HST

Remembering...

August 25, 2010

Dear Hank,

I was reading from The Great Shark Hunt, a compendium of articles written by Hunter S. Thompson. The guy has a way of making me laugh out loud and be awed by his mad genius.

The article I was reading dealt with Dick Nixon. At first, I thought Thompson and Tricky Dick were buddies because of the friendly almost loving way Hunter referred to the ex-President. Then things began to turn, what really bothered Thompson was the fact that he had not made Nixon’s famous Enemies List. Thompson wondered how he’d be able to show his face at a local bar once it turned out he was “not on the list.”

After all Thompson pointed out he was one of the first to call Nixon out, one of the first to kick him, and that he did while the guy was still up in the polls and proclaiming his innocence. Thompson pointed out that he, and he alone, had compared Nixon to Hitler; that, in and of itself, he reasoned should have put him on the list.

But then he pointed out, the list had been drawn up in 1971, and it wasn’t til ’72 that Thomson had really gotten going on old Tricky Dick. That and the fact that Ron Ziegler, Nixon’s press secretary, didn’t read Rolling Stone where Thomson had published most of his vindictive screeds.

He reviewed with a buddy how neither of them had made the list. His friend was quite upset and wanted to know what they were going to do. Thompson told him not to worry if and when the list was revised he assured his friend, “We’ll be there.”

Gotta go. Have a good trip,

Bryce