Wow, I was kind of rooting for Pat Buchanan -- that would have been the most bizarre conclusion. But Deep Throat turns out not to be Buchanan, nor William Rehnquist, but Mark Felt. Haven’t you always wondered? Boy, I have -- and I’m so happy that the secret has been revealed. Ever since I read “All the President’s Men,” I have wondered who was the secret source. (Apparently if I’d gone to summer camp with Carl Bernstein’s kid, the mystery might have ended a couple years ago when he spilled the beans to his cabinmates.) Since confirming Felt’s identify, Woodward and Bernstein have been quick to point out that Deep Throat was not the primary cause of Nixon’s downfall, but he was by far the most intriguing.
I am fascinated by so many things about Watergate -- Shakespearean tragedy and morality play. It’s remarkable how the story was first discovered and how different the two Washington Post reporters were and where the whole thing led. Think about it: their work eventually uncovered a governmental conspiracy and led to the unseating of the President of the United States.
How do you follow that? I always thought how daunting it must have been to find yourself as a fairly young reporter on Aug. 10, 1974, knowing that you will likely never top that story.
Now I’m more interested in learning about Felt’s motives and conflicts -- although it seems that he is failing, and not always lucid, so we probably won’t be reading any first-person accounts. Apparently tomorrow Woodward will write about what it was like dealing with Felt, and I’m interested to read all about it.
