Hilarious, terrifying, insightful, and compulsively readable, these are the articles that Hunter S. Thompson wrote for Rolling Stone magazine while covering the 1972 election campaign of President Richard M. Nixon and his unsuccessful opponent, Senator George S. McGovern. Hunter focuses largely on the Democratic Party's primaries and the breakdown of the national party as it splits between the different candidates.
With drug-addled alacrity and incisive wit, Thompson turned his jaundiced eye and gonzo heart to the repellent and seductive race for president, deconstructed the campaigns, and ended up with a political vision that is eerily prophetic
481 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1973
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. He became internationally known with the publication of Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1967), for which ...
"Okay," I said finally, "the reason Nixon put Agnew and the Goldwater freaks in charge of the party this year is that he knows they can't win '76—but it was a good short-term trade; they have to stay with him this year, which will probably be worth a point or two in November—and that's important to Nixon, because he thinks it's going to be close: F*** the polls. They always follow reality instead of predicting it.... But the real reason he turned the party over to the Agnew/Goldwater wing is that he knows most of the old-line Democrats who just got stomped by McGovern for the nomination wouldn't mind seeing George get taken out in '72 if they know they can get back in the saddle if they're willing to wait four years."
Bobo laughed, understanding it instantly. Pimps and hustlers have a fine instinct for politics. "What you're saying is that Nixon cashed his whole check," he said. "He doesn't give a flying f*** what happens once he gets re-elected—because once he wins, it's all over for him anyway, right? He can't run again..."
"Yeah," I said, pausing to twist the top off one of the ale bottles I'd been pulling out of the bag. "But the thing you want to understand is that Nixon has such a fine understanding of the way politicians think that he knew people like Daley and Meany and Ted Kennedy would go along with him—because it's in their interest now to have Nixon get his second term, in exchange for a guaranteed Democratic victory in 1976."
"God damn," he said. "That's beautiful! They're gonna trade him four years now for eight later, right? Give Nixon his last trip in '72, then Kennedy moves in eight years in '76.... Jesus, that's so rotten I really have to admire it. " He chuckled, "Boy, I thought I was cynical!"
