Who Was Deep Throat?

Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for their stories about the political scandal known as Watergate.

What most intrigued some people about Watergate, were the secret meetings between the Woodward character and a high-level government official, who was referred to only as Deep Throat. The name echoes a 1972 pornographic movie and plays off the term “deep background,” or information provided to a reporter on the condition that the source be neither identified nor quoted directly.

Deep Throat met with Woodward seven times between September 1972 and May 1973 to help the two reporters break several stories about the involvement of Nixon administration officials in the June 17, 1972, burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex in Northwest Washington. (The burglars, who were seeking information that could be used against Democrats in the upcoming elections, were indicted later for conspiracy, burglary, wiretapping and planting secret listening devices.)

The Post’s stories, along with those of other newspapers and several rulings by Judge John Sirica, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Watergate trials, led to televised hearings in the U.S. Senate about the break-in. From these, a riveted nation learned about an administration coverup of the break-in and a covert White House operation that engaged in burglary and political spying. The hearings were followed by impeachment proceedings by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. But before the full House could vote on whether the president should be impeached, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, and Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president. At least 19 high-level officials and other conspirators would plead guilty to or be convicted of various crimes related to Watergate.

Besides adding the suffix "-gate" to our lexicon as an indicator of scandal, and evoking campaign finance reform bills, Watergate resulted in a lasting public distrust of government. It also left one of the century’s most intriguing political mysteries unsolved.

For the past 30 years, guessing the identity of Deep Throat has become something of a parlor game among journalists, pundits and conspiracy theorists. At least three books and scores of articles have delved into the identity of Deep Throat. The list of likely suspects has included former White House aide and current network anchor Diane Sawyer; Nixon’s chief of staff, Alexander Haig; acting FBI director Patrick Gray; and John Sears, one of Nixon’s deputy counsels. At the same time, some have argued that Deep Throat wasn’t one person but a composite of several sources, while others have posited that he was merely a literary invention.

There never has been a shortage of guesses about the identity of "Deep Throat." But everyone who has been fingered -- from presidential aide Al Haig to press assistant Diane Sawyer to presidential lawyer Leonard Garment -- has denied it, and it remains a mystery to this day. Woodward has said he will not identify the source as long as the person is alive, or until he releases him "from our agreement of confidentiality." But he did indicate, during an appearance today on NBC's "Today Show," that he remains in touch with him.

Woodward also said that Deep Throat deceived his colleagues in denying he was the source.

"Twenty-five years ago he was risking a great deal personally and professionally," Woodward said. "You may assume that in the course of this he was not truthful with colleagues and family members and he denied that he had provided information."

Some Watergate buffs and former Nixon Administration officials have suggested Deep Throat was a composite, a literary device to add some cloak-and-dagger drama to Woodward and Carl Bernstein's 1974 book, "All The President's Men."

After all, some of the best scenes in the book involve clandestine, middle-of-the-night meetings in parking garages between Woodward and the source, arranged with a flower-pot-on-the-balcony signal.

But Woodward has said Deep Throat was a person, not a melange of informants. "It would be absurd for it to be a composite," he told The Associated Press.

In their book, the reporters said Woodward's source was "in the Executive Branch" and "had access to information at CRP [Committee for the Re-election of the President] as well as at the White House."

Woodward had taken to calling him "my friend." But because the source insisted on talking on deep background -- no quotations, even anonymously -- then-Post Managing Editor Howard Simons coined the nickname, "Deep Throat," after the title of a famous pornographic movie of the era.

Some of the other suggested candidates over the years have included William Casey, who served the administration in several capacities and later headed the CIA; then-Assistant Attorney General Henry Petersen; and John Dean's deputy, Fred Fielding.

After Richard Nixon resigned, Ben Bradlee, then the Post's executive editor, said he asked Woodward to tell him Deep Throat's identity and Woodward did. Bradlee told the AP, "I have never told a soul."
 

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