Deep Throat

The former FBI man unmasked as "Deep Throat" probably won't be prosecuted for sharing information with reporters during the Watergate scandal, Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales said. "It happened a long time ago," Gonzales said of W. Mark Felt's conduct more than 30 years ago, when he was the No. 2 man at the FBI. "The department has a lot of other priorities." Gonzales declined to characterize Felt as hero or villain. "I will leave it to history to make that determination," he said.

One day after the disclosure that former FBI Deputy Director W. Mark Felt was "Deep Throat," Washington was awash with claims from political celebrities that they'd known the identity of the secret source all along. Nora Ephron, a screenwriter and author who was once married to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein -- who with colleague Bob Woodward played leading roles in exposing Watergate -- put out word on a blog that "I knew that Deep Throat was Mark Felt because I figured it out."

The disclosure that W. Mark Felt, formerly the No. 2 official at the FBI, was Bob Woodward's famous Watergate source, "Deep Throat," has received a flurry of media attention normally reserved for such world-shattering events as a tsunami, the death of a pope or a runaway bride. Some perspective is in order. Admittedly, the unmasking of the whistle-blower who helped Woodward and Carl Bernstein, of the Washington Post, assemble key pieces of the Watergate puzzle is not without importance.

Re "Watergate's 'Deep Throat' Is Revealed," June 1: I am glad that W. Mark Felt, second in command at the FBI in the early 1970s, finally came forward and revealed that he was the enigmatic "Deep Throat," perhaps the greatest political mystery of our generation. Although he kept his secret because he thought what he did was somehow dishonorable, in reality he did a brave and courageous thing and should be viewed as a genuine hero. The Nixon administration was involved in a plethora of unethical, shady, mean-spirited and downright illegal acts.

When investigative reporter Bob Woodward wanted to meet "Deep Throat," he'd move a flowerpot with a red flag to the rear of his apartment balcony. Even more mysteriously, when his top-secret source wanted to meet him, Woodward would open his New York Times, check Page 20 and look for a hand-drawn clock to tell him when to rendezvous at an underground parking garage. Even now, it seems like detail from a corny potboiler.

The long-awaited revelation of the identity of "Deep Throat" should remind journalists and a sometimes-skeptical public of the crucial role anonymous sources can play in revealing wrongdoing in high places, an array of reporters and writers said Tuesday. The Washington Post confirmed Tuesday that W. Mark Felt, a former No. 2 official at the FBI, provided much of the crucial information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixon.

W. Mark Felt, a former No. 2 man at the FBI, has revealed that he was the legendary source known as "Deep Throat" who helped two Washington Post reporters expose details in the Watergate scandal that forced President Nixon to give up the White House. Bob Woodward, who along with Carl Bernstein led the Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, confirmed Felt's identity as the source, ending one of Washington's most tantalizing mysteries.

As readers of the letters to the editor in last Sunday's Los Angeles Times Business section may have noticed, the producers of a new documentary about the X-rated movie "Deep Throat" have thrown a tantrum over my recent column challenging their key contention about the movie's success. Their assertion is that "Deep Throat" has grossed $600 million, and therefore ranks as the most profitable movie in history. The technical term I employed was "baloney."

Regarding " 'Deep Throat' Numbers Just Don't Add Up" (Golden State, Feb. 24): Michael Hiltzik's reluctance to believe our research that a little film like "Deep Throat" could generate $600 million in revenue is understandable. But as the Deep Throat of Watergate fame said, "Follow the money": Banning a film didn't mean that theaters didn't show it or that people didn't go to see it. Quite the reverse; they flocked to the theaters in droves. What's more, because it was banned and because it was a hot ticket, theater owners across the country (Denver, Houston, Milwaukee, etc.)