The Watergate Scandal

After more than 30 years of silence, the most famous anonymous source in American history, Deep Throat, has identified himself to a reporter at Vanity Fair. W. Mark Felt, 91, an assistant director at the FBI in the 1970s, has told lawyer John D. O'Connor, the author of the Vanity Fair article, that he is “the man known as Deep Throat”. Only four people were said to know the source's identity: the Washington Post's Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein; Ben Bradlee, the former executive editor of the Post; and, of course, Deep Throat himself.

“W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage,” Woodward and Bernstein said in a statement. “However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate.”

In confirming the story to ABC News earlier, Felt's son W. Mark Felt Jr. said, “This is all very tumultuous.” O'Connor told ABC News in an interview today that Felt had for years thought he was a dishonorable man for talking to Woodward. Woodward's W. Mark Felt coverage of the scandal, written with Bernstein, led to the resignation of President Nixon. “Mark wants the public respect, and wants to be known as a good man,” O'Connor said. “He's very proud of the bureau, he's very proud of the FBI. He now knows he is a hero.”

The identity of Deep Throat, the source for details about Nixon's Watergate cover-up, has been called the best-kept secret in the history of Washington D.C., or at least in the history of politics and journalism.