Goodbye Gonzo: Hunter S Thompson 1937-2005

Hunter S. Thompson, author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the founder of gonzo journalism, died on 20th February 2005 in his Colorado home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Hunter, aged sixty-seven, was a bizarre journalist who led a bizarre life. His wild writing style lost him numerous jobs and assignments, but gained him admirers the world over, not least here at LeftLion.

His first book, Hell's Angels, published in 1966, was an inside look at the notorious biker community. In the interests of journalism, he rode across America alongside the gang, drinking, racing and generally living the life of an outlaw. He took to it fairly well, but the inevitable fall-out came eventually and he was literally ‘kicked’ out by the Angels and into mainstream journalism. His next two books were serialized by Rolling Stone magazine.

The first, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is a first-person account by Thompson himself (under the pseudonym Raoul Duke) of a trip to Vegas with a Dr Gonzo (a 300-pound Samoan attorney) to cover a narcotics officers convention and the Fabulous Mint 400 motorbike race.

During the trip, they become sidetracked by the search for the American dream, particularly after trashing their hotel room and taking copious amounts of LSD, ether, cocaine, adrenochrome, marijuana and anything else they can get their hands on. British artist Ralph Steadman, who would go on to collaborate with Thompson on many projects, offered surreal illustrations to a mix that would become an iconic work and ultimately a call to arms for casual drug users worldwide.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, was a detailed look at the 1972 Election campaign pitching George McGovern against Richard Nixon. As a combination of Thompson’s eagle-eyed reporting and his Burroughs-like ramblings, it carries a lot more political weight than Las Vegas, but is equally amusing and insulting. Thompson’s best and most infamous attacks were reserved for the ‘Grendal-like beast’ that was Nixon. Upon his death in 1994, Hunter offered his nemeses a final indignity, saying “He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin,” in an obituary titled He Was A Crook.

Even as an older man, Hunter’s political coverage was aggressive. In a piece for on the 2004 presidential campaign, he referred to George W Bush as a "treacherous little freak,” saying "I almost felt sorry for him, until I heard someone call him Mister President. Then I felt ashamed."

Thompson once threatened to run for the US presidency himself and narrowly lost an election in 1970 for Sheriff of the Aspen area on the Freak Power party ticket. He set up on a platform promoting the decriminalisation and sale of drugs, of tearing up the streets and turning them into bike paths and renaming Aspen, Colorado to ‘Fat City’. To him politics was a blood sport and all US politicians were fair game…

He was reclusive and often unintelligible in conversation, a persona ready made for caricature. His mumbling incoherence, big yellow sunglasses, fishing hats and cigarette holders all made for a larger-than-life presence. Both Bill Murray and Johnny Depp portrayed him in Hollywood (Murray in 1980’s Where the Buffalo Roam, Depp in Terry Gilliam’s 1998 adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas).

The last piece that he wrote before his death was in his ‘Hey Rube’ column for ESPN website about Shotgun Golf, a new sport that he had invented whilst on the telephone to Bill Murray (who by then had become his friend). As the title suggests, it involved livening up the sport by bringing live weapons into play, firing at the ball shortly after tee-off.

Hunter was always very fond of his weapons. It was one of many characteristics that were at odds with his success in documenting the era of hippies and free love. The iconic cover to Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream (1990) portrayed him shooting his typewriter in frustration and there were many other photos taken of him in his life with weapons. It was clear that the Doctor always did like the feel of a gun…

He once said to Ralph Steadman “I would feel real trapped in this life if I didn’t know I could commit suicide at any time.” Though these words may seem morbid after his suicide, nothing should really surprise us about the Doctor’s proactive stance on his own life. Steadman said after hearing the news “I have always known that one day I would know this journey, but yesterday I did not know that it would be today.”

Hunter’s death remains as fascinating as his life and will ensure that the legend of Dr Gonzo lives on into new centuries. An act of insurance against growing older and less relevant? In his early career Hunter had chastised the writing establishment, but by the time of his death he may have felt that he was becoming part of it…

What we do know is that one of the great writers of the twentieth century killed himself and left no suicide note. Maybe he felt his work would already outlive him and that there was little left to say. Actions speak louder than words and, if nothing else, it was definitely the way he would have wanted it…