Author: Goran Lefkov
The Watergate scandal is one of the most notorious scandals in the United States in the last century. The event was named after the Democratic Party’s headquarters in Washington, DC, on June 17, 1972. It was an illegal intrusion into the headquarters of the party in which people from the administration of the then US President Richard Nixon were involved. Wiretapped materials were brought before the court later, and it was heard that in the oval room President Nixon had approved the operation to cover up the case.
During the Watergate case Mark Felt worked as an agent for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, better known by the acronym FBI. He maintained contacts with journalists. Characteristic of the Watergate affair is that in the United States for a long time they did not know who gave the documents to the journalists. That relationship had been kept secret for almost 3 decades.
In 2005, at the age of 91, Felt told Vanity Fair magazine that during his tenure as FBI Assistant Director, he had been the notorious anonymous source known as Deep Throat, who provided Washington Post reporters with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with critical information about the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. Felt finally admitted he had been Deep Throat after being persuaded by his daughter to reveal his identity before his death.
Felt published two memoirs: The FBI Pyramid in 1979 and A G-Man’s Life, written by John O’Connor in 2006.
In 2012, the FBI released Felt’s personal file covering the period from 1941 to 1978. In the United States, Felt’s name is spoken with respect. He is considered a hero.
Born in Twin Falls, Idaho in 1913, he started working as an FBI agent in 1942. In his career at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he started from a basic position and became the second person in the Bureau. After handing over the materials and opening the Watergate affair, he worked as the second man in the FBI. In 1980, he was fined for ordering an entry into the homes of people involved in the Watergate affair. However, in 1980, then-US President Ronald Reagan pardoned him, overturning his sentence. After this Mark Felt was a free man.
