Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72

Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 is a collection of articles covering the 1972 presidential campaign written by Hunter S. Thompson and illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The articles were first serialized in Rolling Stone magazine throughout 1972 and later released as a book in early 1973 (San Francisco, CA: Straight Arrow Books, 1973; London: Allison & Busby, 1973).

The book focuses almost exclusively on the Democratic Party's primaries and the breakdown of the party as it splits between the different candidates. Of particular focus is the manic maneuvering of the George McGovern campaign during the Miami convention as they sought to ensure the Democratic nomination despite attempts by the Hubert Humphrey campaign and other candidates to block McGovern.

Thompson began his coverage of the campaign in December 1971, just as the race toward the primaries was beginning, from a rented apartment in Washington, DC (a situation he compared to "living in an armed camp, a condition of constant fear"). Over the next 12 months, in voluminous detail, he covered every aspect of the campaign, from the smallest rally to the raucous conventions.

Because of the freewheeling nature of the campaign, a first-generation fax machine was procured at great expense by the magazine for Thompson. Dubbing it "the mojo wire", Thompson used the new technology to extend the writing process precariously close to printing deadlines, often haphazardly sending in notes mere hours before the magazine went to press. Fellow writers and editors would have to assemble the finished product with Thompson over the phone.

Like his earlier novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson employed a number of unique literary styles in On the Campaign Trail, including the use of vulgarity and the humorous exaggeration of events. Despite the unconventional style, the book is still considered a hallmark of campaign journalism and helped to launch Thompson's role as a popular political observer.