W. Mark Felt, Watergate's Deep Throat, dies

Felt died Thursday of congestive heart failure in Santa Rosa after several months of failing health, said family friend John D. O'Connor, who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt's secret.

The shadowy central figure in the one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information about President Richard Nixon and his aides to The Washington Post.

While some �?including Nixon and his aides �?speculated that Felt was the source who connected the White House to the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, he steadfastly denied the accusations until finally coming forward in May 2005.

"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," Felt told O'Connor for the Vanity Fair article, creating a whirlwind of media attention.

The man who had kept his secret for decades, now weakened by a stroke, wasn't doing much talking �?he merely waved the media from the front door of his daughter's Santa Rosa home.

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 trying to cover up attempts to sabotage opponents.

Felt grappled with his place in history, arguing with his children over whether to reveal his identity or to take his secret to the grave, O'Connor said. He agonized about what revealing his identity would do to his reputation. Would he be seen as a turncoat or a man of honor?

The revelation capped a Washington whodunnit that spanned more than three decades and seven presidents. It was the final mystery of Watergate, the subject of the best-selling book and hit movie "All the President's Men," which inspired a generation of college students to pursue journalism.

Felt helped Woodward link former CIA man Howard Hunt to the break-in. He said the reporter could accurately write that Hunt, whose name was found in the address book of one of the burglars, was a suspect. But Felt told him off the record, insisting that their relationship and Felt's identity remain secret.

In a memoir published in April 2006, Felt said he saw himself as a "Lone Ranger" who could help derail a White House cover-up.

Felt 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 cooperate. "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."

Some critics said that Felt, a J. Edgar Hoover loyalist, was bitter at being passed over when Nixon appointed an FBI outsider and confidante, L. Patrick Gray, to lead the FBI after Hoover's death. Gray was later implicated in Watergate abuses.

"We had no idea of his motivations, and even now some of his motivations are unclear," Bernstein said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28306346/ 

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{ As a political junkie I have always been fascinated with the history of Nixon and Watergate. Of course for many it's not quite "history" as they lived through it and may see it all very differently than I do. Many on the right still think Nixon got a raw deal and may have been guilty of a cover up after the fact but had no advance knowledge of the break in of Democratic headquarters in the Watergate Hotel. Many on the left { like my Dad} still hate Nixon with a visceral intensity and think he should have been jailed. Mark Felt's own questionable motives and soul searching about whether history would see him as a hero or a traitor sum up the moral and ethical uncertainty of the case and the times it unfolded in.

It seems to me the big question which has yet to be definitely answered is " Was Richard Nixon a crook?". Sure he attempted to cover up a scandal in his Presidency but so did Clinton. He had a "hate list" but the affect of that was exaggerated by the press at the time. The facts are that both Nixon and his Veep resigned in disgrace over different issues but Nixon { right up to his death} seemed befuddled as to what it was that he had done that was so very bad?

If it happen today what do you think the outcome would be? Did it have more to do with the times rather than the crimes? How do you see Richard Nixon after all these years? How about Watergate and deep throat? Was Nixon's Presidency any worse that that of George W Bush?

What do you think?}