“Deep Throat” Mark Felt dies

The most famous anonymous source in American history, one who helped to bring down a president, died yesterday at his home in Santa Rosa, California. W. Mark Felt, the former No. 2 at the FBI, was 95. His daughter Joan says he “just slipped away.”

Felt was known for 33 years only as Deep Throat, the man who provided tips and confirmation to Bob Woodward during his and Carl Bernstein’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporting on the Watergate scandal and its attendant crimes. They had promised not to reveal his identity until his death and it was a favorite guessing game among Washingtonians and journalists.

Then in 2005, Vanity Fair published an article in which Felt outed himself. It caught Woodward and Bernstein off-guard, even though Bernstein is a VF contributing editor, and soon after Woodward’s account of his relationship with Felt was published as The Secret Man. He’d written the draft manuscript for the eventual day of Felt’s death — Bernstein noted in the book that Woodward is “prone to complete his homework before it is due or even assigned” — and from it we learned Woodward did not consider Hal Holbrook’s memorable Deep Throat scenes in the film version of All The President’s Men to be the heart of the movie and that he had told director Alan Pakula he’d have to figure out those underground garage scenes because Woodward put all he knew into the book by the same name. Woodward has said many times that Holbrook’s famous line, “Follow the money,” does not appear in the book.

While Woodward knew Felt even before he became a reporter, Bernstein hadn’t met him until last month. The two had a speaking engagement in the Bay Area and flew out a day early to see Felt at his home.  Felt knew they were coming and despite his dementia, he had moments of “extreme clarity,” according to Bernstein. He told the New York Times, “We were there to pay our respects and gratitude and we conveyed that. It was heartfelt and was received that way.” Woodward said it was “like a family reunion” and that the meeting was like coming full circle.

Felt and his daughter believed he was an American hero; Woodward and Bernstein agreed, noting he was not their only source or primary source but was one who showed great courage in putting the Constitution and the nation ahead of politics.

For more, The Washington Post has a special archival section of its coverage called The Watergate Story.

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