Who Was ‘Deep Throat’ Mark Felt? Remembering When The White House Became a Crime Scene

One of the most significant events in American History was the Watergate Scandal. It took down a president–leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. A shadowy White House insider played a pivotal role behind the scenes in unmasking the truth. The figure was known as “Deep Throat” and he helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein expose the Nixon administration’s crimes. His true identity was a mystery for some three decades. In 2005, former FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt finally revealed himself as the stealth whistleblower.

It was on June 17, 1972 when the Watergate Scandal began. On that say, five burglars were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. They were linked to Nixon’s re-election campaign and were literally caught red-handed while wiretapping phones and stealing sensitive DNC documents. G. Gordon Liddy, finance counsel for Nixon’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), was the mastermind of the criminal plan. Liddy’s plan, which he reportedly presented to top White House officials, was to sabotage the Democrats. When the break-in was revealed, Nixon and his aides denied involvement.

At the time of the break-in, Felt was the second-highest-ranking official at the FBI. In fact, his team investigated the crime, but Felt grew increasingly frustrated as his efforts were repeatedly derailed, Biography reported.

Felt leaked crucial information to Bob Woodward, who, alongside Carl Bernstein, was investigated the Watergate Scandal for The Washington Post. The name “Deep Throat,” a nod to the controversial 1972 pornographic film, was used to protect Felt’s identity, according to History.com. Felt and Woodward communicated under a shroud of secrecy, often meeting in a dimly lit parking garage in Rosslyn, Virginia.

As Woodward and Bernstein published article after article linking the break-in to Nixon’s re-election campaign, the White House dismissed their work as a false “witch hunt.” But the evidence mounted and the FBI discovered that the Watergate break-in was part of a larger campaign of political espionage and sabotage orchestrated by the president’s men. A $25,000 check tied to Nixon’s campaign was traced to one of the burglars.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Nixon had recorded every conversation in the Oval Office. And these damning tapes included evidence of the president’s involvement in the cover-up. White House Counsel John Dean went on to testify that Nixon had abused his power.

In July 1974, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the recordings. Facing impeachment, Nixon resigned on August 8, 1974. Some 40 government officials were convicted of crimes related to the Watergate Scandal.

For decades, speculation swirled about Deep Throat’s identity. Felt denied being the source, but in 2005, at age 91, Felt finally confessed in a Vanity Fair article.

Mark Felt died in 2008 at the age of 95.