Guthman, Richard Aaron, Jr., 2012 November 20

This is a Living History interview with Richard Guthman, Jr., class of 1956, conducted by Marilyn Somers on November 20, 2012 at the GTRI Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The subject of the interview is the interviewee’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech.

Mr. Guthman ran for office in 1973 for the Atlanta City Council after serving on the Police Committee of the Grand Jury. Eight of his fourteen years were served under Mayor Maynard Jackson who was not always agreeable to work with. Mr. Guthman served on the Financial Committee for almost all of his fourteen years, and the toughest part of each year was negotiating a budget. The media influenced many of the council meetings because the Sunshine Laws required all meetings to be public, and the reporting agencies used a new system where beat reporters rotated attendance in the meetings. This caused confusion for reporters because they were not always familiar with the topics at hand. When Mr. Guthman first entered into politics, it was much more civil than it is now. Most politicians attacked policies and legislation of other politicians rather than attacking other politicians personally. Social media also makes it very difficult to trust other politicians and maintain privacy.