Proud Highway:Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman (80 page)

June 3, 1964
Holiday Inn of Pierre
Pierre, South Dakota

Lyndon Johnon

The White House

Washington, D.C.

Dear Lyndon:

It is with great pleasure and a sense of impending achievement that I make myself available at this time for the governorship of American Samoa. Given a certain knowledge of the character of one Joe Benetiz, who previously occupied that position—and having no knowledge outside a good instinct concerning that person who holds it at present—I feel that my offer can only be rejected at our collective peril. In this I refer mainly to the American Samoans, but certain tangential effects necessitate the inclusion of the rest of us, as well.

My position at this time is in flux enough to allow my serious consideration of such a move. I am a roving correspondent for the
National Observer
, a sporadic contributor to
The Reporter
, and a fiction writer of no mean merit. All this, plus a general humanity and a good instinct for the openings, would seem to guarantee my candidacy beyond much doubt.

Beyond this, I have a need for an orderly existence in a pacific place, in order to complete a novel of overwhelming importance to the sanity of this era. This need alone should snap your mind into the proper orbit for the required action.

For the next ten days I will be in Pierre, Jackson Hole and Sun Valley. After that I can be reached at my home near San Francisco. In the meantime, I remain,

most sincerely,
Hunter S. Thompson

June 17, 1964
The White House
Washington

Mr. Hunter S. Thompson

Owl House

9400 Bennett Valley Road

Glen Ellen, California

Dear Mr. Thompson:

The President has received your recent letter and asked me to thank you for it.

He has noted your desire for an appointment to the Governorship of American Samoa and you may be sure you will be given every consideration.

Sincerely,
Larry O'Brien
Special Assistant to the
President

June 24, 1964
Glen Ellen, California

Dear Willie:

Here's ten for that silly phone call. I was hardly worth talking to and you should have refused it. I wouldn't have called collect except that my bill was already so high with the hotel that I feared my ability to pay if I loaded up a long call on it.

Your acceptance was christian, none the less. I've been putting off writing because I thought I had a New York trip coming up and I've been waiting for it to break, but I think it's out now. My friend McGarr, whom you may or may not have met, thought he had me a $6000 film-writing assignment for National Educational Television, whatever in hell that is. But the honcho is scared of me, although he dug my clips. Now there is only one chance in a thousand he'll relent and hire me instead of some hack. We've talked several times on the phone, but he's too nervous.

I just sent the
Observer
a $1654 bill for my expenses on the Montana trip.
²⁶
God knows what they'll do with it. They were figuring on about
$400, but the good-will aspect of the tour was more than they'd counted on. But not me. I knew what it was going to be. Unlimited free booze for six weeks for me and quite a few others. In six states. It was a whore of a trip and almost killed me. The Hemingway piece was the only one I still feel like claiming.
²⁷
That front-page monstrosity (upper left) sent me off in a rage. I called Candida Donadio at four in the morning and finished myself there; I was seeking a grant to go back into fiction, but she snapped and snarled like a bull-dyke dealing with a subway masher. Ugly.

Your comment about “regressing” stuck in my ears. I think part of the reason you feel that way is because you regressed geographically. I'd probably commit suicide if I found myself working back in Louisville. Even so, there is more to it than that. A journalistic retrogression can be a big step forward if you can get another prong going for you. That's what I'd like to do now, but my mind is blank for ideas. I couldn't possibly quit journalism, put in six penniless months on the novel, then start again on the old round of “Dear Sir, here is my novel, I hope you, etc.…” Those rat-bastards would drown me in no time. I am coming to view the free enterprise system as the greatest single evil in the history of human savagery. I am also beginning to believe Goldwater could win in '64. At heart, this is a sick and vicious country, hiding from itself behind a veil of romantic sentimentality. In order to see this you have to know the West, where the myth is still extant.
²⁸

Every Republican in the land should be horsewhipped—and every Democrat, too, for that matter. It is a horrible circus and I think LA must be the center ring. For that reason I believe I will move there and try to last a year. Then off again to the periphery, maybe then for good. We need a two-week session to loosen us up. Semonin will be back in New York in July and that will quicken my incentive for a trip. But the money problem remains. The
Observer
wants me out here and
The Reporter
don't dig me at all no more. Martin wrote and explained the score. Nobody likes me now except Max Ascoli, and I can't get to him. Like Philip Graham was my only contact in that other outfit. It's the old Air Force story: the sergeants are still fucking me. I just tried an end run and wrote Lyndon for a job as governor of American Samoa; Larry O'Brien wrote back saying I
would be given “every consideration.” I am going to press for it. If they'll consider Joe Benetiz, I should be a shoo-in.

Anyway, hold this check at least ten days. It won't be any good until they send my expense check. But don't hold it too long after that. I am going to have to buy another car to replace my dead Rambler, so get your ten before I wipe it all out again. And send a line. Right now I am stone broke and just sitting here, waiting for the check. If they reject my claim, I'm dead. I owe every human being I know, and quite a few I don't know. In all, I may be ready for a giant retrogression myself, but we'll have to talk first. Zingo—HST

June 25, 1964
Owl House
9400 Bennett Valley Rd.
Glen Ellen, California

Larry O'Brien

The White House

Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. O'Brien:

Many thanks for your letter of June 17. Immediately upon receipt of same, I went to Brooks Brothers and purchased several white linen suits and other equipment befitting the Governor of American Samoa.

When can we get with it? Does Lyndon realize the importance of timing in this thing? It would augur ill for a new governor to be appointed in the fall. I know the thinking of tropical peoples. They set much store by the season. A new governor should arrive when the feazlewood trees bloom, when the fish spawn, and when the sun goes orange on a flat line towards China in the evening sky. No other time would be suitable.

I am eager to be off. My wife is more eager than I, and my Doberman senses a big move in the offing. Haste will benefit us all, and especially the American Samoans. My arrival will have the greatest meaning for them; it will be the dawn of a new and more humane era.

Send word at once. Given the present situation in the Far East, a sane appointment in the Pacific might have all the force of a blockbuster in our foreign relations. A massive switch, as it were.

In expectation of an action-packed reply, I remain,

quite sincerely,
Hunter S. Thompson

Searching for a new outlet for his work, Thompson pitched a list of possible articles to
Pageant
magazine, a serious competitor to the
Reader's Digest—
and they paid well
.

June 25, 1964
Owl House
9400 Bennett Valley Rd.
Glen Ellen, California

Dear Mr. Sundell:

Thanks for your comments on my Hemingway piece in the
National Observer
. I just got back from six weeks up in that country, and did seven or eight more, but the one you saw had the odd luck to come through unedited, and thus is the only one of the lot I have any feeling for.

At any rate, I'd be happy to write a thing or two for you. Do you have anything in mind? My steady market is the
Observer
, with an occasional sale to
The Reporter;
that should give you an idea, although the
Observer
is just about as general as your book seems to be. In the main, I like the offbeat stuff, the “negro problem,” Latin America (I was the
Observer
's man in Rio for a year or so), and anything dealing with writers, writing and contemporary fiction. I do a lot of book reviews for the
Observer
, but people keep writing from places like St. Petersburg, saying I gave them a bum steer on books like J. P. Donleavy's
Singular Man
, to mention the worst offender to date. The senior citizens didn't dig that one at all.

This is what I have cooking at the moment

1) A piece on the horrors of a Tijuana abortion. In California, it's either that or some dirty table in a midnight suburban kitchen. So far I have four first-hand accounts. The idea of the piece is to shock people into thinking about making abortion legal, but I somehow doubt the
Observer
will go for it.

2) A piece on race relations in “the Paris of the West,” as Gene Burdick calls it. I haven't decided how to slant this one yet; I have two queries out on it, but yell if it interests you, and how.

3) Some sort of profile on Los Angeles, in light of the new apportionment decision. What is L.A.? I'm curious.

4) A piece on “the untenable position of the white liberal if negro militants continue to gain power in ‘the movement.' ” This began as an idea for a seminar at Hot Springs Lodge in Big Sur, where topics like this are bandied about on summer weekends by big names. Mike Murphy, who runs the place, is an old friend (I used to live there), and he thinks we'll need some guaranteed prestige publicity in order to attract the people who would make such a seminar newsworthy, Maybe so. I'm thinking in
terms of Dick Gregory, Norman Mailer, Modeling Carter, Paul Jacobs, Ralph Gleason, Charles Mingus, and one or two of California's young black socialists. This would take weeks to organize and would cost you a hell of a lot more than that $300 “average fee” you mention in the
Writer's Digest
.

5) I'm also thinking of a trip to Mississippi this summer, but as yet I haven't talked to the
Observer
about it. By the time you get this I'll know their thinking, so let me know if it interests you.

6) I'm also trying to find an excuse for a trip to New York in July. If you can think of a piece I might apply my touch to, I'm agreeable to almost anything. As a matter of fact that's the way I usually work with the
Observer
. I pick a place, make a few suggestions, then zoom in with an open mind and a good eye. One that has always interested me on New York is “The Girl Who Didn't Make It.” I used to live there and I know a few. They come for the glamorous job, the hotshot husband, the light fantastic and all that sort of thing—and only a few of them make it. Where do the others go? I have a head start on that one, but it would take a week or two of research to get it done. Let me know on this.

That should do for now. Your letter was a bit of a surprise, by the way. I've never paid much attention to
Pageant
, mainly because of the name and the housewifey covers, I guess, but the inside sort of surprised me. Especially the publetter calling for a new look at Red China. Anyway, give me a ring if you think we should talk. Thanks.

Hunter S. Thompson

Novelist Murphy and Thompson were considering holding a seminar at Big Sur's Esalen Institute on “White Liberalism and Black Militarism.” Race relations was the subject of the day: on July 2 President Johnson had signed the most sweeping civil rights legislation in the history of the nation
.

July 8, 1964
9400 Bennett Valley Rd.
Glen Ellen, California

Dear Mike:

Seems the only way I can say anything sane and sober to you is by mail, and so be it; that's par for my course. I'll be down again when I regain my health, and midweek next time, so maybe we can talk. In the meanwhile, consider what we talked about last time.

To wit: A seminar on the position of the White Liberal in the event that negro “militants” gain a dominant voice in the “civil rights” movement. (The reason for my quote marks is too complex to explain right now.) The subtitles would be full of meat: 1) Are negro militants really racists? Or, what is the difference between Malcolm X and Dick Gregory? 2) What is a white “liberal”? (Clare Boothe Luce said yesterday: “I'm still a Liberal, but I agree with Senator Goldwater on everything except civil rights.” Yeah.) 3) In the event of the various “conflicts” predicted by civil rights leaders if Goldwater is nominated and the civil rights bill proves toothless in their eyes, whose side is the “white liberal” on? Or, as Charley Mingus said to Ralph Gleason, “Man, you gotta know where you stand when the fighting starts in the streets.” Or Louis Lomax
²⁹
when he talks about the coming “night of the long knives.” Which way do I point my .44 Magnum if both sides think I'm against them? (For others, that question might have to be paraphrased to some extent, but the meaning is the same.)

I've given it a lot of thought, but I haven't got moving due to a great backlog of
Observer
stuff and these godawful binges in Big Sur. I wouldn't want to do it for the
Observer
because I think it deserves more space than they could give it and I'm not sure that audience is exactly what we'd need to attract the sort of talent that would give the seminar real meaning. But selling the article is my problem; setting up the seminar would be your end.