in the new issue of Vanity Fair apparently. FBI second in command at the time, W. Mark Felt, is the man in question.
I was too young to remember the events as they happened, though I do remember my mother having a furious disagreement with my grandfather about Nixon. I'm also a big fan of "All The President's Men" - sometimes I'll catch it on TV late at night and I find that I can never go to bed until it's over, even though I've seen it a million times and obviously know how it all turns out.
"Follow the money."
Watergate's Deep Throat unveiled
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Who Shot Sam?
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Watergate's Deep Throat unveiled
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... _2,00.html
May 31, 2005
W Mark Felt on US television in August 1976 (AP Photo)
'I was Deep Throat' says former FBI chief
By Jenny Booth, Times Online
The FBI’s former number two claims that he was the mystery Deep Throat source who helped bring down US president Richard Nixon.
W Mark Felt, 91, says in an interview with a lawyer published in Vanity Fair magazine: "I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat."
John O’Connor, a lawyer who wrote the article, said that Mr Felt had admitted to him and to his family that he was the source who leaked secrets about Nixon’s Watergate cover-up.
In 1999, Mr Felt denied that he was the mole within the White House. He now says that he used to think it was somehow dishonorable.
"I don't think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of," Mr Felt told his son, Mark Junior, at one point, according to the article. "You (should) not leak information to anyone."
Felt is living in retirement in Santa Rosa, California, with his daughter, Joan, the magazine said.
For a number of years only four people knew the identity of Deep Throat - reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who broke the Watergate story in The Washington Post , and their editor Ben Bradlee, plus Deep Throat himself.
The story of how they uncovered that the President - a Republican - had sanctioned the secret bugging of the Democrat party's headquarters was later turned into a book and an film, called All the President's Men.
The Felt family had no idea about Mr Felt's secret identity until 2002, when his close friend Yvette La Garde told Joan that he had confided to her that he had Mr Woodward's source, the magazine reports.
In statements released to CNN, both Mr Woodward and Mr Bernstein refused to corroborate or deny the claims.
"As in the past we are not going to say anything about this," Bernstein said. "We have said all along that when that person dies we will reveal his identity."
Felt initially denied it when confronted by his daughter, but when she explained La Garde’s disclosure, he reportedly replied: "Since that’s the case, well, yes I am."
Mr Felt, who was second in command at the FBI in the early 1970s, said he was "only doing his duty" and had not intended to bring Nixon down over the scandal concerning the cover-up of a 1972 break in at Democratic party offices in Washington.
He told his daughter Joan that he worried "what the judge would think" and feared a court may look down on his actions. Having learnt their father’s secret, Joan and her brother urged him to go public, explaining that they wanted his legacy to be heroic and permanent, not anonymous, and that perhaps he could profit from his revelations.
Joan recalls telling her father: "Bob Woodward’s gonna get all the glory for this, but we could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I’ve run up for the kids’ education. Let’s do it for the family."
Eventually, Mr Felt reportedly caved in and agreed to cooperate, but only with the assistance of Mr Woodward, now assistant managing editor at The Washington Post.
Both Joan and Mr O’Connor spoke to Mr Woodward by phone several times over a period of months about whether to make a joint revelation, according to Vanity Fair.
But Mr O’Connor claims that Mr Woodward was concerned that this was something being forced on Felt, and was not sure whether he was in a clear mental state.
The journalist turned up on Mr Felt’s doorstep and the pair went for lunch - a meeting that was followed by two conversations in recent years, his daughter claims.
"Dad’s memory gradually has deteriorated since the original lunch, (but) Dad remembered Bob whenever he called," she said.
She claims she told Mr Woodward how unusual it was for her father to remember someone so clearly, to which he responded: "He has good reason to remember me."
Joan said the journalist later scheduled and then cancelled two further meetings with her father.
Mr Felt’s son, Mark, said the decision to go to the press would have been painful and excruciating but his father would not have done it "if he didn’t feel it was the only way to get around the corruption in the White House and Justice Department."
He said he had been tortured inside, but would never show it. "He was not this Hal Holbrook (who played Deep Throat in All the President’s Men) character," he added. "He was not an edgy person. (Even though) it would be the most difficult decision of his life, he wouldn’t have pined over it."
Mr Felt is one of a number of people who have been named as over the years as the source whose disclosures helped to bring down the Nixon presidency, including former deputy White House counsel Fred Fielding, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and even former president George Bush Snr.
Others suspected at various times include Assistant Attorney General Henry Peterson, deputy White House counsel Fred Fielding, and even ABC newswoman Diane Sawyer, who then worked in the White House press office. Recent reports have suggested the source is close to death.
Vanity Fair said the Felt family had cooperated fully for the story, providing old photographs and agreeing to sit for portraits. The July edition of the magazine goes on sale in New York on June 8 and nationally June 14.
May 31, 2005
W Mark Felt on US television in August 1976 (AP Photo)
'I was Deep Throat' says former FBI chief
By Jenny Booth, Times Online
The FBI’s former number two claims that he was the mystery Deep Throat source who helped bring down US president Richard Nixon.
W Mark Felt, 91, says in an interview with a lawyer published in Vanity Fair magazine: "I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat."
John O’Connor, a lawyer who wrote the article, said that Mr Felt had admitted to him and to his family that he was the source who leaked secrets about Nixon’s Watergate cover-up.
In 1999, Mr Felt denied that he was the mole within the White House. He now says that he used to think it was somehow dishonorable.
"I don't think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of," Mr Felt told his son, Mark Junior, at one point, according to the article. "You (should) not leak information to anyone."
Felt is living in retirement in Santa Rosa, California, with his daughter, Joan, the magazine said.
For a number of years only four people knew the identity of Deep Throat - reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who broke the Watergate story in The Washington Post , and their editor Ben Bradlee, plus Deep Throat himself.
The story of how they uncovered that the President - a Republican - had sanctioned the secret bugging of the Democrat party's headquarters was later turned into a book and an film, called All the President's Men.
The Felt family had no idea about Mr Felt's secret identity until 2002, when his close friend Yvette La Garde told Joan that he had confided to her that he had Mr Woodward's source, the magazine reports.
In statements released to CNN, both Mr Woodward and Mr Bernstein refused to corroborate or deny the claims.
"As in the past we are not going to say anything about this," Bernstein said. "We have said all along that when that person dies we will reveal his identity."
Felt initially denied it when confronted by his daughter, but when she explained La Garde’s disclosure, he reportedly replied: "Since that’s the case, well, yes I am."
Mr Felt, who was second in command at the FBI in the early 1970s, said he was "only doing his duty" and had not intended to bring Nixon down over the scandal concerning the cover-up of a 1972 break in at Democratic party offices in Washington.
He told his daughter Joan that he worried "what the judge would think" and feared a court may look down on his actions. Having learnt their father’s secret, Joan and her brother urged him to go public, explaining that they wanted his legacy to be heroic and permanent, not anonymous, and that perhaps he could profit from his revelations.
Joan recalls telling her father: "Bob Woodward’s gonna get all the glory for this, but we could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I’ve run up for the kids’ education. Let’s do it for the family."
Eventually, Mr Felt reportedly caved in and agreed to cooperate, but only with the assistance of Mr Woodward, now assistant managing editor at The Washington Post.
Both Joan and Mr O’Connor spoke to Mr Woodward by phone several times over a period of months about whether to make a joint revelation, according to Vanity Fair.
But Mr O’Connor claims that Mr Woodward was concerned that this was something being forced on Felt, and was not sure whether he was in a clear mental state.
The journalist turned up on Mr Felt’s doorstep and the pair went for lunch - a meeting that was followed by two conversations in recent years, his daughter claims.
"Dad’s memory gradually has deteriorated since the original lunch, (but) Dad remembered Bob whenever he called," she said.
She claims she told Mr Woodward how unusual it was for her father to remember someone so clearly, to which he responded: "He has good reason to remember me."
Joan said the journalist later scheduled and then cancelled two further meetings with her father.
Mr Felt’s son, Mark, said the decision to go to the press would have been painful and excruciating but his father would not have done it "if he didn’t feel it was the only way to get around the corruption in the White House and Justice Department."
He said he had been tortured inside, but would never show it. "He was not this Hal Holbrook (who played Deep Throat in All the President’s Men) character," he added. "He was not an edgy person. (Even though) it would be the most difficult decision of his life, he wouldn’t have pined over it."
Mr Felt is one of a number of people who have been named as over the years as the source whose disclosures helped to bring down the Nixon presidency, including former deputy White House counsel Fred Fielding, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and even former president George Bush Snr.
Others suspected at various times include Assistant Attorney General Henry Peterson, deputy White House counsel Fred Fielding, and even ABC newswoman Diane Sawyer, who then worked in the White House press office. Recent reports have suggested the source is close to death.
Vanity Fair said the Felt family had cooperated fully for the story, providing old photographs and agreeing to sit for portraits. The July edition of the magazine goes on sale in New York on June 8 and nationally June 14.
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martinfoyle
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Woodward has confirmed it, as you probably know already. Just watched Brian Williams give the first 10 minutes of his news show over to this piece of Beltway gossip, slightly surreal.
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spooky girlfriend
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As a journalism major, I've been rather sidetracked today by this news. I was only in 3rd grade when this was actually happening, but I do remember that there were only three channels in Chattanooga at the time. All three major networks aired the hearings. All day. Every day. And it was summer. As a child, it was utterly boring.
As an adult, I had heard that they were going to wait until the source died to reveal the name. Guess not.
As an adult, I had heard that they were going to wait until the source died to reveal the name. Guess not.
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miss buenos aires
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I keep expecting Pat Buchanan to be struck with a lightening bolt from above - the things this man says are quite breathtaking - apparently it was Deep Throat who was the traitor and the sneak in the Watergate affair. hahahaha.
echos myron like a siren
with endurance like the liberty bell
and he tells you of the dreamers
but he's cracked up like the road
and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load
with endurance like the liberty bell
and he tells you of the dreamers
but he's cracked up like the road
and he'd like to lift us up, but we're a very heavy load
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Declanation
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Goody2Shoes
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oily slick
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i don't focus on any television news-related stuff, so i may be wrong, but it feels like it is landing with much more of a thud than i would have anticipated. it is either too early or too late, i don't know. felt has been the top candidate for a long time and though i haven't heard him speak, he just seems like a little old man, as he is. perhaps if this culminated during the reagan years it would have been more fun. there are a slew of people on the earth that wouldn't have a clue what this is even about and it seems that the media is having to work to get it up. it's not the topic of water cooler chatter around here. now if it was a looney runaway bride-to-be we might be fascinated.
I'm not concerned about the very poor.
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mood swung
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well, it never even made water cooler gossip here In Hell, OS.
we lived in D.C. (well, actually in a suburb called....Springfield!) when all this started hitting the fan. my dad worked for a congressman from CA, and we had passes to sit in the gallery and watch our Constitution At Work - which were of course revoked when the real fun began. But I was in 4th grade and spending most of my time in front of the TV watching the Brady Bunch, not the Nightly News.
My husband loved Nixon for saving him from the draft.
Goody is right. as usual.
we lived in D.C. (well, actually in a suburb called....Springfield!) when all this started hitting the fan. my dad worked for a congressman from CA, and we had passes to sit in the gallery and watch our Constitution At Work - which were of course revoked when the real fun began. But I was in 4th grade and spending most of my time in front of the TV watching the Brady Bunch, not the Nightly News.
My husband loved Nixon for saving him from the draft.
Goody is right. as usual.
Like me, the "g" is silent.
Its really sad how little my generation knows about all this. I'm a TA in a high school government class, and when the teacher asked who Deep Throat was, the only answer was a porn star. Of course, its hard for people to care what happened before they were even born, but still- its important history! Watergate was the zenith of investigative journalism! I'll be in DC later this week, I wonder how the politcal climate has shifted. If it has shifted... (besides that wiggy Buchannan, who is certifiably insane)
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selfmademug
