![]() He said the reporter could accurately write that Hunt, whose name was found in the address book of one of the burglars, was a suspect. “He then hung up abruptly.”įelt helped Woodward link former CIA man Howard Hunt to the break-in. “He reminded me how he disliked phone calls at the office but said that the Watergate burglary case was going to `heat up’ for reasons he could not explain,” Woodward wrote after Felt was named. Within days of the burglary at Watergate that launched the Post’s investigative series, Woodward phoned Felt. ![]() The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its Watergate coverage. Later, while Woodward and partner Carl Bernstein relied on various unnamed sources in reporting on Watergate, the man their editor dubbed “Deep Throat” helped to keep them on track and confirm vital information. Felt apparently took a liking to the young Woodward, then a Navy courier, and Woodward kept the relationship going, treating Felt as a mentor as he tried to figure out the ways of Washington. It was by chance that Felt came to play a pivotal role in the drama.īack in 1970, Woodward struck up a conversation with Felt while both men were waiting in a White House hallway. It was the final mystery of Watergate, the subject of the best-selling book and hit movie “All the President’s Men,” which inspired a generation of college students to pursue journalism. The revelation capped a Washington whodunnit that spanned more than three decades and seven presidents. “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. Ultimately, his daughter Joan persuaded him to go public after all, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward was sure to profit by revealing the secret after Felt died. Would he be seen as a turncoat or a man of honor? He agonized about what revealing his identity would do to his reputation. Supporters hailed him as a hero for blowing the whistle on a corrupt administration trying to cover up attempts to sabotage opponents.įelt grappled with his place in history, arguing with his children over whether to reveal his identity or to take his secret to the grave, O’Connor said. The man who had kept his secret for decades, now weakened by a stroke, wasn’t doing much talking ” he merely waved the media from the front door of his daughter’s Santa Rosa home.Ĭritics, including those who went to prison for the Watergate scandal, called him a traitor for betraying the commander in chief. The shadowy central figure in the 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. ![]() O’Connor, who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt’s secret. He was 95.įelt died Thursday of congestive heart failure in Santa Rosa after several months of failing health, said family friend John D. Mark Felt, 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. ![]() Felt, 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, died Thursday Dec. Mark Felt wave to the media gathered in front of their home in this Tuesday, file photo, in Santa Rosa, Calif. *** FILE *** Joan Felt and and her father W. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |