W. Mark Felt, "Deep Throat," Dies At 95

Former No. 2 At FBI Kept The Nation Guessing Over Watergate For Almost 30 Years

(CBS/AP)  The former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president has died.

W. Mark Felt was 95. John D. O'Connor, a family friend who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt's secret, says he died Thursday.

The shadowy central figure in one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information about President Richard Nixon and his aides to The Washington Post.

Some speculated that Felt was the source who connected the White House to the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. He steadfastly denied the accusations until finally coming forward in May 2005.

In the last week of November, the National Archives released more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Nixon presidency, among them were the urgings of past and present FBI agents and other interested citizens to appoint Felt, then the No. 2 FBI official, as director. Associates described his "outstanding loyalty."

Nixon did not take the advice.

Ultimately, Felt's devastating leaks as The Washington Post's secret Watergate source helped undermine Nixon's presidency.

Nixon, soon to be consumed by the Watergate investigation, passed over career agents including Felt when he selected loyalist L. Patrick Gray as FBI chief after the J. Edgar Hoover's death in 1972, just weeks before the Watergate break-in. Gray resigned the next year because of allegations he had destroyed Watergate documents.

Felt's supporters weighed in, with letters, telegrams and cards that have been in Nixon's White House files all these years.

"He has the integrity, the ability, the experience and the image to insure that our FBI will continue to deserve and maintain world esteem," Harold L. Child Jr., legal attache to the embassy in Japan and a 30-year FBI veteran, told Nixon in an April 1973 letter.

Efton A. Stanfield, a former FBI special agent who was then an executive of the electrical contractors' association, asked Nixon in a telegram to turn to the career professional to replace Gray.

"Mr. Felt is a man of outstanding loyalty, character, reputation, habits," he said. The "fidelity, bravery, and integrity of Mr. Felt are unquestioned."

Felt himself was the lead agent in a telegram sent to the White House by a group of agents asking that a highly qualified professional be nominated. The police chief in Kodiak, Alaska, made the case for Felt, and so did ordinary citizens.

Writing from Brooklyn, N.Y., Viena K. Neaville told Nixon that choosing Felt would be good for him because, "You would be spared the tremendous aggravation to which you are subjected by so many factions."

Nixon was spared no grief. He eventually chose William Ruckelshaus, who served at FBI only briefly.

Deep Throat's identity remained a mystery until Felt stepped forward in 2005 to acknowledge his clandestine role in bringing down Nixon.

Bob Woodward of The Washington Post said he first spoke with Felt about Watergate two days after the break-in.

[wrmscvsuv]

So much for loyalty.

Felts belonged to the Benedict Arnold Club, at least in my opinion.

[kansas1946]

Many people including myself dont understand why Nixon just didnt burn the watergate tapes for without this damming evidence,he could have served out his second term and left office in 1977.
Posted by noaanhc at 11:10 AM : Dec 19, 2008

No, it''''s inexplicable in our modern world.

But those were the old days. In those days, even crooks like Nixon maintained a modicum of honesty. People just didn''''t do things just because it was dishonest.
Posted by txgrouch2008 at 03:06 PM : Dec 19, 2008
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You are kidding, right. You think Nixon didn''t get rid of those tapes because it would be dishonest???
Have you read any of the history of Watergate and its aftermath? Honest had nothing to do with not destroying the tapes.

[excoachken]

Linda Lovelace probably looks younger.

[carpriddler]

Nixon wasn%u2019t paranoid; he was a foreteller of the events transpiring today. The Ivy League eletest hate mongers that attacked Nixon from the day he took office are the same people that are running Wall St, the banks, the oil companies, and Congress on both sides of the isle. God bless Tricky ***.

[likeitis5050]

Jan 20th? Christmas apparantly came early for some to the tune of $14.7B.


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Posted by LwyrsGnsMuny


Come early 2009 Christmas returns to every member of Congress because the $4000+ pay raise they gave to themselves in 2008!!! I don''t think the auto industry, the UAW, or the banking system is our biggest worry right now. We have thieves we''ve elected to manage our government who are stealing us blind as we speak and they still have the nerve to ask the CEOs to work for $1 to qualify for a loan from US!!!!

[likeitis5050]

It was definitely the right thing to do...not so sure it was done for the right reason. Not so sure the right thing would be done today regardless the reason.

[krescera]

Felt was a dishonorable person who betrayed a President for selfish reasons.God knows what other betrayals he had to his credit.

[noaanhc]

Many people including myself dont understand why Nixon just didnt burn the watergate tapes for without this damming evidence,he could have served out his second term and left office in 1977.

As for Mark Felt only he knows why he leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein,but again coming back to the tapes,without them,Nixon would have never been forced to resign.

[aldon61]

I always wondered why they called Felt "Deepthroat"; I saw the movie and Linda didn''t look anything like him.

[rhs648]

He just blew the whistle, he didn''''t cause Nixon to do what he did! Nixon''''s downfall was his own doing, regardless of Felt''''s motivation to talking to the press. Mr Felt was acting as a patriot, not a child! -

Posted by nolalou

We don''t know this. What if Marl Felt had been appointed FBI Director. He might have kept his mouth shut to protect his posistion. We will probably never know his motives.