[3] The City Club was conceived at a luncheon in June 1912 organized by Mayo Fesler, secretary of the Cleveland Municipal Association, in the ideals of the Progressive Era.
[5] Archbishop Desmond Tutu called the club "a beacon, a symbol and a sentinel for freedom, for justice, for tolerance" when he spoke there.
[7] President George W. Bush spoke to the club on the third anniversary of the United States' invasion of Iraq.
[citation needed] The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy gave his On the Mindless Menace of Violence speech at the club.
You go with me to the space program and go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee, and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their dad didn't hold a job.
You go with me on Memorial Day, coming up, and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I'd like to remember, and you watch those waving flags.
[10]During the 2010 Congressional elections, in which the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives, John Boehner on August 24, 2010, announced a five-point plan at the club that he said would provide an effective economic alternative to the Democrats' course.
The Board of Trustees of the City Club defended its actions by noting that the press was welcome to attend the special presentation and report upon the event.
[13] Other recipients of the Citadel of Free Speech award include John Glenn, Martin Luther King's aide and U.N.
— I hail and harbor and hear persons of every belief and party; for within my portals prejudice grows less and bias dwindles.
— I welcome to my platform the discussion of any theory or dogma or reform; but I bind my household to the espousal of none of them, for I cherish the freedom of every person's conviction and each of my kin retains his own responsibility.