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Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to Deputy Director of the FBI William Mark Felt, Sr., who was the secret source who leaked information about the involvement of U.S. President Richard Nixon's administration during the first Watergate break-in and subsequent events that came to be known as the Watergate scandal. Deep Throat may refer to: Deep Throat (film), a 1972 pornographic movie Deep throat (sexual act), a sexual act, a type of fellatio depicted in the movie Deep Throat (Watergate), the name given to the source in the Washington Post investigation of the Watergate scandal, revealed on May 31, 2005... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... A pseudonym (Greek: , pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons legal name. ... The Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (or Associate Director) is a senior United States Government position in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ... W. Mark Felt on the set of CBSs Face the Nation in 1976. ... The protection of sources, sometimes also referred to as the confidentiality of sources, is a right accorded to journalists under the laws of many countries, as well as under international law. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... The Watergate burglaries, which took place on May 28 and June 17, 1972, have been cited in testimony, media accounts, and popular works on Watergate as the pivotal event that led ultimately to the Watergate Scandal. ... Watergate redirects here. ...

Deep Throat was an important source for Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who together wrote a series of articles on the scandal that played a decisive role in exposing the misdeeds of the Nixon administration. The scandal would eventually lead to the resignation of President Nixon as well as prison terms for White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, G. Gordon Liddy, Egil Krogh, chief counsel Charles Colson, and presidential adviser John Ehrlichman. The Washington Post is the largest newspaper in Washington, D.C.. It is also one of the citys oldest papers, having been founded in 1877. ... Bob Woodward signs his book State of Denial after a talk in March 2007. ... Carl Bernstein (left) and Bob Woodward (right)This image is pending deletion. ... Joshua B. Bolten, the current White House Chief of Staff. ... Harry Robbins Haldeman (publicly known as H. R. Haldeman, and informally as Bob Haldeman) (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was a U.S. political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and for his role in events leading... George Gordon Battle Liddy (born November 30, 1930) was the chief operative for U.S. President Richard Nixons White House Plumbers unit. ... Egil Krogh (far right) during Elvis Presleys visit with Nixon on December 21, 1970. ... Charles Wendell Chuck Colson (born October 16, 1931) was the chief counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 and was one of the Watergate Seven, jailed for Watergate-related charges. ... John D. Ehrlichman as Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, May 13, 1969. ...

Howard Simons, the managing editor of the Washington Post at the time, dubbed the secret informant "Deep Throat" as an allusion to the notorious pornographic movie of the same name. The name was also a play on the journalism term "deep background," referring to information provided by a secret source that, by agreement, will not be reported directly. "Deep Throat" came to public attention when Woodward and Bernstein wrote All the President's Men, a book also made into an Academy Award-winning movie. In the movie, Deep Throat was portrayed by Hal Holbrook. This page is about the Washington Post editor. ... Deep Throat is an American pornographic movie released in the summer of 1972, written and directed by Gerard Damiano and starring Linda Lovelace (the pseudonym of Linda Susan Boreman). ... In journalism, background is a term used by some journalists to describe a communication between a source and a journalist, where the journalist does not identify the source, but repeats the information the source has provided. ... All the Presidents Men is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two journalists investigating the Watergate first break-in and ensuing Watergate scandal for the Washington Post. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... This article is about the 1976 film. ... Harold Rowe Holbrook, Jr. ...

For more than 30 years, the identity of Deep Throat was one of the biggest mysteries of American politics and journalism, the source of much public curiosity and speculation. Woodward and Bernstein insisted they would not reveal his identity until he died or consented to have his identity revealed. On May 31, 2005, after W. Mark Felt revealed himself in a Vanity Fair magazine article, Woodward, Bernstein, and former Post executive editor Ben Bradlee confirmed that Felt was the source they called "Deep Throat." The Federal Government of the United States was established by the United States politics is dominated by the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. ... Journalism is a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. ... is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... W. Mark Felt on the set of CBSs Face the Nation in 1976. ... American actress Demi Moore, on a typical Vanity Fair cover (August, 1991) Vanity Fair is a glossy American glamour magazine monthly that offers a mixture of articles based on sensational exaggerations, jet-set and entertainment-business personalities, politics, and lies. ... Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (born August 26, 1921) is the vice president of The Washington Post. ...

Role in Watergate

Main article: Watergate scandal

On 17 June 1972 at 2:31 AM, five men were arrested by police on the sixth floor of the Watergate Hotel building in Washington, D.C., inside the offices of the Democratic National Committee. Police had arrived on the scene after being alerted by Frank Wills, a security guard, who noticed that a door leading into the hotel had been taped open. Watergate redirects here. ... is the 168th day of the year (169th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The Watergate Hotel is a luxury hotel in northwest Washington, D.C., best known for being at the site of burglaries that led to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. ... For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ... Former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean is the current Chairman of the DNC. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal campaign and fund-raising organization affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. ... Frank Wills (February 4, 1948 – September 27, 2000) was the security guard who uncovered the break in that led to the Watergate scandal. ...

The situation was unusual in that the five burglars had $2,300 in hundred-dollar bills with serial numbers in sequence, some lock-picks and door-jimmies, a walkie-talkie, a radio scanner capable of listening to police frequencies, two cameras, 40 rolls of unused film, tear-gas guns, and sophisticated devices capable of recording all conversations that might be held in the offices. The U.S. hundred dollar bill ($100) is a denomination of United States currency. ...

At least one of the men was a former Central Intelligence Agency employee. This person, Jim McCord, Jr., was at the time of his arrest a security man for President Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President (also known by its acronym, "CREEP", among Nixon's political opponents). Notebooks were found on two of the men containing the telephone number of E. Howard Hunt, whose name in the notebooks was accompanied by the inscriptions “W House” and “W.H.” “CIA” redirects here. ... James W. McCord, Jr. ... The Committee to Re-elect the President, often abbreviated to CRP or CREEP (which was also the way it was pronounced), was a Nixon White House fund-raising organization headed by John N. Mitchell, who had previously served as United States Attorney General. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ... Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. ...

The scandal immediately attracted some media scrutiny. A protracted period of clue-searching and trail-following then ensued, with reporters and eventually the United States Senate and the judicial system probing to see how far up the Executive branch of government the Watergate scandal, as it had come to be known, extended. Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States... In political science and constitutional law, the executive is the branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management of the state. ...

A pair of young Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, wrote the coverage of the story over a period of two years. The scandal eventually was shown to involve a variety of legal violations, and it implicated many members of the Nixon White House. With increasing pressure from the courts and the Senate, President Nixon eventually became the first and only U.S. President to resign in disgrace, narrowly avoiding impeachment by the House of Representatives. Depiction of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, then President of the United States, in 1868. ... Type Bicameral Speaker of the House of Representatives House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Steny Hoyer, (D) since January 4, 2007 House Minority Leader John Boehner, (R) since January 4, 2007 Members 435 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party...

Woodward and Bernstein's stories contained information that was remarkably similar to the information uncovered by FBI investigators. This was a journalistic advantage not enjoyed by any other journalists at the time. In their later book, All the President's Men, Woodward and Bernstein claimed this information came from a single anonymous informant dubbed "Deep Throat". It was later revealed, and confirmed by Woodward and Bernstein, that Deep Throat was FBI Deputy Director Mark W. Felt. Woodward had befriended Felt years earlier, and had consulted with him on stories before the Watergate scandal. Woodward, Bernstein, and others credit the information provided by Deep Throat with being instrumental in ensuring the success of the investigation into the Watergate Scandal. William Mark Felt, Sr. ...

Secrecy was key

Woodward, in All the President's Men, first mentions Deep Throat on page 71. He describes him as "a source in the Executive Branch who had access to information at CRP as well as at the White House." The book also calls him "an incurable gossip", "in a unique position to observe the Executive Branch," and a man "whose fight had been worn out in too many battles." All the Presidents Men is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two journalists investigating the Watergate first break-in and ensuing Watergate scandal for the Washington Post. ...

Woodward claimed that he would signal "Deep Throat" that he desired a meeting by moving a flowerpot with a red flag on the balcony of his apartment. When Deep Throat wanted a meeting he would make special marks on page twenty of Woodward's copy of The New York Times; he would circle the page number and draw clock hands to indicate the hour. They often met "on the bottom level of an underground garage just over the Key Bridge in Rosslyn," at 2:00 a.m. The garage is located at 1401 Wilson Boulevard. The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... A multi-storey car park is a building or part thereof which is designed specifically to be for vehicle parking and where there are a number of floors on which parking takes place. ... The Francis Scott Key Bridge, or, more commonly, the Key Bridge, is a reinforced concrete arch bridge conveying U.S. Highway 29 traffic across the Potomac River between the Rosslyn section of Arlington County, Virginia, and the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. It was built by the U.S... The skyscrapers of Rosslyn as seen behind The Pentagon. ...

Many were dubious of these cloak and dagger methods. Adrian Havill investigated these claims for his 1993 biography of Woodward and Bernstein and found them to be factually impossible. He noted that Woodward's apartment 617 at 1718 P Street, Northwest, in Washington faced an interior courtyard and was not visible from the street. Havill said anyone regularly checking the balcony, as "Deep Throat" was said to have done daily, would have been spotted. Havill also said that copies of The Times were not delivered to individual apartments but delivered in an un-addressed stack at the building's reception desk. There would have been no way to know which copy was intended for Woodward. Woodward, however, has since claimed that in the early 1970s the interior courtyard was an alleyway and had not yet been bricked off, and that his balcony was visible from street level to passing pedestrians. It was also visible, Woodward conjectured, to anyone from the FBI in surveillance of nearby embassies. Also revealed was the fact that Woodward's copy of the New York Times had his apartment number indicated on it. Former neighbour Herman Knippenberg stated that Woodward would sometimes come to his door looking for his marked copy of the Times, claiming "I like to have it in mint condition and I like to have my own copy." [1] For general cloak and dagger activities, see espionage and assassination. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Further, while Woodward in his book stressed these precautions, he also admits to calling "Deep Throat" on the telephone at his home.

Motives

In public statements following the disclosure of his identity, Felt's family called him an "American hero," stating that he leaked information about the Watergate scandal to the Washington Post for moral and patriotic reasons. This view has been echoed by many commentators and historians who feel that Felt's contributions were vital in exposing the illegal actions and cover-ups of the Nixon White House. (A similar view agrees, but criticizes Felt for his lack of courage — not coming forward himself.)

Some other commentators, however, have suggested that Felt bore a personal animosity for having been passed over for the position as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following J. Edgar Hoover's death. Thus suggesting Felt used the Watergate scandal in an effort to gain the position he felt he deserved (Director of the FBI). F.B.I. and FBI redirect here. ... John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an influential but controversial Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ...

Still others have claimed that Felt acted mainly out of institutional loyalty to the FBI, whose independence many believed had been constrained by the Nixon administration.

Some conservatives who worked for Nixon such as Patrick Buchanan and G. Gordon Liddy and so-called "Neo-cons" castigated Felt and asserted their belief that Nixon was unfairly hounded from office.^[1] Patrick Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan (born November 2, 1938), usually known as Pat Buchanan, is an American conservative journalist and a well known television political commentator. ... George Gordon Battle Liddy (born November 30, 1930) was the chief operative for U.S. President Richard Nixons White House Plumbers unit. ...

Hints to his identity

According to Woodward in his book, The Secret Man, released in July 2005, "Deep Throat"'s identity was known only to seven people: "Deep Throat" himself, Bob Woodward, Woodward's wife Elsa Walsh, Carl Bernstein, their editor Benjamin C. Bradlee, his successor Leonard Downie Jr., and by a perspicacious Assistant US Attorney General named Stanley Pottinger. Woodward said in repeated interviews that the identity of Felt would be kept confidential until Deep Throat died or agreed to let his real name be made public. Plans, however, fell apart, and Woodward revealed in The Secret Man that during a 1976 grand jury appearance over break-ins that Felt ordered, a grand juror asked Felt, "Were you Deep Throat?" Felt "seemed to go white" and answered no. Pottinger, present at the questioning, requested the stenographer stop typing and then whispered to Felt: Bob Woodward signs his book State of Denial after a talk in March 2007. ... Carl Bernstein (left) and Bob Woodward (right)This image is pending deletion. ... Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (born August 26, 1921) is the vice president of The Washington Post. ... Leonard M. Len Downie, Jr. ... Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice are headed by an Assistant Attorney General. ...

"You are under oath so you have to answer truthfully. On the other hand, I consider the question to be outside the bounds of our official investigation, so if you prefer, I'll withdraw the question. What would you like me to do?" Felt had the question withdrawn. At a lunch meeting with Woodward, Pottinger recounted his uncloaking to an astonished Woodward.

In the years prior to Felt's disclosure, there was much speculation about the identity of Deep Throat. Woodward would only confirm that Deep Throat was a specific man (and not a woman) in Nixon's administration — not a composite of several secret informants — and who smoked heavily and liked drinking scotch. Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland. ...

Woodward gave specific denials to six other possibilities, at the request of those people:

• General Alexander Haig
• Earl Silbert
• John Sears
• Diane Sawyer
• Cord Meyer Jr. (a CIA official)
• William Colby (the CIA director)

For other persons named Alexander Haig, see Alexander Haig (disambiguation). ... Earl Silbert was at one time thought to be Deep Throat. ... John Patrick Sears is a Republican political strategist, best known for three things: Being Richard Nixons campaign manager in 1972, Managing Ronald Reagans presidential bid, prior to being fired by Reagan and replaced by William Casey on the day he won the New Hampshire primary in 1980. ... Diane Sawyer is a television journalist for the U.S. network ABC News and co-anchor of ABCs Good Morning America, along with with Robin Roberts. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... “CIA” redirects here. ... William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996) became Director of Central Intelligence on September 4, 1973, after James R. Schlesinger. ... “CIA” redirects here. ...

Criticism

Following the disclosure in May 2005 of Felt's identity, Slate writer Tim Noah claimed in a column that some of Woodward's characterizations, including the claim that Deep Throat was a heavy smoker, were misleading. Woodward in The Secret Man, however, said that Felt as he knew him was a heavy smoker, and speculates that the pressures on Felt had caused him to revert to heavy smoking habits. For other uses, see Slate (disambiguation). ...

In his 1979 book, Felt wrote "I never leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein or to anyone else!" [2] [3]

Deep Throat revealed

Although confirmation of Deep Throat's identity remained elusive for over 30 years, there were a few suspicions that Felt was indeed the reporters' elusive source long before the public acknowledgement in 2005.

• Richard Nixon himself believed that Felt might be Deep Throat but did not try to oust him. His stated rationale for this was that if he had done so, Felt would have publicly revealed information damaging to the FBI, and to other powerful people and institutions. Nixon at the time stated Felt "knows everything there is to know in the FBI." Nixon's motives in not ousting Felt may not have been entirely altruistic. There is little doubt that the man who would have been most damaged, had Felt publicly revealed all that he knew, would have been Richard M. Nixon himself.

• Carl Bernstein did not even share Deep Throat's identity with his immediate family, which included his wife Nora Ephron. (As he said on NBC's Today Show on June 2, 2005, "I was never dumb enough to tell [Ephron]." She said, "...which was very smart because I would have told the whole world by now.") Ephron became obsessed with figuring out the secret and eventually correctly concluded it was Mark Felt. [4] In 1999, a 19-year-old college freshman, Chase Culeman-Beckman, claimed to have been told by Bernstein's son that Felt was "Deep Throat." According to Culeman-Beckman, Jacob Bernstein had said that he was "100 percent sure that Deep Throat was Mark Felt. He's someone in the FBI." Jacob had reportedly said this approximately 11 years prior, when he and Culeman-Beckman were classmates. Ephron explained that their son overheard her "speculations," and Carl Bernstein himself also immediately stepped forward to refute the claim, but many did not believe these claims.
• Bruce Porter Roberts, in his 1975 memoir, The Gemstone Files, pointed to Felt as Deep Throat.
• James Mann, who had worked at the Post at the time of Watergate and was close to the investigation, brought a great deal of evidence together in a 1992 article in The Atlantic Monthly that fingered Felt and convinced many. He argued that the information that "Deep Throat" gave Woodward could only have come from FBI files. Felt was also embittered at having been passed over for Director of the FBI and believed that the FBI in general was hostile to the Nixon Administration. In previous unrelated articles, Woodward had made clear he had a highly placed source at the FBI, and there is some evidence he was friends with Felt.
• Woodward has kept in close touch with Felt over the years, even showing up unexpectedly at his house in 1999, after Felt's dementia began, and at the home of Felt's daughter, Joan, in Santa Rosa, California, as well. Some suspected at that time that Woodward might be asking Felt if he could reveal him to be Deep Throat, though Felt, when asked directly by others, had consistently denied being "Deep Throat."
• In 2002, Timothy Noah called Felt "the best guess going about the identity of Deep Throat."[5]

In February 2005, Nixon's former White House Counsel, news columnist John Dean, reported that Woodward had recently informed Bradlee that "Deep Throat" was ailing and close to death, and that Bradlee had written "Deep Throat"'s obituary. Both Woodward and the then-current editor of The Washington Post, Leonard Downie, denied these claims. Felt was something of a suspect, especially after the mysterious meeting that occurred between Woodward and Felt in the summer of 1999. But others had received more attention over the years, such as Pat Buchanan, Henry Kissinger, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist, General Haig, and, before it was revealed that "Deep Throat" was definitely not female, Diane Sawyer. Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Nora Ephron Nora Ephron (born May 19, 1941 in New York City, New York) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and novelist. ... is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alternate uses: Student (disambiguation) Etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stŭdērĕ, which means to study, a student is one who studies. ... Bruce Porter Roberts (born New York State, October 27, 1919; died San Francisco, California, July 16, 1976) was an American writer best known as the creator of the Gemstone File, a series of widely-circulated documents that argued in favor of many conspiracy theories. ... As a literary genre, a memoir (from the French: mémoire from the Latin memoria, meaning memory) forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ... The Gemstone File is a document often classified as a conspiracy theory. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... The Atlantic redirects here; for the ocean, see Atlantic Ocean. ... For other uses, see Dementia (disambiguation). ... Location in Sonoma County and the state of California Country State County Sonoma Area  - City 40. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Timothy Noah is a senior writer for Slate Magazine, where he writes the Chatterbox column. ... February 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → Pope John Paul II is taken to a hospital suffering from a serious case of influenza. ... The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States. ... John Dean, May 7, 1972. ... Leonard M. Len Downie, Jr. ... Patrick Joseph Buchanan (born November 2, 1938) is an American politician, author, syndicated columnist, and broadcaster. ... Henry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Diane Sawyer is a television journalist for the U.S. network ABC News and co-anchor of ABCs Good Morning America, along with with Robin Roberts. ...

On May 31, 2005, Vanity Fair magazine reported that William Mark Felt, then aged 91, claimed to be the man once known as "Deep Throat." Later that day, Woodward, Bernstein, and Bradlee released a statement through The Washington Post confirming that the story was true, finally bringing to rest the most enduring mystery in modern American politics. is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On June 2, 2005, the Washington Post ran a lengthy front-page article by Woodward in which he detailed his friendship with Felt in the years before Watergate. Woodward wrote that he first met Felt by chance in 1970, when Woodward was a Navy lieutenant in his mid-twenties who was dispatched to deliver a package to the White House's West Wing. Felt arrived soon after, for a separate appointment, and sat next to Woodward in the waiting room. Woodward struck up a conversation, eventually learning of Felt's high position in the FBI. Woodward, who was about to get out of the Navy at the time and was unsure about his future direction in life, became determined to use Felt as a mentor and career advisor, and so he got Felt's phone number and kept in touch with him. is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that Maître à penser be merged into this article or section. ...

After deciding to try a career as a reporter, Woodward eventually joined the Washington Post in August, 1971. Felt, who Woodward writes had long had a dim view of the Nixon Administration, began passing pieces of information to Woodward, although he insisted that Woodward keep the FBI and Justice Department out of anything he wrote based on the information. The first time Woodward used information from Felt in a Washington Post story was in mid-May of 1972, a month before the Watergate burglary, when Woodward was investigating the man who had attempted to assassinate Presidential candidate George C. Wallace of Alabama. Nixon had put Felt in charge of investigating the would-be assassin as well. A month later, just days after the Watergate break-in, Woodward would call Felt at his office, marking the first time Woodward spoke with Felt about Watergate. Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... George Corley Wallace (August 25, 1919–September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was elected Governor of Alabama (as a Democrat) four times (1962, 1970, 1974 and 1982) and ran for U.S. President (in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976). ...

Commenting on Felt's motivations for serving as his "Deep Throat" source, Woodward wrote, "Felt believed he was protecting the bureau by finding a way, clandestine as it was, to push some of the information from the FBI interviews and files out to the public, to help build public and political pressure to make Nixon and his people answerable. He had nothing but contempt for the Nixon White House and their efforts to manipulate the Bureau for political reasons."

In 1980, Felt himself was convicted of ordering illegal break-ins at the homes of Weathermen suspects, and their families. Richard Nixon testified on his behalf. President Ronald Reagan pardoned Felt, and the conviction subsequently expunged from the record. John Jacobs and Terry Robbins at the Days of Rage, Chicago, October 1969 (Photo credit: David Fenton; publicity photo for film Weather Underground) Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization, was a U.S. Radical Left organization consisting of splintered-off members and leaders of...

Composite character theory

Although speculation always tended to focus on identifying "Deep Throat" as an individual, it was periodically suggested that the famous source was actually a composite character combining information the reporters obtained from several sources. When various accounts tried to identify the source based on the information provided by Woodward and Bernstein, they generally also sought to rebut alternative theories. The resulting evidence against each candidate suggested that either the reporters' tale was inconsistent, or that no single person fit the facts. Some analysts believed that the "Deep Throat" character was primarily a dramatic device used by the reporters to liven up their book's narrative. This comment was supported by both John Erlichman and Len Garment in a 1994 oral history of Nixon's Presidency.^[2] Before his admission, on previous occasions Felt himself had said he thought the character was likely a composite. It should be noted in this regard that the only person who knows the full "truth" of Deep Throat's identity is Woodward, since it was Woodward who identified Deep Throat to Bernstein, Bradlee et al.

Also, the agent who originally marketed the draft for All the President's Men publicly claimed that the initial typescript of the book contained absolutely no reference to Deep Throat. That led to speculation that Woodward and Bernstein played at condensing history in the same way Hollywood scriptwriters do: the writer sees that the real life hero doing the Great Deed had a dozen helpers, boils them down to a single person, and gives him a fictional name. In that reading, Mark Felt, a forgotten man whose life was wasted serving J. Edgar Hoover's whims, might remember ratting on the Nixon White House several times. He never conveyed the volume of info the fictional Deep Throat did, but he is as close a match as any. As Deep Throat is seen by many as a good guy, he lets the grand kids know the secret ID of the hero's helper. Woodward and Bradlee could therefore "confirm" Felt was Deep Throat, without addressing the point of whether their literary portrait of the man was accurate in all respects. All the Presidents Men is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two journalists investigating the Watergate first break-in and ensuing Watergate scandal for the Washington Post. ... ... For other uses, see Hero (disambiguation). ...

Other suspected candidates

Fred Fielding

Another leading candidate was White House Associate Counsel Fred F. Fielding. In April 2003 Fielding was presented as a potential candidate as a result of a detailed review of source material by William Gaines and his journalism students, as part of a class at the University of Illinois journalism school. [6] [7] Fielding was the assistant to John Dean and as such had access to the files relating to the affair. Gaines felt that statements by Woodward ruled out "Deep Throat"'s being in the FBI and that "Deep Throat" often had information before the FBI did. H.R. Haldeman himself suspected Fielding as being "Deep Throat." Fred Fisher Fielding (born March 21, 1939) was selected on January 8, 2007 by President of the United States George W. Bush to replace outgoing White House Counsel Harriet Miers. ... 2003 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → A timeline of events in the news for April 2003. ... William Gaines is a professor of journalism who led a study with several of his students in 2003 to determine the identity of Watergate informant Deep Throat. ... A Corner of Main Quad The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, or simply Illinois), is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious campus in the University of Illinois system. ...

Dean had been one of the most dedicated hunters of "Deep Throat." Both he and Leonard Garment dismissed Fielding as a possibility, reporting that he had been cleared by Woodward in 1980 when Fielding was applying for an important position in the Ronald Reagan administration. However this assertion, which comes from Fielding, has not been corroborated. Leonard Garment was acting special counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon for the last two years of his presidency. ... Reagan redirects here. ...

One reason that many experts believed that "Deep Throat" was Fielding and not Felt was due to Woodward's apparent denial in an interview that "Deep Throat" worked in the intelligence community:

LUKAS: Do you resent the implication by some critics that your sources on Watergate — among them the fabled "Deep Throat" — may have been people in the intelligence community?

WOODWARD: I resent it because it's untrue. Quote from Playboy interview, 1979

In retrospect, it appears that Woodward was only excluding the foreign intelligence agencies with that statement, and not the FBI.

Other credible candidates

Any candidate that died before the Felt admission ceased to fit Woodward's criteria at that time, since Woodward had stated that he was free to reveal his identity when "Deep Throat" died.

• John Ehrlichman: Nixon advisor. Died in 1999.
• Ron Ziegler: press secretary. Died in 2003.
• William E. Colby: head of the CIA. Died in 1996.
• Charles W. Bates: FBI executive that Mann mentioned but considered less likely than Felt.
• William C. Sullivan: former head of the FBI intelligence operations, fired by J. Edgar Hoover in 1971. Died in 1977.
• L. Patrick Gray: acting FBI director, who lived only four blocks away from Woodward, accused by a CBS documentary.
• Robert Kunkel: FBI Washington Bureau Chief that Mann considered less likely than Felt, as he moved to St. Louis partway through the investigation.
• Cord Meyer: CIA agent fingered in Mark Riebling's Wedgie: The Secret War Between the FBI and the CIA. However, Woodward stated that "Deep Throat" was not part of the intelligence community. Died in 2001.
• Raymond Price: Nixon speech writer.
• Stephen Bull: administrative assistant.
• Lowell Weicker: U.S. Senator from Connecticut, believed by Pat Buchanan to possibly be "Deep Throat."
• Secret Service technicians: Richard Cohen argued it was whoever in the Secret Service maintained Nixon's secret taping devices.

John D. Ehrlichman as Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs, May 13, 1969. ... Richard Nixons White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler. ... William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996) became Director of Central Intelligence on September 4, 1973, after James R. Schlesinger. ... William Cornelius Sullivan (1912 - 9 November 1977) was former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation intelligence operations. ... John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an influential but controversial Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ... Louis Patrick Gray III (July 18, 1916 – July 6, 2005) was acting director of the FBI from 1972-73. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... Nickname: Location in the state of Missouri Coordinates: , Country State County Independent City Government  - Mayor Francis G. Slay (D) Area  - City  66. ... Cord Meyer, Jr. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport[3] Largest metro area Hartford Metro Area[2] Area  Ranked 48th  - Total 5,543[4] sq mi (14,356 km²)  - Width 70 miles (113 km)  - Length 110 miles (177 km)  - % water 12. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Counter Assault Team. ... Several people are named Richard Cohen: Rich Cohen, author of Tough Jews, The Avengers, Lake Effect, Sweet and Low. ...

Less credible candidates

• William Rehnquist: Late Chief Justice of the United States, had a position in the Department of Justice early in the Nixon administration, working for Attorney General John N. Mitchell. More than five months before the Watergate break-in he was appointed to the Supreme Court and it would have been almost impossible for him to have had access to much of the information "Deep Throat" was meant to have provided. In February 2005, Dean reported that "Deep Throat" was ailing, leading many to believe that Rehnquist was "Deep Throat." However, Woodward later stated that the notion that "Deep Throat" was ailing was a misunderstanding.
• Henry Kissinger: Nixon's National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, was out of the country on some of the dates Woodward reported to have met with "Deep Throat."
• George H. W. Bush: Was nominated in February 2005 by Adrian Havill — author of a 1993 biography of Woodward and Bernstein, Deep Truth (ISBN 1-55972-172-3) — following the unveiling of Woodward's notes at the University of Texas. Havill had argued in his biography that "Deep Throat" was a composite figure, but stated in a letter to Poynter Online that based on more recent events and research, he now believed "Deep Throat" was George H. W. Bush.
• General Alexander Haig: Authors Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin speculated in their 1991 book Silent Coup: The Removal of a President that Haig may have been "Deep Throat."
• Diane Sawyer: Was hired by White House press secretary Ron Ziegler to serve in the Richard Nixon Administration. On his deathbed, Nixon supporter Baruch Korff falsely claimed that Sawyer was Deep Throat.
• Ben Stein: A Nixon speech writer and the son of Nixon economic advisor Herbert Stein; later an actor and political commentator.
• Gerald R. Ford: Nixon's successor.
• Pat Buchanan: Served as special assistant to the President, was nominated as a potential candidate by Dean in his June 2002 book Unmasking Deep Throat. Buchanan repeatedly denied the claim, stating in a Time magazine article on the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in that "The last time I cooperated with The Washington Post ... was in 1952 , when I was a paper boy delivering the damn thing in Northwest Washington." Buchanan was very interested in the mystery, however, and had a number of theories. He was most sympathetic to the idea of a composite Deep Throat.
• Richard Nixon: There was some suggestion that Nixon had used back-channels to communicate with Woodward in a bizarre attempt to showcase his persecution by the media which horrifically backfired. This theory was largely discredited. Died in 1994.

William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch... Seal of the United States Department of Justice The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see 28 U.S.C. Â§ 503) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. ... John Newton Mitchell (September 15, 1913 – November 9, 1988) was the first United States Attorney General ever to be convicted of illegal activities and imprisoned. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the... Henry Alfred Kissinger (born Heinz Alfred Kissinger on May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. ... The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues. ... Seal of the United States Department of State. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... February 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → Pope John Paul II is taken to a hospital suffering from a serious case of influenza. ... Adrian Havill is a writer born in Bournemouth, England. ... The University of Texas System comprises fifteen educational institutions in Texas, of which nine are general academic universities and six are health institutions. ... The Poynter Institute is a school and resource for journalism, located in St. ... For other persons named Alexander Haig, see Alexander Haig (disambiguation). ... Diane Sawyer is a television journalist for the U.S. network ABC News and co-anchor of ABCs Good Morning America, along with with Robin Roberts. ... Baruch Korff (July 4, 1914-July 26, 1995) was a longtime Jewish community activist. ... Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born Jabba the Hut) is an Emmy Award-winning lesbian lawyer, law professor, actor, comedian, game show host and former White House speechwriter. ... Herbert Stein (August 27, 1916 – September 8, 1999) was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was on the board of contributors of The Wall Street Journal. ... For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ... Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. ... Patrick Joseph Buchanan (born November 2, 1938) is an American politician, author, syndicated columnist, and broadcaster. ... “TIME” redirects here. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ...

Literature

The Secret Man by Bob Woodward

• The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat by Bob Woodward. The book, released in 2005, reviews the major points of the Watergate scandal, as well as the role of Mark Felt, as "Deep Throat," in uncovering the story. The book also deals with the personal relationship between Woodward and Felt, which existed for some time before Watergate. ^[3]

Image File history File links Secret-man. ... Image File history File links Secret-man. ... Bob Woodward signs his book State of Denial after a talk in March 2007. ... Bob Woodward signs his book State of Denial after a talk in March 2007. ... The Watergate building. ...

References

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External links

• "I'm the Guy They Called Deep Throat". July 2005 Vanity Fair article that revealed that Felt is Deep Throat
• Washington Post Confirms Felt Is 'Deep Throat', a May 31, 2005 article
• "In the Prelude to Publication, Intrigue Worthy of Deep Throat", a June 2, 2005 article from the New York Times
• "How Mark Felt became Deep Throat". Bob Woodward provides a personal account of his friendship with the man who came to be known as Deep Throat
• Special Reports page on Deep Throat from the Washington Post
• Former FBI agent says 3 FBI officials helped W. Mark Felt leak information about Watergate probe to the press, a June 5, 2005 article from the Albany Times-Union
• "New Zealand man's Deep Throat mystery solved", an article from the New Zealand Herald confirming part of the Deep Throat secrecy legend
• Deep Throat Website Has news, articles, FAQs, links, gallery and forum
• References to Felt from the Nixon Presidential Materials maintained by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
• In a Surprise, E&P Voters Pick Rehnquist as 'Deep Throat'. Results of a poll by Editor and Publisher Magazine among journalists, published February 11, 2005.
• ‘Deep Throat’ was FBI point man for Cointelpro New hero of liberals, Stalinists led secret police assault on political freedom the Militant June 27, 2005.
• Biography of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein