Steve Benson (cartoonist)

Stephen Reed Benson (born January 2, 1954 in Sacramento, California) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning liberal U.S. editorial cartoonist for The Arizona Republic. Benson is the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former LDS Church president Ezra Taft Benson. He is the 5th cousin 4 times removed of U.S. President William Howard Taft.

Benson's more controversial cartoons include one that depicts a firefighter carrying a child from the Oklahoma City bombing similar to a well-known photo of a firefighter's futile rescue of 1-year old Baylee Almon. The child in the cartoon says, "Please, no more killing..." to which the firefighter, labeled "Death Penalty Fanatics," replies, "Oh, stop your whining!" The cartoon, published June 11, 1997, angered some firefighters nationwide. Almon's mother called for Benson to apologize for using the image. Benson, however, stood firm even as his paper issued an apology for printing the cartoon.

Late in 1993, Benson publicly left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after claiming that its leadership was covering up his grandfather Ezra Taft Benson's senility and allowing church members to believe he was still in charge of the church's day-to-day affairs. Today, Benson self-identifies as an atheist.