Richmond News-Leader, by Jeffrey K. MacNelly
Winning Work
The editorial cartoon is a difficult art to master. On one hand it must be striking and simple to be effective, yet it must also comment on an often complex subject.
Jeff MacNelly's cartoons demonstrate a striking, simple composition as well as deft draftsmanship and a fresh point of view. MacNelly seeks to make his point with humor and stunning graphics, without being vitriolic.
The six cartoons exhibited deal with three of the more prominent news stories of 1971. MacNelly treats the Calley case with humor, making a forceful point while avoiding the unreasoned emotion which the My Lai investigation evoked.
The political wheeling and dealing surrounding the Supreme Court nominations inspired many cartoonists last year. MacNelly's two offerings on this subject are typical of his style: accent on the graphic, and the visual situation, with gag line taking a back seat.
The three remaining cartoons all deal with the same general subject--the President's wide ranging economic policy in completely different ways. Again the emphasis is on the visual.
The following exhibit demonstrates why Mr. MacNelly is very quickly establishing a national reputation. His work is humorous without being trivial, forceful without being venomous, and displays a different point of view through accomplished, skillful artwork.
Ross Mackenzie
Editor of the Editorial Page
The Richmond News Leader
Winning Work
"The Economy"
"George?"
"Free Calley" (At the time, supporters and opponents of the Vietnam War felt that Lieutenant Calley's initial sentence of life imprisonment with hard labor effectively scapegoated the officer.)
"Okay, John, one more time. Run it up the flagpole -- and duck!" (The cartoon alludes to the case of Palmer v. Thompson, in which the Court upheld the right of the Jackson, MS city council to close their municipal pools to all patrons in lieu of opening them to African Americans.)
"Federal Floating Note" (As with "The Economy," this cartoon alludes to the "Nixon shock" that marked the end of the gold standard in favor of a fiat-based currency.)
"Great blocking in there, Bill!" (Appointed concurrently to the Supreme Court in late 1971, conservative Democrat Lewis Powell soon acquired a reputation as a compromise-minded swing voter while conservative Republican William Rehnquist frequently served as the lone dissenter on various cases. By the time Powell left the Court in 1987, Rehnquist was the newly-minted Chief Justice, his worldview having come to dominate the Court and the nation at large in the age of Reagan.)