Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is another of his bizarre mixes of fiction and journalism. This is a compilation of his coverage of the 1972 presidential election. His coverage begins before the primaries in December 1971, following the campaign month by month until December 1972 after Nixon has been reelected. The piece ends with an appropriate Epitaph and the poem Be Angry at the Sun.
I was interested in a mock letter that Thompson had written to Larry O'Brien, the '72 Democratic Party chairman. The letter is thrust in the middle of a discussion of the McGovern problem which Thompson defines as proof-positive for the liberal cynics' conviction that there is no room in American politics for an honest man. He finds this to be true because American politics is traditionally a Two Party system: the Democrats and the Republicans. Or as Thompson describes them: The Ins and the Outs, the Party in Power and the Loyal Opposition. Thompson mentions at this point that Loyal Opposition is the term that the national Democratic party, with O'Brien at the helm, has taken on as their catchy election year phrase. Much to O'Brien's chagrin the local party headquarters across the nation were not bursting at the seams with dewy-eyed young voters completely stoned on the latest Party Message. From this description Thompson launches into his fictional letter to Larry O'Brien accusing O'Brien of stringing him along, leading him to believe that he would somehow appoint Thompson as the Governor of American Samoa.
Well, LarryI really hate to lay this on youbecause we used to be buddies, right? That was backing the days when I bought all those white sharkskin suits because I thought I was going to be the next Governor of American Samoa.
You strung me along, Larry; you conned me into buying all those goddamn white suits and kept me hanging around that Holiday Inn in Pierre, South Dakota, waiting for my confirmation to come throughbut it never did, Larry; I was never appointed. You bushwhacked me.
The letter goes on to describe the aging party leadership, something that Thompson describes as a major problem with the Party. In earlier chapters he describes various candidates like Senator Ed Muskie pining for the endorsements of the Party Faithful like Chicago's Mayor Daley and the aging leader of the AFL-CIO George Meany. Thompson views their influences as negative. According to Thompson's reporting, George McGovern's campaign successively gained momentum by going outside of that Old party structure. It had been assumed that no candidate could survive without the support of those political power brokers. In the remainder of the letter, Thompson addresses the failing structure of the Democratic Party:
But shit, Larry; why kid ourselves? You're not going to be in a position to appoint anybody to anything when November comes down on us. You won't even have a job; or if you do it'll be one of those gigs where you'll have to get your half-salary in gold bullionbecause the way it looks now, the Democratic Party won't be issuing a hell of a lot of certified checks after November Seventh.
Remember the Whigs, Larry? They went belly up, with no warning at all, when a handful of young politicians like Abe Lincoln decided to move out on their own, and f- the Whigswhich worked out very nicely, and when it became almost instantly clear that the Whig hierarchy was just a gang of old impotent windbags with no real power at all, the Party just curled up and diedand any politician stupid enough to stay loyal went down with the ship.
This letter appeared in the February chapter. I believe that Thompson was predicting that once the McGovern campaign picked up steam, they would fracture the party like the Whigs did when young believers moved outside of the restrictions of the party structure. McGovern did manage to survive primary after primary, much to everyone's surprise, despite having shunned party leadership. It was this that caused that same leadership to make several attempts to thwart McGovern's nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Miami that July. Thompson considered George Meany, then president of the national AFL-CIO, to be the quarterback of the Stop McGovern Movement. Labor along with the other dying leadership of the party made numerous attempts to persuade McGovern delegates to alter their votes.
Thompson outlines a fictional scenario of a young lawyer from St. Louis who has somehow managed to get elected as an uncommitted delegate to the convention. Uncommitted delegates carry a lot of power. They are able to receive favors from candidates in exchange for their support.
Virgil is a lawyer hoping to be promised a seat on the federal bench for his vote on the convention floor. He is approached by a man named Squane. Squane works for a candidate for president who is looking for votes at the convention. Virgil politely endures Squanes attempts and friendly conversation, waiting for the proposal. Squane then makes his move. He asks Virgil to meet him at the bar later that evening, they will take a boat ride up the coast to Ft. Lauderdale. Only, when Virgil opens his door at the scheduled time, there is a peculiar looking woman there who claims to be Squane's friend. She tells him that Squane will meet them later, then she drugs him.
Later on Thompson goes on to describe the horrible events that unfold.
Many hours later, 4:30AM. Soaking wet, falling into the lobby, begging for help: No wallet, no money, no ID. Blood on both hands and one shoe missing, dragged up to the room by two bellboys
Breakfast at noon the next day, half sick in the coffee shopwaiting for a Western Union money order from the wife in St. Louis. Very spotty memories from last night.
Then Squane appears, claiming that Virgil double crossed him. He produces bloody pictures of the woman, claiming that Virgil did that to her and she was just a child. He tells Virgil that in exchange for the photos and the negatives, he wants Virgil's vote plus six others. Virgil whines that he doesn't even know six others, that they all want something. Squane, uncaring, reminds him that his life will make a sudden turn for the worse.
Thompson discusses frequently the politics of vengeance. Fictional scenarios such as the one above, certainly reinforce the use of vengeance in politics. The manner in which he describes these actions, so bloody, so heartless closely paralleled the ways in which old party leadership attempted to thwart the McGovern nomination at the convention.
In the following passage, Thompson describes Hubert Humphrey's attacks on McGovern after George showed great strength in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin effectively eliminated every obstacle but the corpse of Hubert Humphreywho fought like a rabid skunk all the way to the end; cranked up on the best speed George Meany's doctors could provide for him, taking his cash and his orders every midnight from Meany's axe-man Al Barkan; and attacking McGovern savagely, day after day, from every treacherous angle Big Labor's sharpest researchers could even crudely define for him.
Passages like this seem to reinforce the sense of injustice that the reader feels when looking at the various attempts made to stop McGovern's campaign. Sadly, not much has changed in the process, and perhaps Thompson is right: There is no room for an honest man in politics.