Deep Throat and Watergate

[John Simkin]

There have been several articles published recently about the identity of Deep Throat. It is claimed that Deep Throat is near death and that Bob Woodward will therefore be free to name him. However, it is possible this is part of a disinformation campaign to protect George Bush Snr.

Boston Herald (Feb 4, 2005)

Adrian Havill, author of a 1993 biography "Deep Truth'' on reporters Woodward and Carl Bernstein, previously had concluded the unnamed Watergate source was not one person but a composite. Now, after new research, he posted a note on the Romenesko site of the Poynter Institute (poynter.org) targeting the elder Bush as Woodward's unnamed contact.

Havill said he began to suspect Bush when his president son, who dislikes the press, gave Woodward an unusual seven hours of interviews....

The elder Bush had motivation to dislike Nixon, who had urged him to leave a safe congressional seat for an assistant Secretary of Treasury position and hinted he would replace Spiro Agnew on the 1972 ticket. Nixon reneged, and Bush "was given the thankless task of heading the Republican National Committee in 1973,'' Havill said.

Bush was United Nations ambassador in New York from 1971 to 1973 but came to his Washington home on weekends. Seven of the eight Deep Throat/Woodward meetings were on weekends.

Bush, who later became CIA director, had intimate knowledge of Washington. "This is a guy with deep political contacts from way back,'' Havill said.

Both Woodward and Bush are Navy men and Yale graduates.

Woodward has said he will reveal Deep Throat's identity only when the source is dead. Bush may not want to come forward because the revelation he took down Nixon would make the entire Bush clan the "black sheep'' of the GOP, Havill said. A call to a Bush spokesman at his presidential library in Houston was not returned.

Havill posted his theory after Watergate notes from the two reporters, sold in 2003 for $5 million to the University of Texas, went on display - minus Deep Throat's identity.

Editor and Publisher (4 Feb, 2005)

The author of the 1993 biography of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, “Deep Truth,” today named George H.W. Bush the new chief suspect as famed Watergate source Deep Throat.

The “outing” was timed to the opening of the two reporters’ Watergate archives at the University of Texas.

The author of several books for major publishers, Adrian Havill says his claim is based on recent events and his own research at the the National Archives. He announced the “finding” in a letter posted at the Romenesko site at the Poynter Institute.

Havill, author of a book about FBI double agent Robert Hanssen, “The Spy who Stayed Out of the Cold,” formerly believed that the Deep Throat character was a composite of several sources.

Among the suggestive evidence he cited for his new theory:

“Did Bush have motivation? You bet,” Havill wrote. “It was Richard Nixon who urged Bush to leave a safe seat in Congress, hinting there would be a position as assistant Secretary of the Treasury waiting for him if he failed to win a Senate seat held by Ralph Yarborough. When Bush lost, Nixon reneged and asked him to take the U.N. slot instead but teased him by hinting he would be the replacement for Spiro Agnew in 1972. Instead, he was given the thankless task of heading the Republican National Committee in 1973. The elder Bush got his revenge in the end, by standing up at a cabinet meeting in August of 1974 and becoming the first person in Nixon's inner circle to ask the President to resign.

Havill also pointed out that, like Woodward, Bush was a Yalie and a Navy man. And he recalled that Woodward in his 1998 book, “Shadow,” boasted that Bush had aides drop off “classified documents to his home which became the basis of a Washington Post front page story.”

Furthermore, George W. Bush, to the surprise of many, gave Woodward seven hours of interviews and urged his cabinet to cooperate with Woodward on book projects.

John Dean, Sunday's Los Angeles Times (6 Feb, 2005)

Woodward ... has advised his executive editor at the Washington Post that Throat is ill. And Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post and one of the few people to whom Woodward confided his source's identity, has publicly acknowledged that he has written Throat's obituary....

As for Deep Throat, well, we will all soon learn if Woodward has been protecting a criminal for three decades, or merely a source who gave him some good information and some bad information — when history's greatest source was wrong — that Woodward has never corrected. (To pick just one of Throat's many errors, I randomly opened "All the President's Men," scanned until I came to the passage in which Woodward reports Throat as giving him this: "Dean talked with Sen. (Howard) Baker after (the) Watergate committee (was) formed and Baker is in the bag completely, reporting back directly to the White House." It never happened.

Victoria Ward, The Scotsman (7 Feb, 2005)

The notorious Deep Throat source who helped bring down US President Richard Nixon is close to death, it was claimed today.

The identity of the Watergate source has remained a mystery for almost 30 years, fuelling speculation and rumour, the latest even suggesting it was former president George Bush Snr.

But former White House counsel John Dean’s allegations suggest otherwise.

According to Dean, Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter to whom Deep Throat leaked information, has told the newspaper editor his source is ill.

“We’ll all know one day very soon,” he writes in the Los Angeles Times.

“Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post and one of the few people to whom Woodward confided his source’s identity, has publicly acknowledged that he has written Throat’s obituary.”

If and when the posthumous profile reveals the elusive name it could put paid to another claim – that the man who brought down one president was actually another.

Watergate researcher Adrian Havill claims on a journalism website that it was Bush Snr who was responsible for the biggest scandal in US political history.

Havill, who has previously claimed Deep Throat was a composite of several sources, says new information now persuades him otherwise.

He writes that he began to suspect Bush when his son, who dislikes the press, gave Woodward seven hours of interviews.

Bush Snr was UN ambassador in New York between 1971 and 1973 but visited Washington almost every weekend, he notes. Seven of the eight Deep Throat meetings took place at weekends.

Havill also claims Bush had sufficient motivation. “It was Nixon who urged Bush to leave a safe seat in Congress, hinting there would be a position as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury waiting for him if he failed to win a Senate seat,” he writes on www.poynter.org .

But when Bush lost, Nixon instead gave him the “thankless task” of heading the Republican National Committee.

Havill alleges that the Deep Throat relationship is why Woodward has inside access to his son, the current President.

A spokesman for George Bush snr was unavailable for comment.

[Gary Buell]

The author of "Chasing Ghosts", Jim Koepke, claims to have spoken to Deep Throat. He might be a good person to invite to the book forum.

[James Richards]

In my most humble of opinions, Deep Throat is Fred Fielding.

James

[John Simkin]

In my most humble of opinions, Deep Throat is Fred Fielding.

Could you tell us more about Fred Fielding. Is it just a hunch?

[Tim Gratz]

John, I'll leave it to James but Fielding was a lawyer working for the White House. I believe he remained active in politics after the fall of RN. He was not in Dallas.

[Shanet Clark]

James, I think Woodward constructed a composite character when

Hollywood began to show an interest in the novelization 'ATPM.'

Fielding may have formed part of his intelligence sources

but Al Haig and FBI man Mark Felt are probably part of the DEEP THROAT

characterization as well.

Woodward was an executive briefer in the late 1960s for the Navy,

and had sources inside the Phil and Katie Graham/Mockingbird/Pentagon

circle...

now his elitism grows and his critical senses fail more with every book.

Like Jack Anderson, he has his own private agenda, a statist, a positivist,

...and what he knows, but won't tell us -- that is the real story --

The Bush angle is interesting, it would show a TEXAS CIA cabal stepping in to

take advantage of the power vacuum emerging with the scandal...

HMMMMM>>>>>>>>have to ponder this one a bit

Edited February 10, 2005 by Shanet Clark

[James Richards]

Could you tell us more about Fred Fielding. Is it just a hunch? (John Simkin)

John,

The University of Illinois did a group research thing which I followed closely. I think they are on the money. I personally did some work on the subject and came to the conclusion that Fielding was most likely. I might be wrong.

Here is a link regarding the UOI study.

http://deepthroatuncovered.com/media/chica...Throat'.htm

James

[Pat Speer]

To my recollection, the one black strike against Fielding is that Woodward swore that it wasn't him, when Fielding was up for a position as Reagan's attorney. On the other hand, if I was Woodward, I would lie before I'd break my promise to my most valuable source.

[Shanet Clark]

I don't think it was Fred Fielding.

I think it was composite of Al Haig and others, possibly Mark Felt at FBI.

It was probably someone from Woodwards Naval Intelligence briefer days, i.e. Al Haig.