Deep Throat

From Wiki Gonzalez

No, not Linda Lovelace. Woodward and Bernstein's informant in the Watergate scandal.

The identity of Deep Throat was one of the 20th century's greatest mysteries. Candidates rumored to have been the real Deep Throat are listed below, for the most part in alphabetical order.

Charles Bates - Assistant director of the FBI's General Investigative Division. Bates had supervisory authority over the break-in. Along with Mark Felt, considered a top candidate by Journalist James Mann.

Patrick Buchanan - Speechwriter and special assistant to Nixon. Identified by John Dean as a possible candidate in his 2002 book Unmasking Deep Throat.

Stephen Bull - Administrative assistant. Identified by John Dean as a possible candidate in his 2002 book Unmasking Deep Throat.

Mark Felt - FBI official. White House tapes from 1972 recorded Nixon aide H.R. Haldeman telling the president that most of the leaks were coming from Felt. The Hartford Courant reported that a 19-year-old it interviewed in 1999 said Bernstein's son Jacob had told him that Felt was Deep Throat. Bernstein and his ex-wife, Nora Ephron, deny he ever told his son. Also considered a top candidate by journalist James Mann.

Fred Fielding - White House lawyer. In April 2003, the results of a detailed review of source material by William Gaines and his journalism students led them to conclude that Fielding (assistant to John Dean) was Deep Throat

Leonard Garment - Jazz saxophonist, White House counsel after John Dean, and Nixon friend.

David Gergen - Nixon adviser, who also served in the Ford, Reagan and Clinton administrations. Threatened legal actions against Esquire magazine when the publication in 1976 named him as its top candidate. Former NBC correspondent Jim Miklaszewski has said he thinks Gergen is Deep Throat.

L. Patrick Gray - Former acting FBI director. He fits Woodward and Bernstein's description, lived close to Woodward, and was the only one of the suspects who could have met with Woodward on the pertinent dates, according to a CBS documentary.

Alexander Haig - White House Chief of Staff, 1973-1974. Authors Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin speculate in their 1991 book Silent Coup: The Removal of a President that Haig may have been "Deep Throat", Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's source in the Watergate story, since Woodward was a communications officer in the Navy in 1969 and 1970 and was responsible for briefing then-Brigadier General Haig while he was a member of the National Security Council. Haig adamantly denies this speculation in his 1992 book Inner Circles: How America Changed the World. Woodward denies it as well.

Richard Helms - Director of Central Intelligence - a very good case has been made that he was Deep Throat at the time. Deep Throat used to signal to Woodward when he had information for him by leaving some signal outside his apartment window, and Woodward and the CIA head lived near enough by to make it a legitimate possibility. He would have been aware of the cover up from early on, as the "smoking gun" Watergate tape mentions using the CIA to disrupt the FBI investigation. He had a falling out with President Nixon regarding the overthrow of Chilean President Allende, which ended in his dismissal in Febuary 1973. (See the PETCO thread for more information on Allende.) Also, the CIA head would not be involved in this decision, nor necessarily supportive of it, yet know of it and have to see how it was carried out. That, among other things, makes him a good suspect. Slight problem: Bernstein always said he'd write an article about who Deep Throat was and why he leaked the evidence to him after the man died, and Helms died a few years ago and still no article from Bernstein.

Henry Kissinger - National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under Nixon. Suspected due mainly to his fondness for using the press.

Robert Kunkel - FBI special agent in charge of the Washington field office.

Raymond Price - Speechwriter. Identified by John Dean as a possible candidate in his 2002 book Unmasking Deep Throat.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist - Old Man Rehnquist was a Deputy Attorney General (no, his FATHER wasn't THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY!) in the "Office of Legal Counsel" from 1969-1972. Rehnquist and Nixon's Deputy AG, Richard Kleindienst, were close friends and Kleindienst recruited Rehnquist into the Justice Department when Nixon got elected. Rehnquist stayed three years and then Kleindienst pushed Nixon to appoint him to the Court, which happened in January '72. AG John Mitchell resigned only 6 months later to head Nixon's re-election committee, and Kleindienst replaced Mitchell as AG just five days before the June '72 Watergate break-in. Kleindienst resigned in 1973 along with Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Dean, but he and Rehnquist remained close.

Diane Sawyer (yes, her) - Worked in the White House communications office, and probably didn't have access to the information. Still, it would be a great story if it was her. Would she interview herself?

John Sears - Nixon aide recruited by Leonard Garment. Garment fingered John Sears as the man in question in his 2000 book In Search of Deep Throat. Woodward denied Garment's allegation.

Mike Piazza - New York Mets catcher and first baseman. Was 3 1/2 yrs old at the time and working for DCI Richard Helms in an undercover preschool sting.

On May 31, 2005, Woodward, Bernstein, and Ben Bradlee finally identified Mark Felt as Deep Throat. A very special Primer Lounge discussed this news.