W. Mark Felt, 91, who was second-in-command at the FBI in the early 1970s, kept the secret even from his family until 2002, when he confided to a friend that he had been Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's source, the magazine said.
"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told lawyer John D. O'Connor, the author of the Vanity Fair article, the magazine said in a press release.
Felt was initially adamant about remaining silent on the subject, thinking disclosures about his past somehow dishonorable.
"I don't think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of," Felt indicated to his son, Mark Jr., at one point, according to the article. "You (should) not leak information to anyone."
Felt is a retiree living in Santa Rosa, Calif., with his daughter, Joan, the magazine said. He could not immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press.
The Washington Post had no immediate comment.
Felt is one of a number of people who have been named over the years as the source whose disclosures helped bring down the Nixon presidency. Others 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.
In 1999, Felt denied he was the man.
"I would have done better," Felt told The Hartford Courant. "I would have been more effective. Deep Throat didn't exactly bring the White House crashing down, did he?"
If I am not mistaken I thought that Woodward and Bernstein said that they would reveal his/her identity upon their death.
10 comments:
Can't woodward just come out say .. Nope, not that guy either ... he doesnt have to say it IS THIS person, just that it isnt him.
Very true.
I seem to recall about 9 months ago some guy died and on his deathbed he also claimed to have been deep throat ... it got the same article attention. I still think it's Henry Kissenger. :-)
On the news, they said Woodward Bernstein still say they won't say who it is until the person dies. It's a little anti-climactic now, all these years later, isn't it?
Kissinger is a good guess. I wondered about him and Haig.
I am still very interested in finding out who, just rampant curiosity
Jack, but after it's oficialy revealed. How long will you still care about it? For 10 minutes you'll see, hmm, that was interesting to know .. and then it will become history.
Am I right?
I may care for a long time, I may not. It really depends on who it was and what their role was.
Wouldnt it be great if we found out there was NO deep throat, and woodward made up a story that just happened to be true? How would that be for a twist.
I heard a piece on NPR today where they interviewed a guy who has published some in depth and well respected theories on this. He said that to him it makes a great deal of sense that this guy is for real and that many theorists have had him on the tops of their lists. He's in his 90s now, so the expert seemed to feel that perhaps the guy isn't afraid that they are going to send him to jail, but OTOH, he felt that ten years ago the govt, wouldn't have either. (I wonder if he could have lost his pension though. Just a thought.)
Hi Alice,
Makes sense to me.
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