Stephen Reed Benson | |
|---|---|
 Benson at the Freedom From Religion Foundation 2019 National Convention in Madison, Wisconsin | |
| Born | January 2, 1954 Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Spouse | Claire Ferguson (m. 2020) |
| Relatives | Ezra Taft Benson |
| Family | Taft family |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize |
Stephen Reed Benson (born January 2, 1954) is an American editorial cartoonist.
Stephen Benson was born on January 2, 1954, in Sacramento, California. As the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former LDS Church president Ezra Taft Benson, he attended Brigham Young University, from which he graduated cum laude, and became the cartoonist for the Arizona Republic in 1980. [1] He moved to the Tacoma Morning News Tribune in 1990, [2] but then returned to the Arizona Republic in 1991, [1] and remained until laid off in January 2019. [3] [4] Benson is now the staff political cartoonist for the Arizona Mirror and his work continues to be nationally distributed by Creators Syndicate. [5]
Benson was awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, was a Pulitzer finalist in 1984, 1989, 1992, and 1994, [6] [7] and has received a variety of other awards. [1] He has served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. [8] His cartoons have been collected in a number of books. [1]
In the late 1980s he was at first a supporter, then a prominent critic, of Evan Mecham, the first Mormon to be elected governor of Arizona. Benson's criticism stirred controversy among Arizona's Mormon population, [9] [10] leading some LDS Church members to seek the intervention of Benson's grandfather in the matter. [11] In the midst of the scandal, Governor Mecham telephoned Benson and told him to stop drawing critical cartoons about him, or his eternal soul would be in jeopardy. [12] Benson was later relieved of his position on a stake high council. [13] [14]
In 1993 Benson faced further controversy within the LDS Church, when he stated that his grandfather, then nearing his 94th birthday, was suffering from senility that was being concealed by church leadership. [15] Later that year, Benson publicly left the church. [11] [16] He has since become a critic of religious belief, appearing at Freedom From Religion Foundation's annual conventions and stating in its paper Freethought Today, "If, as the true believers claim, the word 'gospel' means good news, then the good news for me is that there is no gospel, other than what I can define for myself, by observation and conscience. As a freethinking human being, I have come not to favor or fear religion, but to face and fight it as an impediment to civilized advancement." [17] [18]
In 1997, a Benson cartoon used the image of a firefighter carrying a dead child to comment on the death sentence that had just been imposed on Oklahoma City bombing defendant Timothy McVeigh. Benson forcefully defended his work against some readers' contentions that the cartoon was insensitive. [19]
In 1999, Benson released a political cartoon titled "Texas Bonfire Traditions." In the cartoon, he compared the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse to the Waco siege of 1993 and the murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1998. This prompted negative reactions and criticism from Texas A&M, and forced The Arizona Republic to remove the cartoon.[ citation needed ]
Paul Francis Conrad was an American political cartoonist and winner of three Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning. In the span of a career lasting five decades, Conrad provided a critical perspective on eleven presidential administrations in the United States. 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.
William Henry Mauldin was an American editorial cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe, two weary and bedraggled infantry troopers who stoically endure the difficulties and dangers of duty in the field. His cartoons were popular with soldiers throughout Europe, and with civilians in the United States as well. However, his second Pulitzer Prize was for a cartoon published in 1958, and possibly his best-known cartoon was after the Kennedy assassination.
Ezra Taft Benson was an American farmer, government official, and religious leader who served as the 15th United States secretary of agriculture during both presidential terms of Dwight D. Eisenhower and as the 13th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death in 1994.
Evan Mecham was an American businessman and the 17th governor of Arizona, serving from January 5, 1987, until his impeachment conviction on April 4, 1988. A decorated veteran of World War II, Mecham was a successful automotive dealership owner and occasional newspaper publisher.
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Jack Ohman is an American editorial cartoonist and educator. He is currently a contributing opinion columnist and cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He formerly worked for The Sacramento Bee and the The Oregonian. His work is syndicated nationwide to over 300 newspapers by Tribune Media Services. In 2016, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
Steve Sack is an American cartoonist who won a 2013 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. With Chris Foote he draws the cartoon activity panel Doodles and he is editorial cartoonist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where he started in 1981. Doodles is distributed by Creators Syndicate. Sack's editorial cartoons are distributed by Cagle Cartoons.
Patrick "Pat" Bagley is an American editorial cartoonist and journalist for The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an author and illustrator of several books.
Clifford Kennedy Berryman was a Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist with The Washington Star newspaper from 1907 to 1949. He was previously a cartoonist for The Washington Post from 1891 to 1907.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second-largest religious denomination in Arizona, behind the Roman Catholic Church. In 2022, the church reported 439,411 members in Arizona, about 6% of the state's population. According to the 2014 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, roughly 5% of Arizonans self-identify most closely with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Charles George Werner was an American editorial cartoonist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1939 and later worked 47 years for the Indianapolis Star.
Thomas Francis Darcy was an American political cartoonist. While working at Newsday, he won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
Edward Daniel Kuekes was an American editorial cartoonist. Working for the Cleveland, Ohio Plain Dealer, he won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
Rob Rogers is an editorial cartoonist. His cartoons appeared in The Pittsburgh Press from 1984 to 1993, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from 1993 to 2018. In 1999 and 2019, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
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