Paul Conrad, 1924–2010
The cartoonist who unnerved politicians
“Don’t ever accuse me of being objective,” Paul Conrad liked to say. As the editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times from 1964 until 1991, Conrad delighted in skewering the powerful. During the 1960s, Conrad savaged then–Gov. Ronald Reagan so frequently that Times publisher Otis Chandler quipped that his mornings began with a phone call from the governor or his wife expressing outrage over Conrad’s latest drawing.
Conrad was an unabashed liberal, but he happily “took aim at pomposity, injustice, and corruption” of all ideological stripes, said The Washington Post. One of his most memorable cartoons appeared shortly after Sen. Edward Kennedy’s scandalous car accident in Chappaquiddick, Mass., which left a young woman dead. Conrad drew Lady Justice, with her blindfold and balancing scales, refusing a ride offered by Kennedy. But Conrad reserved his most scathing attacks for Republicans, especially Richard Nixon. When Nixon resigned the presidency in 1974, Conrad drew a helicopter lifting off from the White House lawn, with the caption: “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”
Conrad and his identical twin, James, were born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to a housewife and a railroad worker “who dabbled in art,” said the Associated Press. After serving in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, Conrad attended the University of Iowa, where he drew cartoons for the campus newspaper. After finishing college, in 1950, he took a job cartooning for The Denver Post, where he remained until joining the Los Angeles Times in 1964, shortly after winning the first of his three Pulitzer prizes. From the beginning he specialized in single-panel images, “rarely used dialogue, and kept words to a minimum.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The paucity of words didn’t diminish the sting of his cartoons, said the Los Angeles Times. He “loved making trouble,” and with his “righteous indignation and furious craft,” he usually succeeded. In 1968, Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty sued Conrad for libel after one of his cartoons suggested Yorty had lost his mind. The suit was dismissed. Frank Sinatra called him “a disgrace to responsible journalism.” Conrad lapped up such complaints, but none compared with his name’s appearance on Richard Nixon’s infamous enemies list, which he considered a high honor. “A cartoonist,” he once told an interviewer, “should get out of bed mad and stay mad.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Duchess of Gloucester: the hard-working royal you've never heard of
Under The Radar Outer royal 'never expected' to do duties but has stepped up to the plate
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Are 'judge shopping' rules a blow to Republicans?
Today's Big Question How the abortion pill case got to the Supreme Court
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Climate change is driving Indian women to choose sterilization
under the radar Faced with losing their jobs, they are making a life-altering decision
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Barry Humphries obituary: cerebral satirist who created Dame Edna Everage
feature Actor and comedian was best known as the monstrous Melbourne housewife and Sir Les Patterson
By The Week Staff Published
-
Mary Quant obituary: pioneering designer who created the 1960s look
feature One of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century remembered as the mother of the miniskirt
By The Week Staff Published