FeedGive the man a medal
May 31, 2005 in Watchdog
So, it turns out that W. Mark Felt is Deep Throat (r.r.)*
It shoots my pet theory all to Hell. In retrospect, I think I was a little harsh in my assessment that Deep Throat would have to be a craven, cowardly character (sneaking around in dark parking garages). Perhaps it was better that Nixon suffered the cut of a thousand deaths that Woodward and Bernstein (and later, other journalists, as well as the impeachment hearings) inflicted. Had Felt came forward immediately with what he knew, the Nixon Administration would have found a way to discredit him, and left the Washington Post with nowhere to go.
How appropriate that the identity of this American hero (he helped bring down Nixon, for no motive apparently other than public service) is brought to light so soon after the use of anonymous is subject to withering attack by those upset at the media for partisan reasons. The Washington Post’s Watergate coverage is an anonymous source success story.
* I don’t usually link to registration required news sources, but this is a Washington Post story. I would be wrogn to link to anyother paper.
May 31st, 2005 at 7:46 pm
I too for years felt Alexander Butterfield was Deep Throat.
It has been a running debate for Mike Foster (my journalism professor at ICC)and myself.
Foster has said for years it was Felt.
I liked Butterfield because he was H.R. Haldeman’s assistant. Butterfield had access to all kinds of info.
I always felt Butterfield’s bombshell before the Watergate Committee about Nixon’s taping was no accident.
The truth is out now.
Felt does deserve a medal.
At the same time it is kind of a letdown now to know.
June 1st, 2005 at 2:24 am
Hero? People throw that word around a lot these days. I’m not a fan of Nixon, but Felt was #2 at the FBI. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. (The one that did break ins daily.) Remember Felt was pardoned by Ronald Regan for burgulary. I know he is very old now, and a sympathetic character, but hero doesn’t completely ring true.
June 1st, 2005 at 7:01 am
Linda Lovelace will always be Deep Throat in my book…
June 1st, 2005 at 7:46 am
Kristy’s got it. While some in the Nixon admin committed felonies because they thought the ends justified the means, so did Felt.
June 2nd, 2005 at 10:16 pm
I wonder if Felt was involved in any of the shenanigans with MLK…I bet there’s a series of really unseemly stories about the guy.
It’s good that he leaked, but he is not a good guy.