"Deep Throat" Comes Clean

Most thought it would never happen. Some wondered if Woodward and Berstein made up the main character in their part of the drama known as Watergate. They speculated that "Deep Throat" was invented to protect several sources... or to obscure the fact that they did not have a real source. But such speculations are finally shown to be false. Deep Throat has been unmasked. And not only is he real, but his identity explains a lot about the access he had to secrets in the Executive Branch.

The Washington Post said Tuesday that a former FBI official, W. Mark Felt, was the confidential source known as "Deep Throat" who provided the newspaper information that led to President Nixon's impeachment investigation and eventual resignation.
The paper made its announcement on its Web site after Felt, 91 and living in California, talked to a lawyer who wrote a magazine article for Vanity Fair.
"The No. 2 guy from the FBI, that was a pretty good source," said Ben Bradlee, who had been the key editor at the Post in the Watergate era.
"I knew the paper was on the right track" in its investigative stories, Bradlee said, citing the "quality of the source."

This draws to a close one of the last mysteries of the Nixon Whitehouse. I didn't live through it, but have been caught up in it all thru "All the President's Men" - both the book and the movie.