Fear and Loathing in America

by Hunter S. Thompson

  But what the fuck? One thing at a time, eh? Barring the very real possibility of a nark-swarm on my house at any moment, I’ll spend the next few days on this Cozumel article and get it finished. My idea, as of now, is to treat it more as an editing job—rather than do any more bulk-writing—and just get the bugger into printable form as soon as possible.

  I’ll be here for the next month, I hope, so give a call whenever you feel up or down to it. Okay …

  Hunter

  MEMO FROM THE SPORTS DESK, AUGUST 16, 1973:

  From: Raoul Duke

  To: Jann Wenner

  Subject: Article on Sam Brown’s birthday party; RS #142, Aug 30

  This is a difficult memo for me to write, because I am trying to speak for both myself and Dr. Thompson—who called tonight from Washington in a fit of snarling rage, inre: the Sam Brown article. I share his feelings on this subject, so the rest of this comment will have to speak for both of us.

  Hopefully there is no connection between Joe Eszterhas’s appointment as News Editor and the appearance—in the middle of the Aug 30 news section—of a watered-down version of a bitchy little slap that not even the Denver society-page editors would print.

  The original version of that article—as Eszterhas must have known, since he got the carbon copy—appeared in a local (Denver) gossip-sheet run by wealthy Humphrey-style Democrats who’ve considered Sam Brown a serious menace ever since he moved to Denver and brought his style of political-organizing with him.

  It was Sam and his friends who put together—last November—the ballot-box veto of Gov. John Love’s Big Money/Big Tourism proposal to hold the 1976 Winter Olympics in Colorado. That was a bitter & unexpected defeat for both the Nixon/Love Republicans and the Humphrey-style Democrats who stood to make the same kind of money off the ’76 Winter Olympics as some of them still hope to make off the strip-mining development of Colorado’s (publicly-owned) western-slope oil shale acreage by major oil companies. The names of these people are a matter of public record—not only on the deeds involving oil shale ownership, but also as the publishers of the same local paper that bent over backwards, as it were, to sandbag Sam Brown. They published the original themselves—a classic of lame bitchiness—and then they sent the carbon to RS.

  And we printed the goddamn thing disregarding the fact that the RS version was offered under a different name than the author of the original, and including a stupid libel on Dick Tuck: “He will probably be best remembered,” according to both the RS and Denver gossip-sheet versions, “for having cut short a McCarthy whistle-stop speech by disguising himself as a railroad worker and signaling for the train to depart.”

  We can try to forgive the lame prose—by somebody who called himself “Ron Wolf” in the RS version, and “Freddy Bosco” in the original—but it is hard to forgive the ignorance that would fix one of Tuck’s finest shots in a campaign against Gene McCarthy, instead of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon campaign where it actually happened.

  Or where the story and the legend were born, in any case. It is hard to know, with Dick—but that’s beside the point: Anybody careless, ignorant or even stupid enough to publish an article saying Tuck ran that trip on McCarthy, instead of Nixon, has no business editing political articles for a national magazine. It is one thing for a hired hack in Denver to write that kind of swill for 66 readers at the Cherry Hills Country Club Bar—and quite another when he can send the carbon to RS and have it published all over the country, on the same page with Steadman and Ralph Gleason.13

  There is still a very clear line—and I’m sure Dr. Thompson will agree with me on this—between brutal subjectivity and bitchy ignorance. The Supreme Court’s historic decision on libel (NY Times vs. Sullivan—date? [1964]) gives us a lot of room to work with—but not the kind of room where a “writer” using a pseudonym (sp?) and an editor far gone in either carelessness or ignorance, or both, can frivolously re-write political history by giving some yo-yo from the Denver cocktail-circuit two columns in RS to run a sick Suzy Knickerbocker14 trip on one of the straightest and most effective organizers in American politics.

  It’s easy enough to understand why a clutch of rich Democratic dilettantes in Denver would want to zap Sam Brown—but I’m fucked if I understand why Rolling Stone would get into that kind of game … and the real purpose of this memo is to make it absolutely clear that neither the Sports Desk nor the National Affairs Desk had anything to do with that cheap, inaccurate, libelous piece of shit about Sam Brown’s birthday party.

  Sincerely,

  Raoul Duke

  TO ANTHONY BURGESS:

  English writer Anthony Burgess had authored several respected satirical novels, including his 1962 best-seller about a corrupt and violent future society, A Clockwork Orange, which director Stanley Kubrick made into an initially X-rated movie in 1971.

  August 17, 1973

  Woody Creek, CO

  Dear Mr. Burgess:

  Herr Wenner has forwarded your useless letter from Rome to the National Affairs Desk for my examination and/or reply.

  Unfortunately, we have no International Gibberish Desk, or it would have ended up there.

  What kind of lame, half-mad bullshit are you trying to sneak over on us? When Rolling Stone asks for “a thinkpiece,” goddamnit, we want a fucking Thinkpiece … and don’t try to weasel out with any of your limey bullshit about a “50,000 word novella about the condition humaine, etc….”

  Do you take us for a gang of brainless lizards? Rich hoodlums? Dilettante thugs?

  You lazy cocksucker. I want that Thinkpiece on my desk by Labor Day. And I want it ready for press. The time has come & gone when cheapjack scum like you can get away with the kind of scams you got rich from in the past.

  Get your worthless ass out of the piazza and back to the typewriter. Your type is a dime a dozen around here, Burgess, and I’m fucked if I’m going to stand for it any longer.

  Sincerely,

  Hunter S. Thompson

  TO KATHARINE GRAHAM, THE WASHINGTON POST:

  Katharine Graham was publisher of The Washington Post, in which reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered and exposed the Watergate scandal from the break-in at Democratic National Headquarters on June 17, 1972, through President Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974. Graham’s Washington Post Company also published Newsweek magazine.

  August 23, 1973

  Woody Creek, CO

  Dear Ms Graham:

  I definitely appreciate your offer inre: the editorship, as it were, of Newsweek—but for a variety of personal reasons I cannot accept at this time. My doctor has warned me, however, that I’ll be dead within three years unless I find a more sedentary line of work, so perhaps we can deal with this matter at some time in the foreseeable future.

  Meanwhile … I’m enclosing my blank check for whatever amount your subscription dept. failed to mention when they sent me this menacing (“will stop soon”) notice/bill/money demand with regard to my Air Mail subscription to the Post. I trust you will fill in the proper amount and forward my check to the sub. dept. When I ordered the subscription I never asked about the cost, so I have no idea how much the bastards want from me. I merely asked Bill Greider to arrange for the Post to be sent to me in Woody Creek by the fastest possible method … which he did (I get Sunday’s Post on Monday, for instance), but in order to pay the bill I’ll need at least a hint of how much this high-speed subscription is worth.

  To this end, I’m enclosing my cheque, in hopes that you can fill in the proper amount and get the bugger cashed.

  Okay for now. In closing, however, I’d like to congratulate you on the king-hell job the Post has done on the Watergate story. If you keep up this kind of coverage, you’ll put me permanently out of work—which I’d consider a real favor at this point, so keep hammering the bastards.

  Anyway, next time you get to Aspen, give me a ring if you feel like having a drink without [Aspen Institute President] Joe Slater in attendance…. Or [at] Tom Benton’s gall
ery; or my floating office in the Jerome Hotel bar. Cazart …

  Hunter S. Thompson

  TO HUGHES RUDD, CBS NEWS:

  The CBS Morning News had just debuted the pairing of veteran network correspondent Hughes Rudd with former Washington Post Style section reporter Sally Quinn, who had never done TV news before. Rudd became solo anchor early in 1974.

  September 11, 1973

  Woody Creek, CO

  Hughes …

  Six A.M. now, watching you, Sally & some geek named Jeffrey St. John. Heavy duty. And it occurs to me now that we’ve passed the point—in terms of fair-ness—where I can refrain from discussing my life-long blackout on CBS News.

  I am, as always, open to opposing points of view. This is one thing I want to make very clear. There are, no doubt, many true & excellent reasons for my failure to make the nut with CBS—just as there are true & excellent reasons for my long-standing problem with Time.

  In any case, I want you to know that there’ll be nothing personal—if & when I might or might not indulge myself with a lash or two at CBS. There are, in fact, other reasons—ranging from CBS’s lame refusal to indulge in “instant analysis” to CBS’s lame/camera coverage of pro football games. Cheap shit on all fronts, eh?

  But fuck all that. I just wanted to get this memo sent & noted (& especially now that I’m watching Laird beat your people to jelly on the screen) …but what the fuck? We’ve made all those points before, right, so why worry?

  Good luck in your new job.

  Cazart …

  HST

  TO JANN WENNER, ROLLING STONE:

  Thompson wrote to Wenner with the usual criticisms of his business practices as well as suggestions for future writing projects.

  September 14, 1973

  Woody Creek, CO

  Jann …

  Inre: yr. $$ memos of Sept 7, 10, etc. …I think we should suspend all dealings until you & Clancy can get the problem settled. I have every intention of remaining totally calm and quiet about this thing—which is why I’m turning it over to Clancy, with instructions to keep the hassle completely out of my life until it’s settled.

  As for the Dom. Rep. thing with Kirby, I cancelled it tonight. Or at least my part in it. I also mashed my plans to go back to D.C. for Phase 2 of the hearings … along with Phase 3 … and even Phase 4, a deep-boiling story about the Strauss/Connally15 Connexion prior to June 17 ’72 that will, if it proves out, be a Z-bomb in the boiler-room of the Demo party in ’76, if not sooner.

  As for the Princess Anne wedding16 gig, Steadman is proceeding with the various arrangements for coverage & I plan to make that trip & write the story for RS or whoever wants it. You can send Bibb17 to report on the “Perfect Master” gig in Houston. I like the Iquitos idea18—along with maybe a “Rio Revisited” piece after cruising down the Amazon—but we’ll have to stabilize our relationship somehow before getting into that stuff. I am tired beyond the arguing point with this insane haggling over every goddamn nickel, dime & dollar….

  … Ralph put his finger on it very nicely, I think, when he said: “Jann doesn’t seem to realize that every dime he screws somebody out of today might cost him a dollar tomorrow.”

  Maybe not, and that’s a risk you’ll have to take. But the haggling is getting pretty goddamn old, I think, and the most depressing aspect of it all is that we never seem to make any progress.

  For the past few years I’ve been playing with the idea of opening a pawn shop in Aspen, but I could never find the right person to run it … until now; but don’t worry about getting in touch with me—when the time is right, I’ll call you. We have to do some groundwork before hanging out the balls.

  OK for now. Talk to John, and when things are calm on that end we’ll talk again.

  Cazart,

  HST

  TO DAVID BUTLER, PLAYBOY:

  September 17, 1973

  Woody Creek, CO

  David …

  OK, I’m focused entirely on the Cozumel piece now—although my current state of mind shows (above) with the unfortunate Jan…. no—September … dateline. The only hopeful sign is that I caught it pretty quick.

  The need for a middle/fishing section is as obvious as it is depressing—but I hope to be able to do something with the Shark-hunt tapes you had transcribed. My thanks to Bonnie & the Kelly girl on that score….

  I couldn’t tell from your letter (8/31) whether you were mainly worried about the lack of a coherent middle/fishing section, or whether the whole style & tone of the piece turned you off. I got the impression you wanted a completely new lead (something properly fishy & colorful), in addition to the purging of all F&L in Vegas type material.

  If so, this tends to confirm my worst fears about this assignment—that somewhere out there in the Great Darkness beyond Woody Creek is a cabal of editors who still believe that my talent is still salvageable, and with the proper discipline & direction I can still learn to write like Bob Considine.19

  I wouldn’t write this kind of thing to most editors, David, but since we’ve always dealt pretty straight with each other I feel comfortable in telling you that I’m pretty well hooked on my own style—for good or ill—and the chances of changing it now are pretty dim. A journalist into Gonzo is like a junkie or an egg-sucking dog; there is no known cure.

  And so much for all that. What I need to know now is my space limit in terms of actual words. Let’s get this settled at once. As for the style & tone, I suspect you’ll just have to live with whatever I send—and if it won’t go, what the fuck? I’ve been through that before, right? So don’t worry about hurting my feelings.

  Send word when you can. Thanx …

  Hunter

  FROM WILLIAM J. KENNEDY:

  September 24, 1973

  Woody Creek, CO

  Hunter …

  I tried to call you the other day and found you had re-listed and clandestinized your number. What the hell is it?

  I’m reading your book with much old and new pleasure and am closing in on the final phase of my own. Truly the final phase after many rewrites.

  I write also to wonder about your response to Valerie [Petersen, aka Kohler] Smith’s book, The Rape of the Virgin Butterfly. Maybe you never cracked it. She’s a good friend as I told you and I liked the book. It’s wild and funny. In New York you said you’d make a comment without looking at it, but I don’t want to ask that. But if anything you say is going to be meaningful, it should be in hand within a week or less. For what it’s worth to you, John Lahr, the Voice theater man, and Dotson Rader20 both have given it blurbs which go on the jacket. One sentence will do, and the jacket is about to go to press. A wild look at McCarthy era crazies.

  If you’re not up to this bullshit it’s all right with me; I’m only conveying a need of a neurotic but worthy friend. I’m not up to date with Rolling Stone so if you’re in there with a Watergate piece I haven’t yet seen it.

  Both my brothers-in-law are on the way to being millionaires. I don’t know what that means.

  That was a good visit in New York with you and Sandy, but as usual too crowded. I never got to talk to you about your proposed novel. All I heard was tape recording … Silberman … fifty grand. There’s probably more to the story.

  Okay. Send the blurb to me if you decide to write one.

  Kennedy

  FROM KRISTI WITKER:

  A dust-jacket blurb from Thompson was obviously a prized commodity.

  September 24, 1973

  New York, NY

  Dear Hunter,

  I hope you will remember that during an off-guard moment over the barbecue fire at Dick Tuck’s a couple of weeks ago you told me that if you didn’t have to read my book you would give me a quote for it!

  It’s called HOW TO LOSE EVERYTHING IN POLITICS Except Massachusetts and it’s the story of my rapid downhill spiral after accepting Frank Mankiewicz’s offer to become Deputy Press Secretary on the [McGovern] campaign and how I wound up instead carrying [JFK press secretary] Pie
rre Salinger’s laundry to the Laundromat. I have gotten three very good responses so far—[humor columnist] Art Buchwald said it was very, very funny, true, insightful, etc.—so I promise you the book is not a total dog.

  If you could find it in your heart to say something unincriminating like “the truest book I’ve ever read about a political campaign except my own” or “a must for anyone who has ever worked in or considers working in a political campaign in the future,” etc. I would love you forever! One columnist said “Hilarious! The funniest book I’ve read in a very long time …” so I’ve got that angle covered. Really, I know this is a draggy request but with some 25,000 books coming out this winter I need all the help I can get, especially a quote from the master political writer of them all.

  My publisher is desperate to get something as soon as possible, so I am facilitating your effort by enclosing an airmail self-addressed envelope. Of course, if you want to READ this great work I could have it sent out—Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am exceedingly grateful. Best to Sandy.

  Very sincerely,

  Kristi Witker

  October 1973

  “FEAR & LOATHING IN THE DOLDRUMS”

  by Raoul Duke

  “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?”

  —Job 38:2

  Who indeed? What kind of irresponsible bastard would do a thing like that? Poor Job must have been thinking about his lawyers when he uttered those words. They definitely laid some dark and ignorant counsel on him, and he suffered badly because of it … boils, madness, many deaths in the family….

  The Lord was testing his faith. Job never understood that he was a very important test-case. He was God’s white rat, and in that role he established a lasting precedent … he Kept The Faith, and if his lawyers knew what was happening they had enough sense to keep their mouths shut.