Deep Throat Watergate Scandal

[Luke_Wilbur]

The identity of Deep Throat, the whistleblower who guided the Washington Post reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, as they uncovered the Watergate scandal, is described by THE TIMES as having been "one of the greatest political and journalistic mysteries of modern times". The extent of the coverage this morning of Mark Felt's confession that he was the source is testimony to our lasting fascination with the episode. THE TELEGRAPH says that, until now, Deep Throat was "the most famous anonymous person in American history". THE GUARDIAN admires the two reporters' long-standing determination not to name their source, and feels "a slight pang of disappointment" the mystery has been solved at last.

 

Sir Peter Ramsbotham's views are released under British secrecy rules as former FBI deputy head W. Mark Felt has revealed that he is "Deep Throat", the legendary source -- named after a popular **homework** film of the day -- who leaked the information that toppled the administration.

 

President Bush said on Wednesday the disclosure that the former No. 2 official at the FBI was Watergate's "Deep Throat" source caught him by surprise and he's anxious to learn more details about his relationship with the news media.

 

"It's hard for me to judge" whether former deputy FBI Director Mark Felt provided a valuable public service or acted improperly, Bush told reporters.

 

"I'm learning more about the situation," he said.

 

Felt's revelation that he was the source for The Washington Post's reporting that helped to bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon in the early 1970s "caught me by surprise," Bush said. "It's a brand new story for a lot of us who have been wondering for a long time who he was."

 

"For those of us who grew up -- got out of college in the late '60s -- the Watergate story was a relevant story. And a lot of us have always wondered who Deep Throat might have been. And the mystery was solved yesterday," said Bush, 58. "It's a brand new story."

 

"I'm looking forward to reading about it, reading about his relationship with the news media," Bush said.

[Guest TrueBrit]

Mark Felt, admitted that he harbored ambitions to be the FBI director -- not only at the time of Hoover's death but also in the spring of 1973, when Gray's nomination as permanent director failed to win confirmation and Nixon named William Ruckelshaus acting director.

 

Felt was known in Washington as a person willing to talk to the press. He has denied that he was Deep Throat. "I never leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein or to anyone else!" he wrote in his 1979 book. Felt retired from the FBI in 1973, not long after Ruckelshaus's appointment.

[Guest Barclay]

according to the Washington Times, is how Kessler relates the story of the Woodward-Felt lunch:

 

In the summer of 1999, [bob] Woodward showed up unexpectedly at the home of Felt's daughter, Joan, in Santa Rosa, California, north of San Francisco, and took him to lunch, Joan Felt, who was taking care of him at her home, told me.

 

She recalled that Woodward made his appearance just after a mini-controversy broke in the press late July 1999 about whether Bernstein had told his then-wife, Nora Ephron, that Felt was Deep Throat. Woodward had been interviewing former FBI officials for a book he was writing on Watergate.

 

However, now confused because of the effects of a stroke, Felt was in no shape to provide credible information. Joan said her father greeted Woodward like an old friend, and their mysterious meeting appeared to be more of a celebration than an interview, lending support to the notion that Felt was, in fact, Deep Throat.

 

"Woodward just showed up at the door and said he was in the area," Joan Felt said. "He came in a white limousine, which parked at a schoolyard about 10 blocks away. He walked to the house. He asked if it was OK to have a martini with my father at lunch, and I said it would be fine."

[Guest BlingBling]

Check out what Washingtonian magazine reported in August 1974:

 

################################

 

Felt was the number-two man in the FBI during the crucial Watergate period. During the FBI investigation, the agent-in-charge, Charles Nuzum, sent his findings to the head of the FBI's Investigative Division, Robert Gebhardt, who sent everything to the associate director, Mark Felt. Felt saw everything from the Investigative Division and from all other FBI divisions before it went to Pat Gray. From the break-in on June 17, 1972, until June 1973, when the FBI investigation was pretty well completed, Felt was the key control point for FBI information. Woodward, in All the President's Men, first mentions Deep Throat on page 72: "The man's position in the Executive Branch was extremely sensitive. He had never told Woodward anything that was incorrect. It was he who had advised Woodward on June 19 that Howard Hunt was definitely involved in Watergate." Felt was one of the few people anywhere in Washington who would have known that two days after the break-in.

[Guest eitherweb]

Now that Mark Felt has owned up to being Nixon nemesis Deep Throat, I hope the media tracks down Chase Culeman-Beckman.

[Guest Human]

The better question is; what are the long term ramifications for the F.B.I., and the Executive Branch in dealing with each other?

 

( Look!! if I were in the Executive Branch of the Government? I would be thinking to myself that hey!! look the Top FBI people cannot be trusted. To me this is a Major problem for the F.B.I. It sets both agencies against each other. To me what this spells out is that the Executive Branch will limit the F.B.I. in as to what type of information that they will be permitted to see.

 

I was hoping that It was a 5th or 6th tier employee that was disgruntled, and just wanted to get even, but 2nd in command of the F.B.I.? WOW!!!!)

[Guest eitherweb]

Doesn't the Director of National Intelligence now oversee the FBI?

[Natalia1974]

I think Linda Lovelace's performance was much more amusing.