Deep Throat Comes Forward

As a History fanatic who actually did quite a bit of research into the Watergate scandal and had a deep interest in the identity of Deep Throat, yesterday was a landmark date. W. Mark Felt came forward in the Vanity Fair Article linked above as the infamous source for Woodward and Bernstein's articles uncovering the Watergate conspiracy and ultimately leading to the resignation of President Nixon. Felt (FBI #2 guy at the time of the Watergate scandal) had always been near the top of suspects as the source of the leaks - Nixon even made the assumption that he was the leak on the White House tapes (circa Oct '72).

I've got to tell you that my money wasn't on Felt as the man behind Deep Throat. I had two theories. One was Fred Fielding, deputy to WH Counsel John Dean. He fit the clues provided by Woodward and Bernstein in their Book/Movie All The President's Men. He was in a position to easily know most of the information Deep Throat provided to the reporters. Even Haldeman (WH Chief of Staff for Nixon) speculated that Fielding was the source. The other theory I thought had a lot of weight was that there was no "Deep Throat"; that he was a made up figure to protect a multitude of sources. If the reporters wanted to protect their sources, why not invent a mystery source that has access to all of their information. That would put any insiders looking to someone higher up with higher clearance and protect several lower end assets. With all the various information Deep Throat seemed to possess, this to me seemed to be the most likely answer. Of course, we know now that I was wrong.

While I am glad that Felt came forward, I am a little disappointed he didn't wait to reveal it in his will. Reading through the article quoted above, it seems his family has been pressuring him to come forward since they found out in 2002. His motivation for wanting to keep quiet at least had a principle -- he didn't see himself as a hero and was guilty over what he had done. The article makes it seem like his family (namely his daughter and son) convinced him that he is a hero, but that they did it, not for him, but for the money that could come from revealing the secret. I hope that the article just comes off bad and that really isn't the case. Family should be closer than that and the man should have been able to live out his days in peace if that's what he wanted.

Now that the identity is known, I am sure a flurry of Watergate books will be published. The book I'd be interested in, is the one written by Felt (or at least with his input). I just hope that reports of his mental deterioration are untrue or that he wrote down some thoughts years ago so that we can know what he was thinking and hear things from his point of view. Woodward will probably help Felt with the writing...probably working together on it. I'll give it a read if/when something like that comes out and be sure to review it here.