Abstract
This 2006 oral history interview documents Bob Lustig's recollections as a longtime member, having joined the club in 1964 and regularly attended forums over a 40 year period. Lustig, a Cleveland-born attorney whose father was also a club member, provides detailed descriptions of the club's former location on Short Vincent, including its dining room layout with three named conversation tables (the Soviet Table, Sanhedrin Table, and Schoolmaster's Table), and discusses the club's transformation from a men's-only organization that became coeducational in 1972 due to political pressure from candidates who refused to appear at segregated venues. He recounts memorable speakers and events, including Bobby Kennedy's eulogy for Martin Luther King Jr. (the only forum without a question period), the famous Metzenbaum-Glenn Senate primary debate, and various political figures from George Wallace to Antonin Scalia. Lustig describes the club's evolution from a locally-focused organization viewed as leftist by Cleveland's business elite to one with national radio distribution and increased corporate support, attributing much of this transformation to members like Dick Pogue, while noting changes in membership patterns, the decline of regular lunchtime attendance, and the successful introduction of a New Leaders group to attract younger business professionals.
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Interviewee
Lustig, Bob (interviewee)
Interviewer
Humphrey, Tom (interviewer)
Project
City Club - Civil Rights
Date
2006
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
72 minutes
Recommended Citation
"Bob Lustig interview, 01 August 2006" (2006). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 807016.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/801
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
