"Johnson: Ausland-Hilfe Foreign Aid - No Cubans Allowed" original editorial cartoon (JÜSP)

Jürg Spahr

Sicilian-born Swiss cartoonist Jürg Spahr, who signed his work "JÜSP," was known for his political and sports comics. He was also one of the founders of the Cartoon Museum Basel, serving as director from 1975 to 1981.

In this single-panel comic strip, Spahr depicts an irritated-looking U.S. President Lyndon Johnson closing up a foreign aid storefront with a sign reading "No Cubans allowed" taped to the door. Inside are sacks of corn labeled "reserved for the UASSR" and "no selling to Cubans" in German. Johnson watches as Great Britain offers diesel trucks to Fidel Castro, while laid out on a table before the Cuban president are French-made missiles; another figure resembling Charles de Gaulle offers him a bar of gold while Nikita Kruschev oversees the transactions.

Cartoonist and cabaret artist Jürg Spahr was born on February 1, 1925 in Catania, Sicily, to a Swiss merchant family. The Spahr's relocated to Switzerland in 19398 and Jürg remained there for the rest of his life. Before pursuing visualand performace arts, Spahr had intended to become a lawyer, studying for the bar from 1945 to 1948. However, his spare time was spent drawing cartoons and caricatures, often finding freelance work as an illustrator. In 1948, after abandoning law, he worked as a performance artist at the Kikeriki cabaret in Basel and then at the Komödchen in Düsseldorf.

He continued with his cartooning and soon found international syndication, especially his political cartoons. His work was included in the satirical Swiss periodical Nebelspalter, the Swiss daily National-Zeitung, the Brückenbauer (now known as Migros), and the Woche. Overall, he drew around 10,000 cartoons for publications and he was a founder of the Cartoon & Caricature Museum Basel, acting as its first curator from 1978 - 1995.

Cartoonist and cabaret artist Jürg Spahr died in Basel, Switzerland on March 14, 2002.