Who is Deep Throat?

Peaches-n-Cream · #1 05-31-2005, 04:12 PM

Who Is W. Mark Felt?
Man Who Admits to Being 'Deep Throat' Breaks His 30-Year Silence

May. 31, 2005 - If it holds true that W. Mark Felt Jr. is indeed "Deep Throat," his lasting legacy may simply be as "the most famous anonymous person in U.S. history," as Vanity Fair reporter John D. O'Connor calls him.

Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who used Deep Throat as a key source to the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974, did not confirm or deny that Felt was indeed Deep Throat. The two reporters had agreed not to identify Deep Throat until after his death. Felt's family came forward after the Vanity Fair article was released to say Felt had admitted he was in fact the notorious source.

Many of the details of Felt's life would not seem extraordinary, except for the new revelation about his role in exposing the Watergate scandal.

Felt was born in 1913 in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1913. According to Vanity Fair, he was an outgoing, ambitious man raised in "modest circumstances." He graduated from the University of Idaho and became the head of his fraternity. From there he went to George Washington University Law School and married a fellow Idaho graduate, Audrey Robinson.

Felt, 91, joined the FBI in 1942 and worked his way up to become the bureau's acting associate director when Nixon was in the White House. He became the FBI's No. 2 man in the '70s.

His ascent up the ranks of the FBI began in 1962 when he was named second in command of the FBI's training division after a successful turn at stifling Kansas City's mafia. Felt's succinct style appealed to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. "In a move to rein in his power-seeking head of domestic intelligence, William C. Sullivan, Hoover promoted Felt to a newly created position overseeing Sullivan, vaulting Felt to prominence," O'Connor writes in Vanity Fair.

In their book "All the President's Men," Woodward and Bernstein described Deep Throat as a man "aware of his own weaknesses, he readily conceded his flaws. … He could be rowdy, drink too much, overreach. He was not good at concealing his feelings, hardly ideal for a man in his position."

In 1980, Felt was convicted of conspiracy to violate civil rights for his admitted role in arranging illegal break-ins, burglaries and other measures against friends and relatives of fugitive members of the Weather Underground, a leftist domestic terrorist organization.

President Reagan pardoned him in 1981, along with Edward S. Miller, former chief of the FBI's intelligence division.

Felt had long been considered one of several government figures who might have been Deep Throat.

In a 1992 article in Atlantic Monthly, James Mann, managing editor at the Post at the time of Watergate, brought a great deal of evidence together that pointed to Felt at being Deep Throat. He argued that the information Deep Throat gave Woodward could only have come from FBI files. He also said Felt was bitter at having been passed over for the director general position.

Nevertheless, Felt had consistently denied being Deep Throat until the Vanity Fair article. O'Connor told ABC News in an interview that Felt had for years thought he was a dishonorable man for talking to Woodward.

"Mark wants the public respect, and wants to be known as a good man," O'Connor said. "He's very proud of the bureau, he's very proud of the FBI. He now knows he is a hero."

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=806631&page=1

hoosier · #2 05-31-2005, 10:32 PM

Interestingly, the Wash Post required the reporters to get a second source to confirm everything "Deep throat" told them.

I wonder if DT ever told them something they couldn't get confirmed elsewhere?

Tom Earp · #3 05-31-2005, 11:04 PM

hoosier, you really think everything was checked and double checked? LOL!

So, now if He wasnt the true D T, everyone thinks He is! So, is laid to rest just like JFK!

Lady Pi Phi · #4 06-01-2005, 07:35 AM

I heard on the radio this morning that The Washington Post confirmed that Mark Felt is in fact Deep throat.

moe.ron · #5 06-01-2005, 07:46 AM

Yep, Woodword have confirmed this.

hoosier · #6 06-01-2005, 06:29 PM

It's going to get nasty.

Woodward and Bernstein (and the Wash. Post) got rich and famous, while the Felt family got nothing.

Today, in their statement, W, B, and the Wash. Post say Felt was one of a number of anonymous sources, and this is going to P.O. the Felts.

By the end of June, they'll only be speaking to lawyers.

CougADPi · #7 06-01-2005, 06:47 PM

Apparently Felt is a member Beta Theta Pi who went to the University of Idaho! (I have a very excited friend who is an Idaho Poli Sci grad

)

UI Alumnus Revealed as Deep Throat

MysticCat · #8 06-02-2005, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hoosier
Interestingly, the Wash Post required the reporters to get a second source to confirm everything "Deep throat" told them.

Not true, according to Ben Bradlee. Bradlee has stated that he was a "single source," that it was not usual Post policy to go without a corroborating source, but that DT had earned their trust and confidence.

But then, you have to remember that much of the info that Woodward got from DT was not information that was used directly, but suggestions about where to look or where not to look, or info to confirm or refute what they W&B were hearing elsewhere.

Quote:

It's going to get nasty.

Woodward and Bernstein (and the Wash. Post) got rich and famous, while the Felt family got nothing.

Today, in their statement, W, B, and the Wash. Post say Felt was one of a number of anonymous sources, and this is going to P.O. the Felts.

By the end of June, they'll only be speaking to lawyers.

Nah. Neither W&B nor the Post have ever said that DT was the only source, just that he was a highly placed, anonymous source of very good info. All the President's Men makes clear he wasn't the only source.

And the statement I have seen from the Post says: "W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate." I don't see anything about "a number of anonymous sources."

Why should Felt or his family be be mad about "getting nothing"? He got exactly what he asked for and was promised -- anonymity.

Why should they be mad about suggestions there were other sources as well, since that's never been a secret?

Anyway, it's kind of late to be talking to lawyers about something that happened 30 years ago. Felt made his choice then, now he and his family have to live with it.

ETA: I do see in various reports that money from hoped-for book and movie/TV deals was a prime reason that Felt's family got him to go public now. Sad if that's true.

AGDee · #9 06-02-2005, 11:07 AM

During an interview with Felt this morning, I heard him say "I guess I can write a book now", which struck me as funny. He sounded very lighthearted and not at all upset with anybody.

MysticCat · #10 06-02-2005, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by AGDee
During an interview with Felt this morning, I heard him say "I guess I can write a book now", which struck me as funny. He sounded very lighthearted and not at all upset with anybody.

He actually did publish his memoirs in the late '70s: The FBI Pyramid: From the Inside. I'll bet a new edition is not far off.

hoosier · #11 06-02-2005, 02:06 PM

Amazon lists 367 books about "Watergate".

Hundreds of authors have made money, but Felt has zip, living in a remodeled garage in poor health. Even the burglars, who went to jail, have books for sale.

As Bill says, "I feel his pain"

Another bunch in severe pain - the Washington Post. They had the story for 30 years, but get scooped by Vanity Fair. W, B, and WP are really ticked off, but W is rushing another book to press.

MysticCat · #12 06-02-2005, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hoosier
Hundreds of authors have made money, but Felt has zip, living in a remodeled garage in poor health. Even the burglars, who went to jail, have books for sale.

As Bill says, "I feel his pain"

Another bunch in severe pain - the Washington Post. They had the story for 30 years, but get scooped by Vanity Fair. W, B, and WP are really ticked off, but W is rushing another book to press.

Felt has zip because he chose to have zip. He wanted to remain anonymous. From what I'm reading, I get the feeling that he might still have remained anonymous if his family hadn't coerced him into coming out so that they could get some money.

Yes, Woodward has a book coming out -- one that he had already written and was holding on to until after Felt's death, since that was his agreement with Felt.

The Post isn't hurting too badly, I don't think. Yes, they got scooped, but they're selling a lot of papers anyway, because they are the ones that people want to about all of this from. And they've come off looking as the good guys because they kept their promise not to reveal DT's identity.

Life is all about choices. Felt wrote a memoir back in 1979, when he was still denying he was DT. It didn't sell too well -- I'm sure it would have been a best seller if he had "come out," as it were. But he chose not to. He could have made quite a bit of money off his involvement in Watergate over the years, but he chose not to. That was his choice to make. Now he, and his family, have to live with that choice.

ZZ-kai- · #13 06-03-2005, 04:23 PM

Deep Throat indeed, is a Beta:

Deep Throat Beta Story

a.e.B.O.T. · #14 06-03-2005, 04:27 PM

which is the coolest thing ever... first batman, then Al Borlen, now deep throat

Tom Earp · #15 06-03-2005, 10:14 PM

Oh, Mark Felt wasnt a Hero for spilling His guts in a subtle manner?

Was He pissed He didnt Get JEH Job?

What the Hell, The Office Of The President of The USA was Involved in Shady Shit. It Was Illegal!

Under Nixons Adm. Spiro Agnew was indicted for taking Bribes during His Term Of VP.

Wow is this some cool shit or what to find out that OUR Heads of The Country of Crooks?

The Chinese never understood why Nixon was booted? They thought He was Great.

So Since when has China become a Democracy?

Whistle Blowers Get Hosed.

Why should they get Hosed? They are trying to Protect us as Members of this country, but do they get protected?

Keep voting for the same old tried and true asswholes who use the job like they own it!

Watch out for Sam Brownback of Ks. Snake oil salesman.

Oh, dont forget about the rest, Kennedy, Lott, Thurmond, DeLay and others who have been there since Christ was a Coropral!

So, why do I say This, Hell, I am Dieing so what the hell can they do to me?