The former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as `` Deep Throat '' 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president has died .
died
fbi second-in-command reveal `` deep throat 30 year he tip reporter watergate scandal topple president die
The former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as `` Deep Throat '' 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president has <m> died </m> .
The former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as `` Deep Throat '' 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president has <m> died </m> .
Mark Felt was 95. John D. O'Connor , a family friend who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt 's secret , says he died Thursday .
The shadowy central figure in one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century , Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information about President Richard Nixon and his aides to The Washington Post .
Some speculated that Felt was the source who connected the White House to the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee .
He steadfastly denied the accusations until finally coming forward in May 2005 .
In the last week of November , the National Archives released more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Nixon presidency , among them were the urgings of past and present FBI agents and other interested citizens to appoint Felt , then the No. 2 FBI official , as director .
Associates described his `` outstanding loyalty . ''
Nixon did not take the advice .
Ultimately , Felt 's devastating leaks as The Washington Post 's secret Watergate source helped undermine Nixon 's presidency .
Nixon , soon to be consumed by the Watergate investigation , passed over career agents including Felt when he selected loyalist L. Patrick Gray as FBI chief after the J. Edgar Hoover 's death in 1972 , just weeks before the Watergate break-in .
Gray resigned the next year because of allegations he had destroyed Watergate documents .
Felt 's supporters weighed in , with letters , telegrams and cards that have been in Nixon 's White House files all these years .
`` He has the integrity , the ability , the experience and the image to insure that our FBI will continue to deserve and maintain world esteem , '' Harold L. Child Jr. , legal attache to the embassy in Japan and a 30-year FBI veteran , told Nixon in an April 1973 letter .
Efton A. Stanfield , a former FBI special agent who was then an executive of the electrical contractors ' association , asked Nixon in a telegram to turn to the career professional to replace Gray .
`` Mr. Felt is a man of outstanding loyalty , character , reputation , habits , '' he said .
The `` fidelity , bravery , and integrity of Mr. Felt are unquestioned . ''
Felt himself was the lead agent in a telegram sent to the White House by a group of agents asking that a highly qualified professional be nominated .
The police chief in Kodiak , Alaska , made the case for Felt , and so did ordinary citizens .
Writing from Brooklyn , N.Y. , Viena K. Neaville told Nixon that choosing Felt would be good for him because , `` You would be spared the tremendous aggravation to which you are subjected by so many factions . ''
Nixon was spared no grief .
He eventually chose William Ruckelshaus , who served at FBI only briefly .
Deep Throat 's identity remained a mystery until Felt stepped forward in 2005 to acknowledge his clandestine role in bringing down Nixon .
Bob Woodward of The Washington Post said he first spoke with Felt about Watergate two days after the break-in .