Watergate's Lasting Allure

On June 17, 1972, five men were apprehended by a security guard at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington. They were caught with electronic surveillance equipment and cameras. The men had broken into the headquarters, opened file cabinets and removed ceiling panels - presumably to hide spying devices. The men were working on the Committee to Re-elect the President, and they all had links to the CIA. Each was charged with second degree burglary. The arrests sparked an investigation, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon.

To this day, there are still mysteries surrounding America’s great political scandal. Chief among them the ongoing question of the identity of “Deep Throat,” whose parking-garage advice led the way to the truth for a pair of young reporters.

On the eve of the publication of “Unmasking Deep Throat,” a book by former Nixon aide John Dean that Dean said has reduced to “about a thimbleful” the names of people who might be Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's famed anonymous source, the writers held to their 30-year silence Sunday.

Meanwhile, Woodward, Bernstein, Dean and other Watergate figures reminisced on Sunday's television talk shows about the scandal. Woodward, asked about a project by university students in Illinois that eliminated all but seven White House aides as Deep Throat possibilities, and the students' unanimous surmise that Deep Throat was commentator and former Nixon aide Pat Buchanan, Woodward said: “You're going to get a kind of deep silence from us on this subject.”

“We have talked about it, and we had eliminated some people, but lots of people have died, and the list is narrowed. And for us it's really a principle. It's about keeping our word for 30 years, because the process of reporting involves having those confidential sources who will say, `This is what's really going on.’”

Woodward said their source's identity would be revealed only after the source dies or releases the reporters from their confidentiality pledge.

Dean's 158-page book included the names of five people he said may have been Deep Throat, including Buchanan and Ron Ziegler, Nixon's press secretary. The list also included Steve Bull, an assistant to Nixon appointment secretary Dwight Chapin; Raymond Price, a special assistant to Nixon; and Jerry Warren, Ziegler's assistant.

Dean told CBS News that when he broke ranks, “I realized my days were numbered, because I could no longer serve as the desk officer of the cover-up and be giving him that kind of advice.”

Branded a traitor by Nixon and fired, Dean gave damning testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee.