During his investigation into United States President Richard Nixon's involvement in Watergate, reporter Bob Woodward was supplied with leaked information by an informer he dubbed "Deep Throat". He was an important source for Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who together wrote a series of articles about Watergate in the Washington Post. The scandal would eventually lead to the resignation of the president, and prison terms for White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and presidential adviser John Ehrlichman.

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.

According to Woodward, Deep Throat was nervous that his role in the Post investigation would be discovered. He demanded that the two stop conversing by phone, thinking that the line may be tapped, and they began meeting late at night in a Washington parking garage. If Woodward wanted a meeting with Deep Throat, the reporter would rearrange a potted plant in his apartment window. If Deep Throat wanted a meeting with Woodward, the source would somehow ensure that page number 20 of Woodward's daily Post delivery was circled. Woodward claims that Deep Throat never gave him specific information but only confirmed information given by others and suggested avenues to explore.

The name Deep Throat came from the X-rated movie "Deep Throat," which was popular during the period; it is also a play on the phrase deep background.

Identity

Deep Throat's identity is known only to three people: Woodward, Bernstein and their editor at the time, Benjamin C. Bradlee.

Woodward has said in repeated interviews that the identity of Deep Throat will be kept confidential until Deep Throat dies, or until Deep Throat agrees to let his name be made public. In February 2005, Nixon White House counsel (now columnist) John Dean reported [1] (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-sources6feb06,0,6080347.story?coll=la-sunday-commentary) that Woodward had recently informed Bradlee that Deep Throat was ill, and that Bradlee had written Deep Throat's obituary. Both Woodward and the current editor of the Post, Leonard Downie, have denied these claims.

Over the years, there have been a number of hints and guesses as to the identity of Deep Throat, and much speculation.

Woodward has confirmed that Deep Throat:

• is male;
• was a specific man in Nixon's administration, and not a composite; and
• is not Alexander Haig.

Other individuals still considered as possibilities are:

• Henry Kissinger (Nixon's National Security Advisor and Secretary of State);
• L. Patrick Gray (FBI director);
• W. Mark Felt (FBI official);
• Charles W. Bates;
• Robert Kunkel;
• Ben Stein (Nixon speechwriter);
• Raymond Price (Nixon speechwriter¹);
• Pat Buchanan (special assistant to the President¹);
• Stephen Bull (administrative assistant¹);
• Fred F. Fielding (assistant to John Dean²); and
• George H. W. Bush (Ambassador to the UN and later President³).

Since Dean's February 2005 article indicates that Deep Throat is still alive, we can logically rule out three candidates now deceased:

• Cord Meyer Jr. (CIA official);
• William Colby (CIA official); and
• Ron Ziegler (press secretary¹).

Endnotes

¹Nominated as potential candidates by Dean in his June 2002 book "Unmasking Deep Throat".[2] (http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2002/06/17/dean_qa/)

²Nominated in April 2003 as a potential candidate as a result of a detailed review of source material by William Gaines and his journalism students. [3] (http://deepthroatuncovered.com/) [4] (http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues03/dec03/presence.html)

³Nominated in February 2005 by Adrian Havill — author of a 1993 biography of Woodward and Bernstein, Deep Truth (ISBN 1559721723) — 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 (http://poynter.org/forum/?id=letters) to Poynter Online that based on more recent events and research, he now believed Deep Throat was George H. W. Bush.