The Secret Man
The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat
Author: Bob Woodward
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 978074328159
Year Published: 2005
This book was printed after former FBI second-in-command W. Mark Felt was unmasked as Watergate's enigmatic informant, Deep Throat - the mysterious source who had helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein break open the Watergate scandal in 1972. The secret had remained hidden for 33 years. In this memoir, Woodward shares the story of his long, complex relationship with Felt who had helped him end the presidency of Richard Nixon.
The Secret Man also chronicles in intimate detail, the chronology of events from Woodward’s first chance encounter with Felt in the Nixon White House, to their covert, middle-of-the-night meetings in an underground parking garage, to the aftermath of Watergate and decades beyond, until Felt finally unmasked himself as Deep Throat at the age of 91.
It was their meetings at the parking garage that Felt leaked findings from the FBI’s Watergate investigations to Woodward that allowed him and Bernstein to expose the Watergate scandal in the Washington Post.
From the book, readers get the impression of Felt’s struggles as a patriotic career FBI man, and also an admirer of J. Edgar Hoover, the Bureau’s legendary director. However, after Hoover’s death, Felt found himself in the crossfire of one of Washington’s political conflicts, as Nixon and his men tried to dominate the Bureau as well as cover up the crimes of the administration.
The book also reveals the ongoing tussles between the White House and the FBI. Woodward explores Felt's turmoil and motives as he became Deep Throat. He did not only confirm Woodward and Bernstein’s findings from other sources, but also guided and gave the reporters a sense of the immensity of Nixon’s criminal abuses as President.
The Secret Man is both a memoir and morality recollection, as well as a political and journalistic journal and Woodward offers context and detail about The Washington Post’s expose of the Watergate scandal. He also examines his later, tense relationship with Felt, when the FBI man stood charged with authorising FBI burglaries but was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan.
Woodward also reveals his own personal struggles as he tries to define his relationship, his obligations and his gratitude to Felt. The narrative continues in later years as the author wrestles with the ethics of revealing his source, even after a senile Felt begins blurting out the secret and his family pesters Woodward to confirm his identity as Deep Throat.
But why would Felt decide to admit he’s Deep Throat after all these years of silence? And why did Felt only reveal the FBI’s secret files on Watergate investigations to Woodward? According to Woodward’s reasoning, Felt did it possibly because of his resentment of White House pressure on the FBI for a cover-up, or possibly piqued at being passed over for FBI chief.
Unfortunately, in his later years, Felt suffers from dementia and doesn't remember Watergate, so his reasons remain a mystery and Woodward's disappointment is obvious.
What's vivid to the readers is that Deep Throat laid the foundation for Woodward's career in journalism for which he is eternally grateful. And by keeping his promise to Felt to keep his identity a secret for 33 years, Woodward has kept his part of the bargain.
Eventually, with the consent of Felt, his lawyer and immediate family members, Woodward, together with Bernstein and Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Washington Post (through Watergate and other challenging times) as well as the management of the Post, Woodward finally admitted that W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat in the Watergate coverage.
The Secret Man is an intense book, offering readers an insight into one of the most dramatic events in American history as well as the working of journalists in The Washington Post. It provides an unusual study of trust, deception, friendship, doubts, and a lifetime of secrets by the people involved.
Woodward had spent more than three decades asking himself why Felt became Deep Throat. Now the world can finally understand the reason and with the disclosure, it brings to a close the missing chapter of the Watergate scandal.
