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Hunter S. Thompson typed letter signed ''Doctor Bloor'' in type, with Thompson circling his sobriquet and also handwriting some notes, including ''I was evicted again''. In this fascinating letter, dated March 16 (1964) from Glen Ellen, California, Thompson reports to his friend Paul Semonin - living in Ghana at the time, about the Sheraton Palace Hotel strike in San Francisco, Malcolm X, Fidel Castro, and ''phoney liberals'', concluding, ''By the time you get back to this country it will be a negro republic.'' Letter reads in part, ''Dear Mute: I have just had my first belly to belly encounter with your 'phoney liberals.' Both 'writers.' And sellers. In the end, one proved out to be an Eisenhower Republican and the other an out-right, fuck all Bircher. And I turned out to be a 'stinking, sleazy sellout to the Reds.' Anyway, it took me this long to understand the boys you were talking about. I think I should do more socializing...
You asked if I was prepared to defend Castro, and I wonder what you have in mind. Carry a picket sign? No thanks...And what do you think about Malcolm X breaking with Elijah and offering his 'rifles and shotguns' to the civil rights boys? I'd be curious to hear your comments on that.''
Thompson then reports on the Sheraton Palace Hotel strike, where thousands protested the San Francisco hotel's failure to hire African-Americans for anything but janitorial work. He writes, ''Out here the fat is in the fire. A bunch of wild-eyed young Marxists, most of them white and many of them members of W.E.B. DuBois clubs, have stolen a march on the NAACP and CORE and knocked the white power structure off balance with a series of violent, uncompromising demonstrations that threatened, for a while, to bring on race riots. It makes the Harlem rent strikers looks [sic] like pansies. One settlement (with the WPS) was reached at 4 p.m. because word got out that 800 longshoremen would march on the hotel (site of the action) at 4:30. From what I can learn, it's true. It would have been an old time picket-line battle. Most of your 'liberals' have ducked into the brush; others are howling for the cops and the national guard if necessary. This is what touched off my combat the other night [with the ''phoney liberals'']. I simply brought it up, and whammo! I sympathize with the 'activists', but they're exposing all their flanks & their only hope now is to retire with a small victory, and re-organize before pressing on. The politics of the negro sector is a fascinating business. It is just as mottled as the other side.
Anyway, I thought you'd like to know that while you're over there theorizing your people on this end have already hit the bricks. By the time you get back to this country it will be a negro republic. I honestly think the Establishment has got the fear. Charles McCabe, the Fearless Irishman, said in this column today that 'Johnson will never have any class.' I believe the foundations are going out. For the first time in several years, I am beginning to get nervous again about the bomb. There is mounting tension & the fatbellies cannot be counted on to keep their heads. Especially a man with no class...Doctor Bloor -- Dylan records coming''. Single page letter measures 8.5'' x 11''. Folds, else near fine condition.
Fascinating Hunter S. Thompson Letter From March 1964 Regarding the Sheraton Palace Hotel Strike, ''phoney liberals'' & More -- ''...I honestly think the Establishment has got the fear...''
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