Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail

Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail ’72 was a book about a writer for the Rolling Stone and his coverage of the presidential elections in 1972. These elections were between the incumbent Republican, President Richard Nixon and the Senator from South Dakota, George McGovern. The election of 1972 saw McGovern come out of the democratic National Convention over Senators Muskie and Humphrey but only to lose to the incumbent president Richard Nixon.

Hunter S. Thompson writes about the Election of 1972 from December 1971, before any primaries, to December 1972 after Nixon has won the election. It is a truthful first person account of what happened during the presidential race that year with much personal, side talk about Thompson’s life, experiences, and his coverage four years ago about the 1968 election. Thompson writes this book in a unique style that he has made called Gonzo Journalism. This style of writing is a deeply personal style of writing and is very opinionated. He does not give the facts on the election straight but instead gives his opinions on the people involved. It is a very subjective point of view and shows Thompson’s very liberal perspective. He is a strong supporter and is an enthusiast of the democratic candidate McGovern and shows time and time again how much he despises Nixon. Along with a very opinionated, subjective narrative, Thompson talks a lot about drug use. His point of view is from that from the drug underculture. Thompson is a very big drug user and uses very profane language. He is also very sarcastic at times when he writes. Oftentimes he uses metaphors, sarcasm, and satire to push his own views on the reader. In the October chapter, he calls the president a, “drooling red- eyed beast with the legs of a man and the head of a giant hyena…” heading toward Watergate. He then comes back after this metaphor to say, “Ah…nightmares, nightmares. But I was only kidding. The president would never act tat weird. At least not during football season.” In these passages he uses a metaphor to show the president in a very negative light and to stress on Nixon’s negative connection with Watergate. His next statement is a sarcastic phrase saying the president would never act this way during football season. This sarcastic comment shows President Nixon as a savage beast whose only real knowledge is in football. This style of writing is what made Hunter Thompson, Gonzo Journalism, and