Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail '72

Thompson moves from Colorado to Washington, DC, packing his Volvo and driving east ahead of the 1972 election. He wants to cover the political situation and reflects on driving and parking in the nation’s capital. He describes its changing racial demographics and “recent rash of murders” (21) and other crimes. Thompson likes to be armed whenever possible and recruits an extra Doberman to protect his rented property in Washington. His arrival in the city passes unmentioned by Washington’s cultural elite. On the turnpike, he stops to help “two freaks.” He talks to the traveling hippies about selling cars across the nation, his upcoming assignment, and drugs. At a nearby diner, they smoke marijuana, and Thompson voices his opinion that almost all politicians are “swine.” He moves into his house near Rock Creek Park and, talking to fellow journalists, notes “a muted sense of desperation in Democratic ranks” (30) regarding the upcoming election.

After John F. Kennedy’s assassination, after Lydon Johnson’s decision not to run, after Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassinations, after the continuation of the Vietnam War, and after Richard Nixon’s victory in 1968 over Hubert Humphrey, Thompson senses pessimism among Democrats. He hates Nixon and fears the damage to “personal freedom and police power” (33) if the corrupt Nixon is reelected. Though not currently in the race, Teddy Kennedy (Robert and John’s brother) is expected to enter it. If he does, insiders suggest, he will win. As Thompson prepares to venture out to the Democratic primaries, he bemoans his tendency to veer off on tangents.

Among political journalists, discussions about the election often concern the youth vote, the “25 million or so new voters between 18 and 25” (36) who will be voting for the first time in 1972 and have the potential to drastically tip the scales against Nixon. According to Thompson, however, political experts in Washington (whom Thompson refers to as wizards) do not take this idea seriously. Thompson, dressed noticeably differently from other political journalists, attends a press conference held by the newly formed National Youth Caucus. When asked, the organizer offers to pledge support to whatever candidate takes the right positions. The only people truly invested in the election, Thompson notes, are the “actual participants” (39).

These participants include Humbert Humphrey (running again after losing to Nixon in 1968), South Dakota Senator George McGovern (the most progressive and Thompson’s evident choice), George Wallace (the Governor of Alabama), and Ed Muskie (the early favorite and Humphrey’s vice presidential nominee) as well as Gene McCarthy, John Lindsay, and Shirley Chisolm (an African American woman). Thompson still recalls the 1968 primaries and election, particularly the chaos of the Democratic National Convention. He laments supposed “Objective Journalism” (44) and resolves to offer nothing of the sort, tying his memories, emotions, and interactions with the politicians to his presentation of them. Regarding to the youth vote, Thompson notes how, in modern two-party American elections, either candidate can presume to get about 40% of the vote, even a “far-left radical” (45) like McGovern. Thompson fears that Humphrey will be the candidate again. He describes the tension between McCarthy and Muskie. In the early primary in New Hampshire, Muskie needs a resounding win over McGovern. Political experts have warned that the 1972 election will likely be a “historical curio” (52), looking toward the past rather than the future.

Thompson drives to New Hampshire in a rented car. He recalls a meeting with Richard Nixon during the previous election campaign. Since most political journalists are not as “seriously addicted to pro football” (56) as Thompson, Nixon’s aides plucked him from the press pack to discuss the topic with Nixon during a cab ride. Thompson recalls being impressed by Nixon’s comprehensive understanding of football and how the Secret Service intervened to prevent him from blowing up Nixon and others by dangling a lit cigarette near an airplane fuel tank. Thompson enjoyed his conversation with Nixon despite loathing his politics and persona. At the time, he recalls, Lyndon Johnson seemed just as invulnerable and as unlikely to lose the election as Nixon did in 1972.

On the drive to New Hampshire, Thompson picks up a young hitchhiker who is traveling to Greenville in search of a boyfriend who abandoned her in Boston. To Thompson, she seems “terrified of almost everything” (60) and deeply uninterested in politics. Earlier in the day, he attended a caucus to decide which of the primary’s left-leaning candidates to unify behind. Contrary to expectations, McGovern emerged victorious ahead of McCarthy. This is the first indication that the “surprisingly organized” McGovern campaign has strong grassroots support. When Frank Mankiewicz, McGovern’s political director, reveals that longtime McGovern ally Senator Harold Hughes has endorsed the moderate Muskie, the campaign is shaken but not ended. In a men’s room, Thompson grills McGovern about the incident, but McGovern says only that he is “surprised” (67).

Thompson is still unconvinced that McGovern can win the primary (much less the election), but he is convinced that McGovern has won a decisive victory over McCarthy. He notes the crowd’s enthusiastic response to McGovern announcing his support of amnesty, a proposal to offer presidential pardon to “all draft dodgers and US military deserters” (71). Most candidates will not endorse such a policy, though Nixon himself tacitly admitted that the war is “wrong” (71). McGovern and Kennedy are the only candidates in favor of amnesty. Thompson struggles to get excited for McGovern and looks forlornly to the future, when he imagines many others will feel a similar “apathy.” However, he praises McGovern’s tendency to give a “straight answer” when other candidates will not. This “masochistic kind of honesty” (79), Thompson suggests, may land McGovern in trouble.

Thompson reviews the Democratic party’s recent history. After John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon Johnson took over. He was elected as a peace candidate but did “a lot of rotten things” (81), which caused many people to lose respect for the presidency. Nixon followed, and Thompson attended the inauguration, which he viewed as one of the “the main downers of our time” (82). After New Hampshire, Thompson will travel to Florida. The press have Nixon and Muskie polling head to head, but Thompson is struck by Muskie’s unwillingness to commit to anything except whatever benefits him in the moment. Thompson reflects on the lack of exciting culture in Washington and on an NFL player accused of drug use while appearing in an antidrug campaign. The “wizards” of the political establishment expect Muskie to have the Democratic nation locked up when the primaries reach Wisconsin. Thompson feels depressed about the present and future of “politics and democracy in America” (90). Covering the campaign, he notes, is dull.