The City Club of San Diego is dedicated to the dialogue of democracy. That core belief was present at
The City Club's inception in 1975 and remains, 34-years later, the organization’s fundamental principle. In
faithful observance of that commitment, The City Club has presented more than 900 programs in the
highest public interest.
In 2008 The City Club presented 29 programs. Among those who spoke were former Central Intelligence
Agency Director James Woolsey; California Lt. Governor John Garamendi; Dominican Republic
Ambassador Flavio Espinal; former White House Press Secretary and author Scott McClellan; AARP
President William Novelli; national talk radio show host and author Bill Press; Qualcomm founder and
philanthropist, Dr. Irwin Jacobs; famed author Gay Talese; Sojourners leader and author Jim Wallis;
United Methodist Bishop and author Will Willimon; Hispanic leader and author Armando Rodriquez;
former Massachusetts Governor and candidate for president of the United States, Michael Dukakis;
former CBS correspondent and author Roger Mudd; Johns Hopkins University President William Brody;
former U.S. Senator and Co-Chairman of the U.S. Commission on National Security, Gary Hart, and
former U.S. Army Colonel and author, Nathan Sassaman. In addition, there were programs involving
candidates for mayor and city attorney of San Diego.
In June 2008 The City Club presented a special program of remembrance of the late U.S. Senator Robert
F. Kennedy, who was assassinated while running for president of the United States in 1968. Phillip
Johnston, Chairman of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, came from Boston to pay tribute to Senator
Kennedy’s memory and life.
In years past City Club speakers have included Price Waterhouse Chairman & CEO Dennis Nally; ABC’s
Lynn Sherr; FBI Director Robert Mueller, Houston Mayor Bill White; former U. S. Senator George
McGovern; Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper; Atlantic Monthly correspondent James Fallows; New York
Times Military Correspondent Michael Gordon; Shell Oil President John Hofmeister; former Texas Lt.
Governor and author Ben Barnes, American Petroleum President & CEO Red Cavaney, evangelist and
author Tony Campolo; New Republic Editor-at-Large Peter Beinhart; U.S. Comptroller General David
Walker; Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC, the Rt. Reverend John Bryson Chane;
France's Ambassador to the United States, Francois Bujon de L'Estang; Republican candidate for
Governor of California, Bill Simon; Washington Post columnist and author David Broder; President
Ronald Reagan’s key aide, Michael Deaver; Eli Lilly Chairman & CEO, Sidney Taurel, and Paul Theroux,
one of the nation's most celebrated writers, who was featured as part of The Great American Writers
Series.
The City Club has also presented special national conferences on “Press, Libel & American Freedom”,
“The State of Our Language: The War over Grammar”, and “Immigration: The National Question.” Each
conference involved featured some of the nation’s leading authorities on the issues under discussion.
The evidence of The City Club's commitment to a broad discussion of public issues is most striking
when you compare some of those who have appeared in past years: President Jimmy Carter and House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, Moral
Majority leader Jerry Falwell and celebrated feminist Gloria Steinem, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin
Powell and Colonel Oliver North.
Believing the public interest is best served when it can partner with other civic groups, The City Club
meets frequently with the Catfish Club and the Downtown San Diego Partnership, in addition to
collaborating with Point Loma Nazarene University, the University of San Diego, and the University of
California San Diego.
The above underscores why The City Club of San Diego is consistently rated one of America’s great
public forums.
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