Interview with Edward Prichard

Partial Transcript: Mr. Prichard, when do you first remember meeting Robert Martin?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard details his first meeting and impressions of Dr. Martin while he was a candidate for superintendent in 1955.

Keywords: 1955; canidate; impression; shyness

Subjects: Bert T. Combs Superintendent of Public Instruction

Partial Transcript: How good a politician was he in that first campaign?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard discusses the heated politics in the 1950s between the Chandler faction and the Combs faction and where Dr. Martin sat between. He talks about the political maneuvering Dr. Martin did during his time under Chandler, and his securing of funding for the Department of Education.

Keywords: Funding; merits; Opponent

Subjects: Albert B. "Happy" Chandler Earle C. Clements Mark Godwin Wendell Butler

Partial Transcript: During those years that Dr. Martin was superintendent of public instruction, two things of significance, I think, that stand out, occurred in Kentucky education, implementing the Supreme Court's desegregation ruling, the Brown v. Board of Education ruling and the funding of the minimum foundation program.

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard describes two major events that occurred during Dr. Martin's tenure as superintendent and the role he played for both. He discusses his belief on why desegregation went smoother in Kentucky than most other southern states and the creation of the foundation program.

Keywords: budget; funding; Intergration; Resegregation; Segregation

Subjects: Brown v. Board of Education Minimum Foundation Program

Partial Transcript: Do you think that Dr. Martin deliberately or as a consequence of helping Judge Combs in his primary campaign, do you think that he politicized the department of education to a degree it had not known before?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard states that politics has always shared a role in education, and that Dr. Martin's decision to ally himself closely with Judge Combs was not as eventful as the press made it out to be. He later discusses the political clout of rural educators and how they compare with their urban counterparts.

Keywords: campaign; campaign director; controversy; rural; urban

Subjects: Department of Education Politics

Partial Transcript: Why then, given this political clout in the hands of highly placed school people on the local level, why is it that Kentucky has never seemed to get their share of the pie when state funds are added up?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard attempts to answer why Kentucky funding of education ranks low in the United States and gives a few reasons as to why that is. He also explains the transition of Kentucky from local taxation to a more centralized system.

Keywords: expenditure; low property taxes; per capita income

Subjects: Financing of Education

Partial Transcript: How would you rate Bob Martin previous to his going to Eastern?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard details the relationship between Dr. Martin with Senator Clements and Governor Combs and the role he played in the political machine during Comb's second gubernatorial campaign. He later discusses the political breakup of Clements and Combs and how it affected Dr. martin.

Keywords: 1956; campaign; friendships; valuable

Subjects: Earle Clements

Partial Transcript: Back to the years when Dr. Martin was superintendent of public instruction, just in passing, how would you assess his performance in that post compared to some of his predecessors and some of those who followed?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard briefly shares his opinion on the success of Dr. Martin's tenure as superintendent.

Keywords: academic standards; improvement; quality

Subjects: Superintendent

Partial Transcript: When he came to Eastern Kentucky University in 1960, that was just at the beginning of a tremendous buildup of state colleges. How did that situation come about?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard discusses Dr. Martin's financial talent during an explosion of state college enrollment. He talks about the causes of Eastern's growth, how Dr. Martin secured funding, and his relationship with the Kentucky General Assembly.

Keywords: enrollment; funding; population; regional; salaries

Subjects:

Partial Transcript: Mr. Prichard, isn't it true that in the early 70s, the Council on Public Higher Education was strengthened and there was an attempt made by some on the council to rein in state college presidents because there was growing overlapping of services of program and there was an attempt to bring them in and exert more centralized control? Isn't that true?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard briefly discussing plans to centralize education in Kentucky away from local control, but that three was no real plan to create a single government agency to oversee public institutions.

Keywords: central; college presidents; coordination; resources; state council

Subjects:

Partial Transcript: How influential do you think that Bob Martin was on the national level of circles of state college and university presidents?

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard discusses Dr. Martin's standing among national circles and his authoritarian response to student protests during the 1960s.

Keywords: national influence; student unrest

Subjects: American Associations of Colleges and Universities Kent State Lyndon B. Johnson Vietnam War

Partial Transcript: When Governor Combs, some said was picked or encouraged by Senator Clements to run the second time, some said that even Bob Martin had thoughts of perhaps wanting to be lieutenant governor or governor at that time, if not then, later.

Segment Synopsis: Mr. Prichard talks about Dr. Martin's potential to have been governor after his time at Eastern, either serving with or succeeding Governor Combs.

Keywords: ambition; governor

Subjects: Bert Combs