W. Mark Felt: Encyclopedia II - W. Mark Felt - Deep Throat revealed

W. Mark Felt - Deep Throat revealed

Vanity Fair magazine revealed Felt was Deep Throat on May 31, 2005 when it published an article (eventually appearing in the July issue of the magazine) on its website by John D. O'Connor, an attorney acting on Felt's behalf, in which Felt said, "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat." After the Vanity Fair story broke, Ben Bradlee, the key editor of the Washington Post during Watergate, confirmed that Felt was Deep Throat. According to the Vanity Fair article, Felt was persuaded to come out by his family, who wanted to capitalize on the book deals and other lucrative opportunities that Felt would inevitably be offered in order, at least in part, to pay off his grandchildren's education. They also did not want Bob Woodward to get all the attention by revealing Deep Throat's identity after Felt's death.^[78]

Public response varied widely. Felt's family called him an "American hero", suggesting that he leaked information for moral or patriotic reasons. G. Gordon Liddy, who was convicted of burglary in the Watergate scandal, said Felt should have gone to the grand jury rather than leaking information.^[79] Some have contrasted Felt's media treatment with that of other whistleblowers.

Charles Colson, who served prison time for his actions in the Nixon White House, said Felt had violated "his oath to keep this nation's secrets"^[80], but a Los Angeles Times editorial pointed out this argument was specious, "as if there's no difference between nuclear strategy and rounding up hush money to silence your hired burglars."^[81] Ralph de Toledano, who co-wrote Felt's 1979 memoir, said Mark Felt Jr. had approached him in 2004 to buy Toledano's half of the copyright. Toledano agreed to sell but was never paid and attempted to rescind the deal, threatening legal action. A few days before the Vanity Fair article was released, Toledano finally received a check.

Speculation about Felt's motives at the time of the scandal has varied widely as well. Some suggested it was revenge for Nixon choosing Gray over Felt to replace Hoover as FBI Director. Others suggest Felt acted out of institutional loyalty to the FBI.

Publishers were interested in signing Felt to a book deal after the revelation. Weeks after the Vanity Fair article was released, PublicAffairs Books, whose CEO was a Washington Post reporter and editor during the Watergate era, announced that it signed a deal with Felt. The new book was to include material from his 1979 memoir with an update. The new volume was scheduled for publication in the spring of 2006. Felt sold the movie rights to his story to Universal Pictures for development by Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone. The book and movie deals were valued at US $1 million, most coming from the movie option.^[83]

In the summer of 2005, Woodward's longtime publisher, Simon and Schuster, issued Woodward's swiftly written account of his contacts with Felt, The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat (ISBN 0743287150). The book received poor reviews and, despite the media attention that surrounded the Vanity Fair story, did not sell very well.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Deep Throat revealed", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki