Editing Uncle Duke (section)

===1970s===
Since his first appearance in the strip, Duke has assumed many career hats, each more outlandish than the last. When first introduced, Duke was working as a writer under [[Jann Wenner]] for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine, much to Wenner's chagrin and aggravation over Duke's inability to meet deadlines and/or maintain coherence within the confines of his articles, which were often written with the aid of controlled substances.  His Hunter S. Thompson comparisons are fairly evident in this beginning, as the first strip to feature him has him drunk and high on tequila and coke, attempting to kill invisible bats with a ruler.

While still on the staff of ''Rolling Stone'', Duke applied for the position of [[List of governors of American Samoa|Governor of American Samoa]], and to his—and everyone else's—surprise, was actually appointed to the post by the [[United States Senate]].  Duke's tenure as governor was marked by a series of consecutive natural disasters, culminating in Duke himself instigating a hostage crisis.

Despite Duke's gross incompetence, he earned the favor of then-[[President of the United States|President]] [[Gerald Ford]] and was appointed as the [[United States Ambassador to China|United States Ambassador to the People's Republic of China]], a role for which Duke claimed to be perfectly suited due to his being "good with minorities". (In fact, the United States had no ambassador to mainland China at that time.)  His tenure was largely uneventful and mostly consisted of his abusing his authority for personal gain and wagering with other members of the diplomatic community (notably the British ambassador) over the purging of various Chinese officials. During his time in China, he was assisted by interpreter [[List of Doonesbury characters#Main characters|Honey Huan]], who developed an unrequited obsession with him, followed him to the US and became his much-abused sidekick for the next 30 years.

Recalled by the newly elected [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1977, Duke briefly worked as a [[Amygdalin#Laetrile|laetrile]] farmer before being appointed as the manager of the [[Washington Redskins]], ostensibly for his experience in "sports medicine" i.e. [[performance-enhancing drugs]]. After his activities were exposed by a concerned whistleblower, Duke fled Washington in a hail of bullets.