William Mark Felt biography

Synopsis

In 1972, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein received information from a high-level government official who was given the moniker "Deep Throat," who turned out to be William Mark Felt. He told them that former CIA agent and Nixon staff member Howard Hunt was involved in the Watergate scandal. The evidence eventually led to President Nixon’s resignation in August 1974.

Early Career

Government official. Born William Mark Felt on August 17th, 1914, in Twin Falls Idaho. Felt was the son of carpenter and building contractor, Mark Earl Felt, and mother Rose Dygert.

After graduation from Twin Falls Senior High School in 1931, Felt attended the University of Idaho. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1935. After school, he moved to Washington, D.C., to work for U.S. Senator James Pope. Felt continued to work with Pope's successor in the Senate, David Worth Clark, during the day. At night, he attended The George Washington University Law School. He earned his law degree in 1940, and took a position at the Federal Trade Commission, but he did not enjoy the work.

FBI Agent

In 1941, the same year he was accepted into the bar, Felt began the necessary training to become an FBI agent. He began working for the bureau on January 26, 1942. His first field post was in Texas, on assignment in Houston and San Antonio. Several years later, he returned to Washington to work the Espionage Section of the Domestic Intelligence Division, tracking down Axis spies and saboteurs during World War II.

His post was dissolved in 1945, but Felt's performance during his assignment at the Major Case desk caught the attention of then-President Herbert Hoover. After serving as a top agent in places such as Seattle, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, Felt returned to Washington in 1962, where he helped oversee training at the FBI Academy.

In 1964, Felt was named as head of the bureau's inspection division. He worked in this capacity until July 1st, 1971, when Hoover promoted Felt to Deputy Associate Director, the third highest position in the FBI. After Hoover's death in May of 1972, Vice President Richard Nixon was sworn in as U.S. President for the duration of Hoover's term. This same month, Felt took on the post of Associate Director, becoming second in command at the bureau.

Watergate

On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into Democratic National Committee headquarters. The incident became a national scandal, nicknamed "Watergate" after the name of the office complex in which the events took place. As second in command, Felt was asked to head the bureau's investigation into the break-in in order to determine the extent, if any, of White House involvement.

On June 19, 1972, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein received information from a high-level government official who was given the monniker "Deep Throat." During the phone call, Deep Throat told journalists that former CIA agent and Nixon staff member, Howard Hunt, was definitely involved in the Watergate scandal.

The hot tip gave journalists enough leverage to call for a widespread investigation of the White House's activities, and sped up what would have otherwise become a slow and lengthy trial.

The televised trials in 1973 revealed a string of criminal acts involving campaign fraud, political espionage, breaking and entering, and illegal wiretapping that all led back to President Nixon and his staff. The evidence eventually led to Nixon’s resignation on August 8th, 1974. Yet even after the trial, the identity of the man known as Deep Throat remained a mystery.

Identified as Deep Throat

Felt retired from the FBI on June 22nd, 1973. But it wasn't until May 31st, 2005, that he broke his silence in an issue of Vanity Fair. After suffering a stroke, and encountering serious illness, his daughter, Joan, persuaded him to go public. The article revealed Felt's identity as Deep Throat. Woodward and Bernstein later confirmed this to be fact.

On December 18th, 2008, Mark Felt died after suffering from congestive heart failure. He and his wife Audrey, who died in 1984, had two children, Mark and Joan. They lived in Santa Rosa, California.