Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire

While the pen may not be mightier than the sword, political cartoonists dating back to Thomas Nast do seem to have a way of annoying power brokers, lobbyists, and politicians. Long time cartoonist Paul Conrad wouldn't have it any other way: for over 50 years his cartoons have comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable, earning him three Pulitzer prizes and a place on Nixon's infamous "enemies" list. Tom Brokaw narrates this PBS tribute to a journalist who regularly "lifts the skirts of the powerful,” a man who has covered every President from Truman to George W. Bush. Conrad himself, his family members, colleagues, and admirers all describe the cartoonist's passion for social justice and an absolute, abiding faith in the Constitution. Working first at the Denver Post, and later at the Los Angeles Times, Conrad really hit his stride in his outraged opposition to LBJ's escalation of the Vietnam War, and his later portraits of Nixon's Watergate woes made him seem almost a tragic Shakespearean figure. While Conrad is used to being a lightning rod for controversy—receiving occasional hate mail and death threats—a more subtle enemy is the recent corporate restructuring of newspapers. Controversy can be antithetical to corporations chasing the bottom line, so the pool of good political cartoonists continues to shrink. Indeed, Conrad was pushed into premature retirement, and now works on a freelance basis—still, you get the feeling that as long as the octogenarian Conrad maintains his steady hand and sense of outrage, he'll be drawing for a long time. DVD extras include a cartoon gallery. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)