The Birthday of the Greatest Journalist

Remembering Hunter S. Thompson

His Early Life

Scrolling across the Journalism topic in Medium today I figured I would add an article to the pile. As journalists and fans of journalism, it would be a disservice to not recognize Gonzo on his birthday. Today, July 18th marks the day Hunter S. Thompson was born.

After run-ins with the law as a young man, HST opted to join the Air Force instead of going to jail. I suppose it was the lesser of two evils. He worked as a sports editor for the base newspaper and continued to work as a journalist after he left the Air Force. It was 1965 when HST went inside with the Hells Angels and began to document his experiences with the gang. The Hells Angels took a liking to HST and allowed him insight into one of the most brutal and hated gangs in America.

This relationship ended with HST getting assaulted for his comments on a Hells Angels member beating his wife and dog.

“Only a punk beats his wife and dog” He claims.

This was crazy talk in the 1960s but this adds to the brilliance of HST and shows how far ahead of his time he was. The Hells Angels experience led to a book that put him on the map as a serious writer. His book Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs led HST to further writing assignments.

His most prominent piece of work is without a doubt Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. If you ever wonder what a bender would be, read this story. Non-existent desert mutants, crashed vehicles, wrecked hotel rooms, and intense writing described their Vegas experience. This, of course, was charged by the copious amount of ingested alcohol, LSD, psilocybin, and about anything else you can think of.

His Importance

Why was he so important? You may ask this after hearing about what most would consider unadmirable actions.

HST described himself as a political junkie and was fearless when it came to getting involved in politics. An example could be his despise for Richard Nixon which he wrote in a Rolling Stone article,

“Richard Nixon is gone now, and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing — a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. Not even Gerald Ford, the unhappy ex-president who pardoned Nixon and kept him out of prison, was immune to the evil fallout. Ford, who believes strongly in Heaven and Hell, has told more than one of his celebrity golf partners that “I know I will go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon.”

He even attempted his own political intervention, running for Sheriff of Pitkin Country, Colorado. For me, as a Colorado kid, I take a particular interest in this. His visions of what Aspen would be under his watch are filled with counter-culture sentiment. As far-fetched as it was, his campaign represented how American politics had shifted to something much worse than it was supposed to be. The death of the American Dream, snake politicians, fake kindness, and illegitimate authority. His style of Gonzo journalism took complex issues and shot some common sense and realness into them, something we lack so much of today.

If you love journalism and love HST, then today should be meaningful to you.

I know it is for me.

Thank you all so much for reading this. I hope you were able to take value from it. If you enjoy my work, feel free to give me a follow to support my writing.

Below is a link to another piece that you may like.

Best regards, Caleb