1971.09.23 “He Must Be Dead… My Mind Just Went Blank!” By Paul Conrad

1971.09.23 “He Must Be Dead… My Mind Just Went Blank!”
By Paul Francis Conrad (1924- 2010)
11 x 14 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

With a 50-year career in editorial cartooning, mainly at the LA Times, Conrad picked up three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. In one amusing story, his cartoons about Ronald Reagan, while Reagan was Governor of California, started a campaign of phone calls from Nancy Reagan to the Times’ publisher, complaining that Conrad’s cartoons were ruining Ronnie’s breakfast. The publisher finally just needed to stop taking the calls.

In July 1971, President Nixon made the momentous announcement that he would be visiting China, so there was suddenly a great uptick on US attention to the affairs of the still-isolated PRC. As we have seen, when these secluded leaders disappear for a while, the death rumors begin, and this happened with Mao in September 1971. On September 22, 1971, Beijing issued a strong denial about the rumors, but no habeas corpus. On September 23, this cartoon appeared. I think the sentiment is an absolutely timeless commentary on the perception of authoritative leadership and the accusation of cult-like devotion that accompanies it. You can quite easily swap the characters into any setting (North Korea… Moscow… the US Capital on January 6, 2021) and keep the dialog the same.

Every piece I buy, I buy to preserve the story and give it a little voice. This one is well deserving.