It wasn’t until his family suggested the truth might help them pay some bills that he agreed to share his story. Felt struggled with the decision, however, and was concerned about how it would affect the family and his legacy. Reportedly, Felt’s family had figured out his pseudo-identity and encouraged him to tell the world. That is, until May 2005 when an ailing Felt announced in a Vanity Fair article, “I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat.”
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Even when the story of Watergate was made into the blockbuster movie All the President’s Men starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Hal Holbrook, Felt and company stayed mum.įelt reportedly even denied the truth to his family, friends and closest colleagues. (Credit: Ben Margot/AP Photo)įor 30 years, Felt, Woodward and Bernstein kept Deep Throat’s identity a secret. Mark Felt waving to the media gathered in front of his home beside his daughter Joan Felt, after breaking a 30 year silence on his identity as Deep Throat during the Watergate scandal. His wife died in 1984 and he eventually moved to California (where he survived a stroke in 1999). He was found guilty in 1980 and pardoned by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.ĭuring that time, Felt wrote his memoir and claimed he was not Deep Throat. In 1978, Felt was indicted for ordering FBI agents to search the homes of Weather Underground members and other leftist groups without a warrant. On June 22, Felt resigned and ended his 31-year career with the FBI. In June, Ruckelshaus directly accused Felt of leaking information to The New York Times. Gray then recommended Felt for the job, but Nixon and his Chief of Staff Alexander Haig were concerned Felt was leaking information to the press and chose William Ruckelshaus instead.įelt and Ruckelshaus had a strained relationship. Howard Hunt, one of Liddy’s Watergate co-conspirators. His tenure was short, however, when he was forced to resign after it came to light he had destroyed a file on CIA Officer E.
In February 1973, Nixon appointed Gray permanent FBI director. But Woodward went all out to protect his source and would continue to safeguard the truth long after the Watergate scandal had ended. The White House suspected Felt and as the investigation dragged on, Felt lived in dread of being discovered and losing his job – or worse. The book spurred varying opinions about the identity of Deep Throat. Woodward and Bernstein published All the President’s Men two months before Nixon resigned. ‘Deep Throat’ stayed in the shadows through it all. In all, 40 people were convicted on felony charges for crimes linked to Watergate.įormer FBI officials, Mark Felt (left) and Edward S. Knowing they would directly tie him to Watergate – and with impeachment imminent – Nixon resigned the presidency on August 8. In July 1973, a court order forced him to turn over the remaining recordings. Nixon ordered Cox fired but eventually surrendered some of the tapes. It was also revealed that Nixon had recorded every conversation in the Oval Office during his presidency and that the tapes of those conversations would contain proof he had obstructed justice.Ī bitter, months-long legal battle over the tapes then ensued between Nixon’s lawyers and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. White House Counsel John Dean and other Nixon aides eventually testified that Nixon had abused his power by ordering the CIA to hinder the FBI’s investigation into the scandal. The White House stonewalled on the Watergate tapes.Īs the Watergate burglars and their collaborators were convicted, it was clear Nixon knew much more than he had let on. (Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images) President Richard Nixon with the Watergate tapes, 1974. They vehemently denied they, the President or anyone in the White House were involved with the break-in, even though a $25,000 check allotted for Nixon’s campaign mysteriously ended up in the bank account of a real estate firm owned by one of the robbers.
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The initial break-in and wiretapping went without a hitch however, when the burglars returned to the scene of the crime to fix some broken wiretaps on June 17, 1972, they were caught red-handed and arrested.Īfter the arrests, Liddy and his accomplices scrambled to destroy evidence as the Nixon propaganda machine went into full gear. He took his plan to White House Counsel John Dean and Attorney General John Mitchell, who approved a smaller-scale version of the idea. Gordon Liddy, Finance Counsel for the Committee for the Reelection of the President (CRP). The idea to break into the Democratic National Committee’s office and tap their phones was the brainchild of G. Gordon Liddy connived the Watergate break-in.
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