He originally planned to attend Iowa State University after the war in 1945, but instead taught himself to play bass and joined a big band. Army Corps of Engineers in the Pacific Theater of Operations at Guam and Okinawa, where he was given the nickname of "Con".
#PAUL KONRAD AGE DRIVER#
Because of his poor eyesight, Conrad was initially found to be unfit for military service, but he later served as a truck driver with the U.S. With World War II raging, Conrad and his brother enlisted. Conrad also honed his talent as a musician while playing piano in a bordello. : 57Īfter graduating from Roosevelt High School, he and his brother spent time working construction jobs in Valdez, Alaska.
At an early age, Conrad was exposed to the work of Jay Norwood Darling, more popularly known as "Ding Darling", whose conservative cartoons were featured in local newspapers and who became a "childhood role model" for Conrad. He was left-handed, but was forced by teachers to favor his right hand. Augustin Elementary School in Des Moines, where he first began to show interest in art by writing on the bathroom wall. He was raised in a conservative, Catholic family with his identical twin brother James and older brother Bob in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His criticism of president Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal landed Conrad on Nixon's Enemies List, which Conrad regarded as a badge of honor.Ĭonrad was born to Robert and Florence Conrad. On a weekly basis, Conrad addressed the social justice issues of the day-poverty in America, movements for civil rights, the Vietnam War, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and corporate and political corruption were leading topics. He is best known for his work as the chief editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times during a time when the newspaper was in transition under the direction of publisher Otis Chandler, who recruited Conrad from the Denver Post.Īt the conservative Times, Conrad brought a more liberal editorial perspective that readers both celebrated and criticized he was also respected for his talent and his ability to speak truth to power. In the span of a career lasting five decades, Conrad provided a critical perspective on eleven presidential administrations in the United States. Paul Francis Conrad (June 27, 1924 – September 4, 2010) was an American political cartoonist and winner of three Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning.