Deep Throat.
The Watergate scandal's most influential source, Mr. William Mark Felt died Tuesday. He was 79.
Known as professor by his Students at Suburban College and a loving father to his children, Felt led a life only most people are acquainted with through book and movies; a double agent working to help bring to light the actions of a corrupted government while desperately trying to hide his identity.
As the number two guy, Associate Director of the FBI in the early 1970s, Felt will be forever known as a key player in revealing the Watergate scandal, and for the information he was able to leak to reporters at the Washington Post Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, which eventually resulted in the first president in American history to resign from office.
Daughter Joan Felt described her father as a “play-by-the-rules” type of guy, and a very private man. She claims the best piece of advice her father ever gave her was, “Stand up for the truth, always tell the truth, no matter what the situation. To defend it. To live by it.” She adds, “He was a great teacher and mentor to his students … a patriot and a brave man.”
Joan explained that her father was a major source to Woodward and Bernstein, and confirmed information they received linked to the scandal. Felt’s involvement and the information he provided helped reporters uncover the link between the break-in at the Democratic headquarters and the two people who worked for the President, at the time Nixon was in the White House. An incident the White House was desperately trying to cover up at the time.
The identity of Deep Throat was debated for more than three decades, and Felt was frequently mentioned as a possibility. Felt denied his involvement in the uncovering of President Nixon’s Watergate scandal for more than 30 years, coming clean in 2005 to the world about his involvement, and his identity as “Deep Throat”.
His family viewed him as and “American Hero”, said daughter Joan,...