Attacking a National Amnesia

Garry Trudeau breaks his vow of silence to skewer Reagan

Garry Trudeau may be the most private public person in American life. His acerbic and politically acute comic strip, Doonesbury, a national institution for some 15 years, appears in nearly 900 newspapers and is the first comic ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Spin-offs have been ubiquitous: more than 30 books, an NBC-TV special, a rock album and a Broadway musical, all written by Trudeau. His jabs have provoked outrage from targets as varied as Frank Sinatra and House Speaker Tip O'Neill. Yet with just a handful of exceptions over the years -- mostly college speeches and prepared...

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