Source: WPVI – ABC Philadelphia
W. Mark Felt, former FBI deputy director, has finally broken his silence to the public that he is Deep Throat, the secret Washington Post source that helped bring down President Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
Felt is now 91 years old and lives in Santa Rosa, California with his family. A book written and apparently autographed by Felt is up for auction on eBay and is drawing quite a lot of attention.
Apparently Felt revealed his secret to his family first, then opened up about the 30-year old mystery to the public this week.
The seller claims she bought the book at FBI headquarters in 1981. A photograph of the book shows the inscription “With warmest regards W. MARK FELT.” It’s dated October first, 1981. Bidding opened at ten dollars.
Felt was the number two official at the FBI during the Watergate scandal. In his 1979 book, “The FBI Pyramid: From The Inside,” he denied being the source who provided The Washington Post crucial information that helped drive President Nixon from office.
The link to the eBay auction for the Mark Felt book is here.
Bidding was up to $1,906.00 when I found the link to the auction on Thursday afternoon.
The 1976 movie All the President’s Men starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Hal Holbrook tells the story of the two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Hoffman) meeting Deep Throat (Holbrook) in parking garages. Deep Throat smokes a cigarette, quietly telling the reporters about the scandal.
If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Actor Jason Robards won a best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of news editor Ben Bradlee.
When Ben Woodward wanted to meet Deep Throat, he would put an empty flower pot with a red flag in it on his apartment balcony. When Deep Throat wanted to meet, the hands of a clock would appear written inside Woodward’s copy of The New York Times.
A more recent version for the younger crowd: Think of actor Steven Williams as Mr. X in The X-Files. Remember how Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) would tape an “X” in his apartment window to let Mr. X know he wanted to talk? Or how Mr. X would suddenly appear in a dark parking garage to speak with Agent Mulder?
There are various other Deep Throat/Mark Felt/Watergate/Richard Nixon items on eBay. I would suggest, however, that you search for Mark Felt versus Deep Throat as there are several items relating to the infamous adult film called “Deep Throat”.