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Office Artifacts: William McKeen

COM journalism prof shares Hunter S. Thompson letter, more

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Shortly after William McKeen published his first biography of the famous gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, Hunter S. Thompson: A Critical Biography, he received a 17-page fax from his subject, who called him a “shit-eating freak” and warned him that “a bushy-haired stranger in a dimly-lit parking lot” might blind him.

“I could recognize his handwriting as the letter was coming through, and I thought, well, he’s got the book, let’s see what his response is,” says McKeen, a College of Communication professor of journalism and associate dean. “His assistant called me right away and she said, ‘You know that means he liked it, right?’ If he hadn’t liked it, he probably wouldn’t have written anything. He was one of those people who showed affection through abuse.”

McKeen has only one page of the obscenity-laced letter framed in his office, although the full version is printed in his 2008 book Outlaw Journalist: A Biography.