Fear and Loathing - Hunter S. Thompson, George McGovern, and the 1972 Presidential Campaign
Written: Oct 12 '07
Product Rating:
Pros: Fascinating Gonzo look at American politics
Cons: Nixon won
The Bottom Line: Political junkies, history buffs, and fans of American journalism should find Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 a fascinating read.
teamfreak16's Full Review: Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing: On the Cam...
In the 1972 presidential election, Senator George McGovern (South Dakota) started out as a long shot. After winning the Democratic nomination with an old fashioned, grassroots campaign, McGovern went on to get steamrolled by incumbent Richard Nixon, getting stomped by Nixon like a loudmouth tough that's had the misfortune to take his act into a Hells Angels bar. Famed Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson spent a year accompanying the McGovern campaign, resulting in Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72, his diary of those 12 hectic months.
While McGovern might have been an outsider at the outset, Thompson details how his staff built up an old fashioned, highly efficient campaign machine that seized momentum in the state of Wisconsin and then never gave it up. McGovern's eager young army of volunteers dutifully spread the word that the Senator was the "anti-politician," an earnest man that told the truth, a man Bobby Kennedy had once called "the most decent man in the senate."
And then the proverbial wheels fell off.
McGovern's choice of Tom Eagleston as a running mate proved to be a disastrous hurdle he could never overcome - shortly after accepting the nomination, it was revealed that Eagleston had been through shock therapy for mental health issues - and all Nixon had to do was sit in the White House and watch while the once mighty McGovern campaign continuously bumped into itself. The impending landslide was inevitable.
Fear and Loathing is more than your average, dry political book - this is Hunter Thompson, after all. Whether he's attempting to maneuver a rented muscle car through icy Wisconsin streets or smoking dope in the cockpit of the "zoo plane," a rowdy press plane that accompanied the campaign, Thompson skillfully takes the reader into the middle of that 12-month ordeal, making for a funny, entertaining read.
And while the book is obviously dated, that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be read. There's lots of wisdom inside these pages, observations that remain true 37 years later. In a post-election conversation with Thompson, McGovern acknowledges that there's a great percentage of the American population that cares more about whether the Redskins beat the Dolphins than whether Nixon or George McGovern wins the presidency. Don't believe this is still true? Hang out in a sports bar on a fall Sunday sometime, and then try to find a bar where people are watching election returns.
"I have been through three presidential elections, now, but it has been twelve years since I could look at a ballot and see a name I wanted to vote for," wrote Thompson. Exactly. My own vote for John Kerry was not so much a vote for him as it was a vote against George Bush, and I get the feeling I'm far from alone.
Full of Thompson's trademark razor-sharp wit and vitriol, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 is a must read for political junkies, history buffs, and those interested in American journalism. Sure, it's "dated." So are books about World War II, yet we still read those (we won, by the way.) So settle in and read all about the inner-workings of an American presidential campaign. It's well worth your time.
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