Claim: Hunter S. Thompson traveled to South America.

Hunter Stockton Thompson -LRB- July 18 , 1937 -- February 20 , 2005 -RRB- was an American journalist and author , and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement . Born in Louisville , Kentucky , to a middle-class family , Thompson had a turbulent youth after the death of his father left the family in poverty . He was unable to formally finish high school as he was incarcerated for 60 days after abetting a robbery . He subsequently joined the United States Air Force before moving into journalism . He traveled frequently , including stints in California , Puerto Rico , and Brazil , before settling in Aspen , Colorado , in the early 1960s .   Thompson became internationally known with the publication of Hell 's Angels : The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs -LRB- 1967 -RRB- . For his research on the book he had spent a year living and riding with the Angels , experiencing their lives and hearing their stories first-hand . Previously a relatively conventional journalist , with the publication in 1970 of The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved he became a counter cultural figure , with his own brand of New Journalism which he termed `` Gonzo '' , an experimental style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories . The work he remains best known for , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas : A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream -LRB- 1971 -RRB- , constitutes a rumination on the failure of the 1960s counterculture movement . It was first serialized in Rolling Stone , a magazine with which Thompson would be long associated , and was released as a film starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro and directed by Terry Gilliam in 1998 .   Politically minded , Thompson ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Pitkin County , Colorado , in 1970 , on the Freak Power ticket . He became well known for his inveterate hatred of Richard Nixon , who he claimed represented `` that dark , venal , and incurably violent side of the American character '' and whom he characterized in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ' 72 . Thompson 's output notably declined from the mid-1970s , as he struggled with the consequences of fame , and he complained that he could no longer merely report on events as he was too easily recognized . He was also known for his lifelong use of alcohol and illegal drugs , his love of firearms , and his iconoclastic contempt for authoritarianism . He remarked : `` I hate to advocate drugs , alcohol , violence , or insanity to anyone , but they 've always worked for me . ''   After a bout of health problems , Thompson committed suicide at the age of 67 . In accordance with his wishes , his ashes were fired out of a cannon in a ceremony funded by his friend Johnny Depp and attended by friends including then-Senator John Kerry and Jack Nicholson . Hari Kunzru wrote that `` the true voice of Thompson is revealed to be that of American moralist ... one who often makes himself ugly to expose the ugliness he sees around him . ''