W. Mark Felt (1913 – 2008)
Former Associate Director of the FBI, was "Deep Throat," a source of much of the Watergate scandal information.
William Mark Felt was a traitor to Nixon and America! What he did caused 53,000 American soldiers to die for nothing in Vietnam!
When any president has to worry whether the deputy director of the FBI is sneaking around in dark corridors peddling information in the middle of the night, he's in trouble. There were times when I should have blown the whistle, so I understand his feelings. But I cannot approve of his methods.
I always suspected it, but I never asked. First of all, I didn't want to be rejected, and I knew he wouldn't tell me. And I knew that if somebody else blabbed, I would get blamed.
I am really shocked. I always thought that he was the consummate professional, very upright, everybody's vision of the F.B.I. guy.
I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal, but now they think he's a hero.
He knows everything there is to know in the FBI. He has access to absolutely everything.
I've always thought it was Mark Felt. I've told people that privately for a number of years. But I have not mentioned it publicly because I think Deep Throat is a dishonorable man.
I thought Mark Felt was probably the one, which made sense because what he told Woodward was mainly the stuff the F.B.I. would have had. What he didn't tell Woodward was really anything critical about us. It wasn't inside the White House stuff, it was inside the F.B.I. stuff.
What would you think the odds were that this town could keep that secret for this long?
Everybody is to know that he is a goddamn traitor and just watch him damned carefully.
I'm the guy they used to call "Deep Throat".
I would have done better. I would have been more effective. Deep Throat didn't exactly bring the White House crashing down, did he?
I am not Deep Throat, and the only thing I can say is that I wouldn't be ashamed to be, because I think whoever [it was] helped the country, no question about it.
Aware of his own weaknesses, he readily conceded his flaws. He was, incongruously, an incurable gossip, careful to label rumor for what it was, but fascinated by it... He could be rowdy, drink too much, overreach. He was not good at concealing his feelings, hardly ideal for a man in his position.
Deep Throat lived in solitary dread, under the constant threat of being summarily fired or even indicted, with no colleagues in whom he could confide. He was justifiably suspicious that phones had been wiretapped, rooms bugged, and papers rifled. He was completely isolated, having placed his career and his institution in jeopardy. Eventually, Deep Throat would even warn Woodward and Bernstein that he had reason to believe "everyone's life is in danger"—meaning Woodward's, Bernstein's, and, presumably, his own.
[Felt] has to go, of course... this guy ain't gonna be the big hero now.
And I said we have it on very good authority that they're from Felt...I said, "Dammit... you ought to give him a lie detector test."
W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage.
The identity of Deep Throat is modern journalism's greatest unsolved mystery. It has been said that he may be the most famous anonymous person in U.S. history. But, regardless of his notoriety, American society today owes a considerable debt to the government official who decided, at great personal risk, to help Woodward and Bernstein as they pursued the hidden truths of Watergate.