Ralph Steadman’s fear and loathing of Richard Nixon

For Americans, British cartoonist Ralph Steadman is the gonzo artist sidekick to Hunter S. Thompson.

Steadman illlustrated all the "Fear and Loathing" books and his spatter-filled images, often sputtering with disgust, were a perfect visual match for Thompson's unconventional reporting style. 

But on the question of who was copying whom, Steadman is adamant. 

"He was copying me," says Steadman, who starts doing an impression of Hunter S. Thompson. "He said to me: 'Don't write Ralph. You'll bring shame on your famly.'"

With a slight chuckle Steadman says he believes Thompson was always a bit jealous of him but then adds, a bit wistfully, that his friend isn't here to defend himself. Thompson committed sucide in 2005. 

Now a new film has just opened that puts Steadman front and center. It's called "For No Good Reason" and is narrated by Johnny Depp, who starred in the film version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

The film is a paean to Steadman and his art.  Johnny Depp visits Steadman at his estate in England and observes him as he creates his surreal work in the equally surreal surroundings of his studio.  

Steadman's career has gone far beyond his work with Hunter S. Thompson. Over his 40-plus years as an artist, he's collaborated witih British authors like the poet Ted Hughes, illustrated children's books, designed postage stamps, and published numerous collections of drawings on topics as varied as wine, dogs, Leonardo de Vinci, and extinct birds.

But his time with Hunter S. Thompson and the political era they chronicled together, the 1970s, remains an enormous part of his life and memory. 

Ask him who his favorite American president is and he doesn't hesitate: Richard Nixon. But the relationship is complicated. Steadman loved to draw him but loathed him personally and politically. 

"The first drawing I did of Richard Nixon was a picture of him spitting into a microphone and his backside is Spiro Agnew. The vice president was Nixon's butt."

That was in 1968 and Steadman says he realized early on that he just naturally disliked the man.

"I've drawn a melting portrait of Nixon. I've drawn him offering a cyanide pill to Spiro Agnew. I've done him as a Christ figure. I've drawn him as every conceivable manifestation of man's imagination."

Steadman's early cartoons of Nixon were from a distance. But his adventures illustrating the "Fear and Loathing" books brought Steadman nose to nose with Nixon. A classic from that era is "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72." "[Nixon] was the best president for being introduced to American politics with," says Steadman.

Steadman started out as a 1960s idealist. He wanted to make the world a better place. But as heady 1960s morphed into the 1970s and he observed Nixon and the Watergate crisis up close, Steadman's faith in the political process was shattered. And he fought back with his art. 

"It's a kind of a weapon. I would never hit anybody," says Steadman. "And yet I feel that I want to do some damage to that person, in this case Nixon, who was a bad president."

A glance through Steadman's cartoons of Nixon from that time show the president usually as a giant head, the familiar ski jump nose, lids lowering over glowering eyes. His jaw is long and oval and he's never smiling but often shows lots of teeth.

One image shows an angry hunched over Nixon sitting in a chair. He's small, the chair is enormous. Another shows Nixon as a stick of dynamite and he's unwittingly about to light the fuse. 

Steadman believes art can sometimes say more than words and he cites the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

"He said the only thing of value is the thing you cannot say. Now if I tried to describe Nixon to you, I could talk about his physical traits. But drawing him and showing someone the picture expresses exactly what it is you want to convey." 

But is it art or journalism? Steadman says it's a bit of both.

"In drawing, you are drawing and searching. Now that to me is a kind of journalism. You're searching for the weak spots or the way you can express what it is you feel about that person."

Steadman never uses a pencil. He goes straight in with the pen. 

"You've got to carry on with that." He puts down his first mark, a splat of ink or a pen mark. "It splats somewhere and it's lovely." Steadman especially loves the blots. "The blots express a kind of dirt and that to me is good. When I came to America I was convinced because of Nixon that all politics was dirty." 

His drawings of subsequent American presidents betray a tad less fear and loathing but just as much biting satire.  A 1976 cartoon of Jimmy Carter is shown as an excited dog with a big toothy smile, wagging his tail and holding a stick in his mouth with the word "pardon" on it. 

Steadman is a Welshman and he relishes his outsider status when commenting on American politics. "I don't belong. I'm not part of the club and I can say what I want."