He Was A Crook: Hunter S. Thompson on the Death of Richard M. Nixon, 20 Years Ago Today

[WilliamPitt]

FROM: DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON
SUBJECT: THE DEATH OF RICHARD NIXON: NOTES ON THE PASSING OF AN AMERICAN MONSTER.... HE WAS A LIAR AND A QUITTER, AND HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN BURIED AT SEA.... BUT HE WAS, AFTER ALL, THE PRESIDENT.

"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."

---Revelation 18:2

(snip)

If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.

These are harsh words for a man only recently canonized by President Clinton and my old friend George McGovern -- but I have written worse things about Nixon, many times, and the record will show that I kicked him repeatedly long before he went down. I beat him like a mad dog with mange every time I got a chance, and I am proud of it. He was scum.

(snip)

Nixon's spirit will be with us for the rest of our lives -- whether you're me or Bill Clinton or you or Kurt Cobain or Bishop Tutu or Keith Richards or Amy Fisher or Boris Yeltsin's daughter or your fiancee's 16-year-old beer-drunk brother with his braided goatee and his whole life like a thundercloud out in front of him. This is not a generational thing. You don't even have to know who Richard Nixon was to be a victim of his ugly, Nazi spirit.

He has poisoned our water forever. Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man shitting in his own nest. But he also shit in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand. By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.

The rest: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a-crook/308699/

[The Magistrate]

1. An Old Favorite, Sir

That is how the thing is done....

[Gman]

2. I read this when it was first published

And read it every year. It gets better every time I read it.

And to think Nixxon was actually preferable to W. I wished for Nixxon many times in that 8 years. Something I never thought I'd do in 1973. That's how bad Bush was.

[1000words]

3. The biggest failure of the Boomers was not insisting he go to prison

A decision that helped create our current culture of criminality.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Eh?

"The Boomers" did not control Gerald Ford's decision-making process on the pardon, and they voted Ford out of office in 1976. History Fail, Blame Fail.

[1000words]

6. Fair enough ... "Boomers" is an inaccurate term.

The American people should have insisted Nixon be held accountable for his criminal actions, regardless of Ford, or anyone else.

[tosh]

9. We learned nothing

about holding ANYONE accountable for criminal actions.

We are no better today.

[eomer]

10. How exactly is that done?

Because I can think of some criminals who aren't dead that we can apply it to if you know how we do it.

[1000words]

13. There was still a formidable grassroots network in place at that time...

As fragmented and ego-driven as it had become, this should have been a unifying cause. Granted, it's difficult to rally a cause when all of your leaders have been rubbed out. But still, how many times are you going to have your boot on "The Man's" throat?

[m-lekktor]

4. love the steadman cartoon as well! lol

anyway, I can't believe it's been 20 years. I will never forget Bob Dole weeping at the funeral (watched it on CSPAN i think it was)

[colsohlibgal]

7. I Still Miss The Good Doctor

I reread his thoughts on Tricky Dick's death every time I need a laugh and a reminder on what a dark disturbed troll of a man Nixon was.

[mylye2222]

8. When I need a good anti-rw laugh, I browse YT for some Nixon tapes to listen!

[napkinz]

11. we are coming up on the 40th anniversary ...

[WillyT]

12. HUGE K & R !!!