Democrat or Republican); When he announced his retirement leaders from both parties approached him to run for higher offices; he turned them down
45,"He decided to retire because he wanted to spend more time with his family and travelling, but he still loved politics"
46,"He doesnÕt want to miss out on things especially because he was getting older; He remembers a few big issues, surrounding handgun control and abortion when both sides got together and hashed it out"
47,He believes there needs to be firm rules on who could be registered to own a handgun; on both issues the Heights press came out and said that both sides claimed victory; wishes that happened more often - he's dissillusioned by the way things are log jammed in Washington now
48,He thinks that just because someone is a Republican or a Democrat it doesn't matter both sides had good ideas
49,"When he was mayor of Cleveland Heights the national board had filed a suit against Cleveland Heights, two years before the lawsuit Cleveland Heights had been named the All-American City for its work in integration"
50,"The lawsuit accused them of violating laws regarding integration, but they had won an award for it; He wrote a letter to the chief council of the association and he sent a copy to the heads of the real estate board and the suit was never filed"
51,He came from a small New England town where there was no racial or ethnic bias - he had friends that were Blacks and Jews and he did not know that there were restrictions on where people could live; He talks about the Van Sweringen restrictions and he could not adjust
52,"He wondered why these people were being kept out if they were nice people, but he was instramental in helping break down those barriers; He was threatened with two lawsuits because he violated the ""unwritten code"" about allowing people to move in where they were not supposed to"
53,"He describes what made Cleveland Heights an all american city, it revolved around integration and how much Cleveland Heights helped break down segregation institutionally"
54,"What hurt them was education, the familes that were moving in had children who were behind they were not at the right level; They established something called ""the Academy"" they closed the Taylor road school to create the Academy; it was for any student who was having difficulty with their grade level"
55,They could get private tutoring at the Academy (phone rings) in order to get to the appropriate level; there were not that many students ranged from 3-4 at certain grade levels and 10 or 12 at others
56,"The teachers advised on which students needed attention - it was intended to be a plus and it was free, but the parents said they would file a complaint against the Academy because they had a prejudice against blacks because the whole school was black; That wasn't the intent - they wanted to help them get up to the appropriate level and then leave them alone"
57,"He didn't know what else to do because if they left them they could not promote these students who were floundering; Regardless, they thought it was prejudiced and went to NAACP with their version of the story; by the time it came back to the administration it was a dead issue - he wishes that they could have presented their side - they closed the Academy and it was a terrible disappointment"
58,The Academy was between 1975-80 between there; His Real Estate agency worked with Fair Housing Inc and worked directly with African Americans
59,He told his sales staff that they had to adhere to the program of integration and if they did not they were fired immediately; He recalls a story about a woman who violated the creed and he fired her
60,"Later on he was brought up on charges by Avery Friedman who only took up cases that were in oppostion to integration; Robert said that the charges were false - had him in deposition from 9am to 6pm, and found nothing; "
61,"At the end of the deposition, Friedman concluded he did not have a case against Robert, that did not stop Robert from offering one last piece of evidence - the woman he fired, who would have testified for him if Friedman would have continued the suit; She was brought in the next day and she testified for Robert, which was unusual because she argued for her employer who fired her"
62,Since that day Avery Friedman did not forget Robert
63,Doesn't know anything about the Hilltopper Lawsuit or the bombings of houses or of Haggans Realty
64,"He says he should have known something about it, but he doesn't"
65,Thanks and END OF INTERVIEW