March 2020 Auction Ends Thursday, March 26th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/26/2020
Hunter S. Thompson typed letter signed ''HST'' in type, with Thompson circling his initials and also with his handwritten edits throughout. In this interesting letter published in ''Proud Highway'', Thompson writes to ''Seekoff'', his friend Paul Semonin on 9 June (1965) from San Francisco. He discusses protests on college campuses and a growing unease in the populace, with even Dr. Spock criticizing the Johnson administration on Vietnam. Letter reads in small part, ''...I have just finished the most biased, violent and wholly political piece I've ever written. For the Nation. [''The Non-Student Left'', published 27 September 1965.] If they run it I will be clamped for all time in the black (or Red) mold of the dirty outlaw...I am hysterical at the prospect of money and book publication, and will surely blow the whole thing, but right now it looks good. I am trying to play them off against each other, angling for immediate funds to solve my present rent crisis. Luckily, Sandy is still working and brings in the food and beer money. The big apple at the moment seems to be the Rum Diary, which I have to rewrite at least in part before any of these bastards will send me a cheque. But it is a wild feeling to have fatbellies actually seeking me out...If I had the novel in shape right now I could knock off a $1500 advance tomorrow. But, sadly, it is not good enough to send out. The next few weeks will be a hell of long hours and steady work. I have to punch while they're digging me...
I have spent the past two weeks doing a piece on the Non-student at Berkeley. It took me into the world you recommended last year, the hard-nose radicals, etc. I found them sympathetic but not impressive. My piece is not as mean as it should be, however, and for a bunch of 22 and 23 year old punks they are raising a good amount of hell over there. Some of them may last. I am coming around to a revised notion of this action of the Coast. It is amateurish, but hellishly persistent and not without guts. The Legislature is now organizing a full-scale investigation of Cal, to begin next yer, and that should bring the roof down. I may have to stay out there until Xmas or so, just to cover the action.
...the Establishment here is incredibly disorganized and bumbling. So far, the battles have all been lost, not won...I am also hooked up with the New Republic for a piece or two from here...As I said, the radicals can't write a fucking line. All the pros have been hired by the other side. When I read the radical stuff I suffer for them. If the fuckers could say what they really mean, without resorting to old cliches, they might be able to shake some people. As it is, the best thing to date on the 'New American Left' was in the Sat Eve-Post. Even the Berkeley boys agree. There is no money on the Left. That is one of the basic problems. At the Berkeley 'Vietnam Teach-In' the other day I finally had to leave because too many cups had been rattled under my nose. It gives the whole thing a Losers' smell.
Even so, I think we are getting some action here. Press coverage of Santo Domingo borders on anarchy and Vietnam is nearly the same. They are smoting Johnson hip, and thigh. His hired liars are being grilled mercilessly. Mavericks are popping up in strange places. the NYTimes afor all practical purposes queered the whole administration stance in the Domincan [sic]. The consensus is falling to pieces. I think you will find a different atmosphere than the one you left here. Dr. Spock, for instance, is traveling around the country berating our Vietnam policy. Mailer, at Berkeley, told a crowd of 10,000 that Johnson is insane, and they cheered wildly. Strange pollen is in the air. NY is where most of the talk is, but the action is busting out everywhere: Michigan, Yale, Mississippi, Chicago and even L.A. Things are happening, for good or ill...HST''. Two page letter on a single sheet measures 8.5'' x 11''. Shallow folds, overall near fine condition.
Hunter S. Thompson Letter With Handwritten Edits -- ''...There is no money on the Left. That is one of the basic problems...it gives the whole thing a Losers' smell...''
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