‘Fear and loathing’ began in Dallas

Bill Kelly points out that Hunter S. Thompson coined his immortal phrase “fear and loathing” on the day of JFK’s assassination. In three words, the gonzo journalist had captured a mood that would never go away.

In a letter to novelist William Kennedy, Thompson wrote,

I suppose you will say the rotten murder has no meaning for a true writer of fiction, and that the “real artist” in the “little magazines” are above such temporal things. I wish I could agree, but in fact I think what happened today is far more meaningful than the entire contents of the “little magazines” for the past 20 years. And the next 20, if we get that far.

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