See a selection of Dennis Renault’s vintage editorial cartoons for The Bee
Bee staff
Dennis Renault was The Sacramento Bee’s political cartoonist from 1971 to 1998. He died Wednesday in an accident in Fremont Peak State Park in Monterey County. He was 86.
Renault succeeded cartoonist Newton Pratt, whose 33-year tenure at the paper had started in 1938. Renault was followed by Rex Babin, who joined the staff in 1999.
Renault drew more than 6,000 cartoons during his time at The Bee. Here’s a look at a few of them:
“I will explain our decision-making process...” reads the caption for a 1976 editorial cartoon by Dennis Renault about California Gov. Jerry Brown. It depicts Brown in front of an organizational chart filled entirely with his title. An unwillingness to delegate authority seemed to many to be a hallmark of the governor’s management style at the time.
“The buckets were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that the weatherman soon would be there,” reads the caption for a 1977 editorial cartoon by Dennis Renault during one of the state’s most significant droughts.
“They want to see an environmental impact report,” reads a caption to a 1972 Dennis Renault editorial cartoon that imagines the California Environment Quality Act in effect for the Pligrams’ arrival at Plymouth Rock. The landmark legislation was passed in 1970 and signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.
“Only God can make a tree … but only man can make a buck,” reads a caption to a 1974 Dennis Renault editorial cartoon about the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency enacting stricter environmental rules for the California side of the basin.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s reversal of the infrastructure building effort that marked his father’s governorship is the subject of a 1975 Dennis Renault editorial cartoon that recalls the Burma-Shave road sign advertising campaigns than ran from 1926 to 1963.
The Star Wars character C-3PO makes an appearance in a 1977 Dennis Renault editorial cartoon criticizing UC Davis for favoring big agriculture over farmworkers in its research programs. The caption read “‘we’ve developed the perfect farm machine for you; it uses the short-handed hoe and won’t join the United Farm Worker’s Union.”
A 1976 editorial cartoon by Dennis Renault shows road signs that mock Gov. Jerry Brown’s “era of limits” catch phrase.
A 1987 Dennis Renault editorial cartoon envisions the last free California condor being visited in zoo by a child unfamiliar with the concept of wilderness. Environmental themes were common in Renault’s work, and while the last free condor was captured in 1987 the birds were reintroduced into the wild in 1991.
“Back to the dike,” reads the caption for a 1987 Dennis Renault editorial cartoon showing Northern California rushing to stop a leak in opposition to the Peripheral Canal. While the canal was never built, its legacy was revived in 2012 with Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan for two Delta tunnels – scaled back to a single tunnel during the Newsom administration.
The Simpsons had been on the air for less than a year in 1990, when the family was depicted in a Dennis Renault editorial cartoon that envisioned them as non-voters considering removing incumbents via the ballot box. Less than a month later voters passed Proposition 140, which imposed term limits on the California Legislature and the state’s constitutional officers.
