One of the great mysteries of American political drama has been solved: A former FBI official has come forward as the infamous "Deep Throat," the anonymous source who leaked secrets about U.S. president Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal to two Washington Post reporters.
Former Post editor Bill Bradlee and reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein have confirmed that W. Mark Felt, a 91-year-old retiree who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., was the mysterious source who teased the truth out of the reporters by dropping tidbits of information during late night meetings in underground Washington parking lots.
He was second in command at the FBI during the early 1970s.
"W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage," Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bradlee said in a statement.
Bob Woodward said Mr. Felt helped The Post at a time of tense relations between the White House and much of the FBI hierarchy according to the Washington Post.
"The number-two guy at the FBI, that was a pretty good source," Mr. Bradlee told washingtonpost.com. "I knew the paper was on the right track."
The existence of Deep Throat was revealed Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein in their best-selling book All the President's Men. Deep Throat, whose identity has remained an enduring mystery among political junkies and journalists, was said to have guided Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein in the quest for the men responsible for breaking into the Democratic offices in the Watergate hotel in 1972.
Allegations that the highest-ranking government officials, including Mr. Nixon, had sanctioned the break-in, shattered the administration and led to the president's resignation.
A hit movie followed All the President's Men, but the identity of Deep Throat, now surrounded by a mythos of romance and intrigue, has remained a secret for more than 30 years.
"(The relevation) will end a lot of fun," said Suanne Kelman, interim chair of Journalism at Ryerson University. "The only reason that this has been a mystery for so long is because it's rare for a secret not to get out."
Deep Throat was good news for anonymous sources, Kelman said, because he proves that journalists can keep a secret.
Mr. Felt says that he kept the secret from even his family until 2002, according to Vanity Fair.
"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told lawyer John D. O'Connor, the author of the Vanity Fair article, the magazine said in a news release.
Mr. Felt was adamant about remaining silent on the subject until his family persuaded him to come forward. He said he feared that his disclosures were dishonourable or even illegal.
"I don't think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of," Mr. Felt told his son, Mark Jr., according to the article. "You (should) not leak information to anyone."
His family members disagreed. Mr. Felt's daughter, Joan, told Vanity Fair that she pleaded with her father to reveal himself so that that he might receive accolades for his role in Watergate before his death.
"The family believes that my grandfather, Mark Felt Sr., is a great American hero who went well above and beyond the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a horrible injustice," a family statement read by grandson Nick Jones said. "We all sincerely hope the country will see him this way as well."
She recounted to the magazine about how she tried to elicit information from her father as they were watching a Watergate TV special.
When his name came up as one of the possible "Deep Throat" candidates, she said she questioned her father.
"Do you think Deep Throat wanted to get rid of Nixon?" she asked.
"No, I wasn't trying to bring him down," Mr. Felt responded, saying that he was "only doing his duty."
His daughter finally persuaded Mr. Felt to go public by saying that the story might help to pay for his grandchildren's education.
Joan said she had also tried confirming Mr. Felt's involvement with Mr. Woodward, but he refused.
Over the past three decades, Mr. Felt was one among many sources speculated to be Deep Throat.
Others named included Assistant Attorney General Henry Peterson, deputy White House counsel Fred Fielding, and even ABC newswoman Diane Sawyer, who then worked in the White House press office. Ron Zeigler, Nixon's press secretary, White House aide Steven Bull, speechwriters Ray Price and Pat Buchanan, and John Dean, the White House counsel who warned Nixon of "a cancer growing on the presidency," were also considered candidates.
In 2003, Mr. Woodward and Mr. Bernstein said documents naming Deep Throat would be kept secret at an undisclosed location in Washington until the source's death.
In February, Mr. Dean, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that Deep Throat was ill and near death, though Mr. Dean said he didn't know the source's identity.
With files from Associated Press