Deep Throat Revealed, More Watergate Notes

Now that the FBI informant credited with exposing the Watergate scandal has revealed himself, it's only a matter of time before the pivotal communications between Deep Throat and Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein are shown to the public.

UT, as you may recall, purchased the entire Watergate archive back in 2003 for the bargain sum of $5 million. A subset of the massive collection, consisting largely of tape recordings, reports, and story drafts, was exhibited at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center back in February this year. While the collection told a fascinating story, it was missing the most compelling and significant piece of the puzzle: how, exactly, Deep Throat - now revealed to be former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt - acquired and later revealed some of the most zealously guarded secrets in US political history.

What Austinist finds so impressive about the entire Watergate ordeal is the journalistic integrity demonstrated by Woodward and Bernstein, who honored their vows of confidentiality despite public pressure and countless attempts to unmask the identity of Deep Throat. (In retrospect, several people did guess correctly, most famously James Mann in the May 1992 issue of Atlantic Monthly) Not surprisingly, many to this day remain embittered that a few concerned folks were able to uncover the massive corruption within the Nixon administration. But if you ask us, Felt did our country quite a lot of good.

Austinist invites you to comment: Mark Felt, hero or snitch?