Fred Smith was Prudential’s chief liaison in Boston, responsible for the corporation’s most important negotiations with politicians, business leaders, and planners. He was honored in 1961, when it looked like Prudential would finally start building the Prudential Center. This great cartoon by Stern captured the event and, in doing so, revealed many of the key players involved in the bringing the project to Boston. The Mayor, John Collins, hands Smith the city’s “Paul Revere Bowl” as the Governor, John Volpe, looks on, along with William F. Callahan, chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and other key leaders from government, business, even the city’s powerful clergy. At the bottom we see an image of Westcott Toole, one of Prudential’s chief architects of the Regional Home Office program and a character who features prominently in Insuring the City.
Insuring the City 