One Man In His Time:
A Memoir
by
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Excerpt from Chapter 7 On May 5, 1971, I wrote Blair Clark, one of McGovern’s organizers, to report that I had begun efforts to form faculty and student groups at Valencia Community College in favor of McGovern. I also wrote letters to Senators Muskie and Bayh regarding the War and received encouraging replies. On June 21, 1971, I received a letter from Gary Hart, McGovern’s Campaign Coordinator, thanking me for my offer to set up citizen groups for McGovern. He offered the “full support” of the campaign and ended: “Please stay in constant touch.” On July 4, I issued a lengthy press release announcing the formal opening of the Central Florida McGovern for President Campaign with myself as Chairman. I stated that this effort grew out of a meeting of some fifty McGovern supporters at our home on July 1st, and I listed some of the key attendees such as a student coordinator, Valencia faculty members, and Jack Mitchell and Jim Reed, leaders of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) in Orlando. Following this, on July 28th, I asked Gary Hart when McGovern would be coming to Orlando, emphasizing that Bayh, Muskie, and Sen. Henry Jackson had already visited Orlando, and their campaign workers were putting heavy pressure on some of our supporters to switch their backings. A few days later I was surprised to receive a telephone call from the Senator’s office in Washington asking whether or not my wife and I would be willing to host a reception for the Senator and his wife at our home in Maitland on Saturday evening, August 21st. We would be expected to invite anyone in Central Florida who might be interested in supporting McGovern in the Florida primary election. I eagerly accepted the invitation to host such an event, and I called Sallie to ask, “Guess who’s coming to dinner?” Then I broke the news: “Sen. McGovern, his wife Eleanor, and a lot of others!” I became the organizer and spokesman for the McGovern campaign in Central Florida. Sallie became campaign treasurer for the Primary race. Sallie and I did not extend a general invitation to the public at large to attend the reception. However, as we began to send out invitations we were inundated with calls from interested people who wished to attend. We accepted most of them. Our preparation for the event involved moving a lot of our furniture out of the main part of the house into the garage to make room for the expected crowd. Political friends assisted with furnishing all the food, soft and hard drinks, and everything else to make the party a success. Following the event, the Orlando Sentinel reported that the crowd approached 300 people. The event was heavily covered by the press, and it drew most of the top political leaders in the area as well as many key Jewish leaders. During the morning on August 21st, we found several suited men prowling around in the bushes in our yard – and these would turn out to be a group of plain-clothes police from the Maitland Police Department assigned to protect the Senator. Plans originally called for the Senator to be driven from a similar reception in St. Petersburg, but those plans changed at the last moment when we received word that he would arrive at Herndon Airport in a chartered plane and that I was supposed to meet him. I did so along with a college student who went along to drive my car. I planned to sit in the back seat with the Senator. I was quite nervous about this first meeting with George McGovern. What would we talk about? Would I say something stupid? My fears were soon put to rest, since the Senator did most of the talking, and what he had to say was of primary interest to me. He outlined for me his whole strategy for the coming primary season. His goal in Florida would be not necessarily to win but to knock Mayor John Lindsay out of the race. This was important because McGovern and Lindsay had similar views on most topics, including opposition to the war in Viet Nam. McGovern thought that he would have a better chance in succeeding primaries if he were the sole spokesman for these views rather than competing with Lindsay. He went on to predict that he would win the next primary (Wisconsin) and a few more before winding up with a huge victory in the California primary as well as in Oregon and South Dakota on the same day. This would give him a delegate lead going into the National Convention which would be held in Miami. As he laid out these and other plans to me, it all sounded wonderful, but he was still among the last in the national polls, and I couldn’t believe he could make it happen. But he did! On the day after the California primary he exulted, saying, “I can’t believe I won the whole thing.” Mrs. Eleanor McGovern was travelling with her husband and rode in a different car from the airport to our home. A large crowd quickly gathered. Our home and the food and drink areas were crowded. We only had one heckler who stood across the street with an ugly sign. We knew who she was! During the early course of the evening, Sen. McGovern accepted a drink which appeared to be alcoholic in content. A Sentinel reporter, who was a well- known enjoyer of alcohol drinks, was following the Senator around. At one point he put down his glass, which she picked up and sniffed (took a sip?). The discussion later differed on whether she wanted to document whether or not he took an alcoholic beverage or whether or not it was too weak. I thought her behavior to be unseemly at best. The crowd got so thick in the house that Sen. McGovern invited everyone to accompany him to the back yard (it was a beautiful day) where he would deliver a short speech. It was an “off the cuff” speech, but it went over well and was heavily applauded. I made the mistake of speaking to someone during the speech which drew a reprimand from him. I was embarrassed. While he was giving his speech, our white althea was in full bloom right behind him. A photographer covering the event took a picture of the Senator speaking, his tie loose, which was a great photo. It was adopted by the national campaign and used as part of campaign posters all over the country. No one knew when or where the photo was taken – but we did!
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About the Book
“One Man In His Time: A Memoir” is an account of a full life which includes Prentiss’s participation in both national and local politics at a high level and his friendship with major figures including Sen. George McGovern and many others. He had two meetings with Gov. Jimmy Carter during his presidential campaigns, and he was a guest in the Reagan White House to receive a major medal. Other portions of his memoir describe, mostly in anecdotal accounts, his extensive work with troubled teenagers sent to his program by the Orange County Florida Juvenile Court. He was also a teacher and administrator at both the secondary (Florida Military School) and college (Valencia College in Orlando) levels of education. He reached many high goals in his life despite having a troubled early adolescence which he describes in detail. His Air Force experience as an Intelligence Officer was also one of high adventure. Prentiss has described himself psychologically as a “seeker of high sensation.” This is borne out in his memoir including his choice to be a Volunteer Fireman and his Air Force “close calls.” Much of his life is told in the details of his life and times. A reader will have a better feel for the years between 1932 and the present after reading this Memoir.
About the Author
Author Prentiss spent his lifetime playing many parts: Graduate of three universities; Dean of a Boys Military School; Intelligence Officer in the USAF; Professor and Administrator at Valencia College in Orlando; Central Florida Coordinator for George McGovern Presidential Campaign; Founder of Operation Comeback for Troubled Teens; Founder of Talako Indian Dancers youth group; Recipient of President Reagan’s Volunteer Service Award. He and his wife, Sallie, raised their three children and also opened their home to seven troubled teens who lived with them for periods of four months to three years. For thirteen years, they also took two Operation Comeback boys each year on their annual fishing trips to Northern Canada. Although coming from a fine, loving home, Prentiss experienced a troubled early adolescence which helped prepare him for a successful experience in helping other troubled youths. He is the author of “Secrets of a Boy, Lost,” a novel billed as “a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age” story which is heavily based on his own experiences as a youth. The book is laid in the Midwest (Prentiss was from Sterling, Illinois) among the states of Illinois, Missouri, Florida (briefly), Wisconsin, and Iowa. It covers a time span beginning during WWII. His present Memoir contains the incidents described as fiction in the novel plus a great deal more. In both books, Prentiss writes with the sure hand of an author who knows first-hand what he is writing about since they are his own experiences. The Memoir, “One Man In His Time,” is mainly based in Florida where he has lived since 1953.