"Because you really didn't want to tell us," Simons said. "Ben and I made a decision that on some of them we wouldn't ask," Simons told the pair in 1973 when they interviewed him for their book. Ben Bradlee, the editor of The Washington Post during Watergate, told me he didn't learn Felt's identity until 1976. It lasted that long because Woodward and Bernstein kept their promise of confidentiality. The Deep Throat mystery lasted 33 years - a record for such a high-profile secret in a gossipy town like Washington, D.C. There were 6 garage meetings, 7 phone calls, one rendezvous at Felt's house in Fairfax, Va., one meeting at a Maryland tavern, one on-the-record visit to Felt's FBI office and two other meetings, according to Woodward's papers that were sold to the University of Texas along with Bernstein's for $5 million in 2003. Most famous were the late-night meetings in an Arlington, Va., garage portrayed in the movie. He wrote that he had only met with Woodward once during the Watergate investigation.Īctually, Woodward secretly had contact with him 18 times during the years from the break-in until Nixon's 1974 resignation.
In fact, Felt denied he was Deep Throat in his 1979 memoir, The FBI Pyramid. But they were wrong.Įach time an author was certain of Deep Throat's identity, Woodward and Bernstein said nothing. The class held a press conference at the Watergate in 2003 to announce their suspect. A University of Illinois class spent four years investigating Deep Throat's identity. Articles and books were written fingering people. Through the decades it became a parlor game to figure out who was the source high up in the Justice Department who betrayed the Nixon administration. Over the decades, both reporters were repeatedly asked when they spoke publicly: "Who is Deep Throat?" They never even gave a hint. His anger unnerved Woodward, but neither he nor Bernstein ever waivered in keeping their promise.
#DEEP THROAT MOVIE#
He was equally unhappy when the book became a hugely successful movie in 1976. He was embarrassed and furious, and thought Woodward had betrayed him. It was only when the book came out that Felt learned how Woodward and Bernstein privately referred to him. Felt was one of many anonymous sources the pair used but he drew the lion's share of attention because of the sexy name. The nick name Deep Throat appeared for the first time in Playboy magazine in May 1974, when an excerpt of the book All the President's Men ran. Among several unanswered questions is a basic one: Would Felt have become such a cultural icon if his moniker were "My Friend?" It was then-Managing Editor Howard Simons who dubbed the secret source Deep Throat based on a notorious pornographic movie in 1972 with the same name. In his notes, Woodward identified his source as "M.F." for my friend, even though those are also Felt's initials. Ironically, when Woodward referred to Felt inside the Post newsroom, he told his editors, "My friend told me on deep background" when relaying information.
Nor is there any dispute that the Post's reliance on Deep Throat played a role in popularizing the still–controversial use of anonymous sources.īut it also showed what can happen when journalists keep their word. In the modern history of journalism, there is little dispute that Deep Throat is by far the most famous known anonymous news source. When the Watergate story broke, Woodward called Felt, promising him what's known in journalistic parlance as "confidentiality." It meant that Woodward would use Felt's information but never reveal Felt as his source. He nurtured a filial-like relationship, seeking out Felt for career advice. Woodward met Felt by chance when he was a young man in his late-20s in the Navy. Many speculate on Felt's motives, but no one ever will know exactly because Felt was 91 and showing signs of dementia when his identity was revealed. 2 man in the FBI during the 1972 Watergate break-in, who became a key source for the two young reporters. The relationship among the three men was complicated. It was also the first time that Bernstein had ever met Felt, who died yesterday at 95. It was a fitting denouement among men who played a historic role in the Watergate scandal, and in changing journalism.
Less than a month ago, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who helped topple President Nixon, made a surprise visit to Mark Felt, the man known as Deep Throat.
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