45th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL - From Russia with Love: About Roman Genn.

It was March 1997, and NR's "Manchurian Candidates" cover, poking fun at Bill, Al, and Hillary's zeal in fundraising from Chinese nationals, had enraged the ethnic-grievance industry. Protesters ranted outside our offices in New York and Washington; hundreds of letters poured in; the editor was surrounded by a mob at Yale. But Roman Genn, the artist behind the cover, remained philosophical. "I think that's fine," he told a reporter. "Their job is to get ticked off at cartoons, and my job is to draw them. We're all doing our jobs."

Genn has been doing his job for NR since 1994, skewering the high and mighty with his spot-on caricatures. And while his work for the magazine has brought him notoriety, his knack for cartooning-and his coolness under fire-have been on display since he was a five-year-old cutup in Moscow. "I wasn't interested in anything the teachers had to say, so I just wasted all my time drawing my school buddies and insulting them," says Genn, now 28. "I'd draw teachers so my buddies could laugh. But then I'd get in trouble, and end up having to clean the toilets."

At Communist youth camp, he entered competitions for drawing propaganda posters. "I was collaborating with the regime," he reflects ruefully. Not that he had any affection for Communism. As a teenager in the late '80s, he began selling his antigovernment cartoons to American tourists on street corners, attracting the notice of the authorities. He was arrested eleven times for his pictures, and was jailed overnight for lampooning a Kremlin politician. The interior ministry searched his apartment. On one occasion, the police came for him during a class at Moscow Art College, sirens blaring.

In 1989-when he was arrested nine times-Pravda (yes, Pravda) ran one of his drawings. "It was funny, because when the cops would harass me, I'd show them that I was published by Pravda; they'd leave me alone for a while." A turning point came in 1990, when a Los Angeles public-television producer came across Roman and filmed a segment about his work. The following year, with the help of an L.A. synagogue, Roman and his mother emigrated to the United States. Settling in Pasadena, he learned English by watching John Wayne movies. In 1994, his agent sent a submission to NR. "You guys went for it," Roman says, "suckers that you were."

Roman also contributes regularly to the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. He confesses he is saddened by the imminent departure of Bill Clinton: "He's going and we're crying." Of course, as a caricaturist, he has his own priorities. Whom does he prefer between Bush and Gore? "Let the man with the biggest nose win!"

The "Manchurian Candidates" cover remains his favorite. "I loved it," he says. "Remember, they marched in front of your offices, not my apartment." He pauses, perhaps contemplating future covers, then adds, "Don't put my address in this article."