Deep Throat

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Not the movie, the scandal... and one of the more interesting stories to have broken in the last 10 years.

It interesting how much Jelousy and loyalty to the FBI as an organization played into Deputy Director Felts decision to talk to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. For those of you who dont know, he had been groomed by J. Edgar Hoover to replace him (as much as Hoover groomed anyone) but was stymied when the White House put their own yes man in the FBI's top spot. His anger over losing the prestigious top spot and fear of the FBI being hurt by the various illegal operations the White House was having it do were key factors in the whistle blowing. In the Nixon tapes he was strongly suspected by Dean and Nixon, but discounted because he literally had a huge amount to lose, and because it would be embarassing to fire him on a whim not to mention dangerous. If he hadnt been the source of the leak forcing him out might have influenced him to spill what he knew about everything.

Felt was not innocent of illegal activities, having been convicted of black bag ops against fringe groups in the US. In fact only a pardon from President Reagan kept him out of jail. (I wonder if he had been known as Deep Throat then if he would have still been pardoned).

He is definately an interesting man, and I must say revealing him as Deep Throat has raised more questions in my mind than it has answered.

[Spriggan]

I've been trying all day to feign intrest in this story since it's supposed to be so monumental but I frainkly don't care.  I think the annoucement is about 20 years too late to be of any singnificance becasue with the exception of a few reporters and people around at the time this story affects no one.  The only reason the whole watergate is still discussed now-a-days is because of the mystery involved and now that "the source" is knowen public intrest will die off fairly fast.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Actually, sprig, I think you're very, very wrong about that. Public interest may wane a little, but Watergate is still very relevant. I believe it is probably one of the two greatest sources of how the public reacts to and thinks about the government.

I don't fault anyone for being uninterested, but this adds a huge new dimension to how we think about 1960s-70s history, which is still very, very important to our own current society.

[House of Mustard]

I agree.  I think that Watergate is extremely relevant.  Some of the most important Supreme Court decisions were linked to the scandal (and other Nixon problems).

However, I do think that knowing who Deep Throat is isn't that big of a deal.  But more importantly, I'm kind of sad to actually know.  Deep Throat was cool because he was a mystery.  It's like if they captured Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.  We'd all think it's neat for a couple of days, but then they'd just be another animal in the zoo -- interesting, but not nearly as intriguing.

[Spriggan]

I never said watergate wasn't relavent I just said who Deep Throat was isn't.

and I'm right when I say that most people talk about watergate only because of the mystery because most people aren't intrested in poltics of 20 years ago.  Over the past few years I've rarely heard on any of the news programs I watch watergate discusses as anything but who deep thoat is and relateing to the roll of the press and secreat sources.  Most people don't really care about what happened 20 years ago since it's allready happened and I doubt anyone makes discisions off of "remember watergate" anymore.

[JP Dogberry]

Can someone enlighten me as to what this whole thread is actually about? I'm kinda lost, and wondering why a type of porn is in the title.

[House of Mustard]

Silly Australian.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

for starters, Watergate was 30 years ago, not 20.

And no, people don't think "watergate happened so this is what I'll do" but their entire cultural conception is informed by the implications of the scandal.

And I don't know what Utah news is like then, but when Watergate comes up, it's rarely "I wonder who deep throat was" in any serious discussion around here. Y'know, where it happened, and where most of the national news happens. When it comes up in a serious discussion, it's about what it means for the history and future of the presidency and thus the nation.

JP: In 1974 Richard Nixon was running for re-election. People associated with his campaign staff, probably with his knowledge (though this is not proven and Nixon was pardoned by his successor to the presidency), broke into the opposing party's campaign headquarters and stole information.

Deputy Directory Felts of the FBI, going by the moniker "Deep Throat" approached reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and gave them information to break the story and report on it. THrough their reporting, the scandal came to light, leading to Nixon's resignation (before he could be impeached) and, in part, the cultural attitude in the US of extreme mistrust of politicians and distaste for the government.

(there are obviously many other factors in the formation of that attitude, and it obviously wasn't a brand new attitude then, nor unique to the US, but it was a landmark event that has shaped American attitude and history since)

Deep Throat was known only by his alias till yesterday, I think. I'm not sure when the story on his ID broke.

BUt rest assured that "Deep Throat" was not the only poorly chosen moniker of the time. Nixon's re-election was headed by the "Committee to Re-Elect the President," or in short form, CREEP.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

oh, and Sprig, your argument seems to lead to the belief that we no longer make any of our decisions based on a) Vietnam (patently untrue), b) WWII (they may be mostly dead, but we still have a world society that was largely shaped by it and it's surrounding events), c) the Great Depression and the political/social responses of the executive branch at the time (I shouldn't have to go into the plethora of institutions that date to this response or the policies our government STILL pursues because of an event that happened well over "20 years ago"), or the Civil War or Revolutionary period.

[JP Dogberry]

Ok. Strikes me as a clever tactic.

[42]

Maybe because I've always lived out West, but I've never heard anyone wonder about who Deep Throat was.

[House of Mustard]

Didn't you ever watch X-Files?

[fuzzyoctopus]

Or Newsradio?
I think it's kind of  letdown personally. It was a fun mystery.

[Chimera]

Deep Throat was known only by his alias till yesterday, I think. I'm not sure when the story on his ID broke.

Do you have a link to the actual story and/or article? I would be very interested to read it.

I never had discussions about who Deep Throat was but I remember when I saw the movie (what was it called?...the one with Robert Redford...I think it is All the President's Men) wondering who he was. So that's very interesting that he has revealed himself.

Can you imagine carrying a secret around like that for years? Talk about stressful--bad karma.

[Fellfrosch]

I'm not entirely convinced it was Felt. People have been saying it might be him for years, and the only reason people believe it now is that Woodward confirmed it--but Bernstein won't, because he is under an oath not to reveal the identity until the source is dead or releases him from the oath. If Felt is really the source, why didn't he release Bernstein from his oath?