Mark Felt "Deep Throat" Dies

Mark Felt, Watergate's `Deep Throat,' dies at 95

W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he helped The Washington Post unravel the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 95.

Felt died Thursday at a hospice near his home in Santa Rosa after suffering from congestive heart failure for several months, said family friend John D. O'Connor, who wrote a Vanity Fair article disclosing Felt's secret in 2005.

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 to Post reporter Bob Woodward.

The scandal led to President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974, two years after the break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office building in Washington.

While some—including Nixon and his aides—speculated that Felt was Deep Throat, he steadfastly denied the accusations until finally coming forward in May 2005.

"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," Felt told O'Connor for the Vanity Fair article, creating a whirlwind of attention. Weakened by a stroke, he wasn't doing much talking—he merely waved to the media from the front door of his daughter's Santa Rosa home.

Critics, including those who went to prison for the Watergate scandal, called him a traitor for betraying the commander in chief. Supporters hailed him as a hero for blowing the whistle on a corrupt administration trying to cover up attempts to sabotage opponents.

In a phone interview Friday, Woodward said despite the criticism and Felt's own ambivalence, it is clear that Felt should be remembered as a man who did the right thing.

"This is a man who did his duty to the Constitution," Woodward told The Associated Press.

...Felt had argued with his children over whether to reveal his identity or to take his secret to the grave, O'Connor said. He agonized about what revealing his identity would do to his reputation. Would he be seen as a turncoat or a man of honor?

...Ultimately, his daughter, Joan, persuaded him to go public; after all, Woodward was sure to profit by revealing the secret after Felt died. "We could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the kids' education," she told her father, according to the Vanity Fair article. "Let's do it for the family."

My condolences to Felt's family. They've lost a father and grandfather.

Personally, I have trouble thinking of Felt as a hero.

He had flaws. He didn't always behave honorably, such as when he lied to a grand jury in 1976.

A new book about "Deep Throat" by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward says W. Mark Felt denied being the Watergate source during a 1976 grand jury appearance, according to USA Today.

The book, "The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat," says Felt hastily withdrew his denial when a Justice Department official reminded him he was under oath, according to the newspaper, which said it obtained a copy from a Virginia bookstore that mistakenly put copies out for sale.

...In the grand jury incident, Woodward wrote that Felt's actions enabled the Justice Department official who was questioning him to realize that he had been "Deep Throat."

A grand juror asked whether Felt was "Deep Throat" and Felt replied, "No."

The Justice Department official, Stanley Pottinger, offered to have the question and answer withdrawn as being outside the bounds of the investigation, after reminding Felt that he had sworn to tell the truth.

"Flushed," Woodward writes, "Felt very rapidly requested, 'Withdraw the question.'"

Because the question was withdrawn, technically Mark Felt didn't lie to the grand jury.

Technically speaking.

When asked by a grand juror whether he was "Deep Throat," Felt lied. He had sworn to tell the truth. He didn't.

Is that how a great American, a heroic figure, behaves?

No.

Well, maybe if you admire cowardly liars, you could consider Felt a hero.

If Felt deserves a lofty place in American history, then the bar is set dreadfully low.