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Watergate's Deep Throat, scourge of Nixon, dies aged 95
Anna Davis19 Dec 2008
THE FBI official who helped to bring down Richard Nixon as the anonymous source "Deep Throat" has died, aged 95.
W. Mark Felt, who was second-in-command of the FBI when he fed secret information to journalists investigating the Watergate scandal of 1972, died of heart failure in Santa Rosa, California, after several months of ill health.
He met Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in underground car parks to supply crucial leads in the investigation into political espionage, campaign fraud and improper tax audits. As the central figure in one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Mr Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret.
He denied speculation over his role for three decades but dramatically unmasked himself in Vanity Fair in May 2005. In an article written by family friend John D O'Connor, he said: "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat."
He was persuaded to go public by his daughter Joan, who feared that Washington Post reporter Woodward would reveal his identity after he died. She said: "Let's do it for the family. We could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for the kids' education." Critics, including those who went to prison for the Watergate scandal, called him a traitor for betraying the commander-in-chief. Supporters hailed him as a hero for blowing the whistle on a corrupt administration which was trying to cover up attempts to sabotage opponents.
In a memoir published in April 2006, Mr Felt said he saw himself as a "Lone Ranger" who could help derail a White House cover-up.
He wrote that he was upset by the slow pace of the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in and believed the press could pressure the administration to co-operate.
"From the start, it was clear that senior administration officials were up to their necks in this mess, and that they would stop at nothing to sabotage our investigation," Felt wrote in A G-Man's Life: The FBI, Deep Throat and the Struggle for Honor in Washington.
