By Rima Bek

LOS ANGELES, CA (Hollywood Today) 09/06/10 –   For more than 50 years, political cartoonist Paul Conrad poked fun at politicians (including 11 presidents—ranging from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush) with the tip of his pencil.

Conrad, who died in his Rancho Palos Verdes home on Saturday, won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.  Only two other cartoonists in the Post-World War II era match the same number of Pulitzers.

For three decades, Conrad worked for the Los Angeles Times and helped raise the paper to a national tier.

e cartoonist took great pride in the fact that he was on Nixon’s enemy list, son David Conrad told The AP.

The day after the Watergate scandal broke, Conrad drew a cartoon of Nixon wearing a workman’s belt and drilling a hole into the wall of the Democratic National Headquarters. On the side, a bystander said, “He says he’s from the phone company.”

He infuriated readers so much to the point death threats, which he would just ignore.

Conrad also took great interest in lampooning actor-turned-governor-turned-president Ronald Reagan and got more than a few telephone calls from Reagan or his wife, Nancy, over the cartoons.

The Iowa native was 86 years old.