Aaron Buchsbaum oral history interview, December 29, 2001

Interviewed by Cliff Kuhn. Among topics discussed: Upbringing in Savannah and "Jim Crow South"; impressions of family; Tulane University and Professor J.C. Van Kirk teaching white supremacy; resignation from Savannah Bar Association over discrimination policies; Savannah Golf Club; American Bar Association's anti-discriminatory policy and Lewis Powell; non-membership in Savannah Bar Association; joining law firm of Brannen, Clark, and Hester, 1958; learning from H. Sol Clark, Perry Brannen, Jr., and Ed Hester; Clark and Legal Aid; Savannah in the 1960s; segregation in Savannah; W.W. Law; Monsignor Toomey and Toomey Committee; non-violent sit-in activities in Savannah; Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); Hosea Williams, NAACP, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); Judge Victor Mulling and imprisonment and trial of UCLA graduate student Rick Tuttle; Bill Wexler and Alex Lawrence in Tuttle incident; Bernie Harper; Tuttle after incident; assassination of Robert Kennedy at Ambassador Hotel; sit-ins and boycotts at Broughton Street; NAACP Youth Council and Greensboro, North Carolina, sit-ins; W.W. Law; Malcolm McClean as mayor of Savannah; Pratt Adams; Law's good reputation in community; bi-racial aspects of Toomey Committee; Buchsbaum's thoughts about de jure segregation; mother's feelings about Buchsbaum's civil rights involvement; Jene Gadsden; John Simpson; Malcolm McClean; Gadsden and integration of Savannah Bar Association; Ed Hester and Julian Sipple opposed to integration; Gadsden voted first African-American member of Savannah Bar Association; Buchsbaum consulted by Law for legal advice; Georgia Legal Services in late 1960s and early 1970s; opposition by some lawyers to Legal Aid; Steve Gottlieb, Rob Remar and Dixon case; conflicts with Joe Bergen; Bergen's hostility to Georgia Legal Services program; Sonny Seiler and Austin Catts; Vera Mobley; Cubbedge Snow and State Bar of Georgia; Bill Ide, Phil Heiner, Jim Elliott, Charles Lester, members of State Bar and founders of Georgia Legal Services; Charles "Charlie" Sparkman; Bergen and Lawrence; Buchsbaum's original misgivings about Lawrence; funding and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO); John Cromartie, director of Legal Aid; federal restrictions; Atlanta Legal Aid and Georgia Legal Services as separate foundations; Brief discussion of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Legal Aid; Betty Kehrer as director of national Legal Aid and Defender Association; Cromartie's attributes and responsibilities; Herman Lodge and Burke County; Lodge as first non-lawyer president of Georgia Legal Services; Gov. Jimmy Carter; Gov. George Busbee; organizational skills of Cromartie; Georgia Legal Services summer interns from Emory University Law School; Phyllis Holmen; Bill Broker; Holmen and Phil Merkel; relationship between private bar and Georgia Legal Services in Savannah; community's original aversion to legal services; legal services for indigents; NAACP Freedom Award and Robbie Robinson Award; Young Lawyers Association; Equal Opportunity Authority (EOA); formation of Legal Services Corporation; Matthew Levy of New York; Liberal Party; American Labor Party; Communist Party; Joseph "Joe" Jacobs and Harris Jacobs; Levy as model to Buchsbaum; Savannah High School; American Bar Association; University of Georgia; Harvard Law School; W.W. Law's love of music; Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum; influence of Law; Law's honorary degree from Savannah State University.