Who the Hell Was... Deep Throat?

Who the Hell Was... Deep Throat?

He was the ghost behind the curtain — the man who whispered the words that brought down a president.

In the early 1970s, two reporters at The Washington Post — Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — were digging into a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex. Their mysterious source, known only as “Deep Throat,” fed them just enough truth to keep the story alive, warning them to “follow the money.”

For thirty years, America speculated.
Some said CIA. Others, the White House.
It wasn’t until 2005 that the man finally stepped out of the shadows: Mark Felt, the former Associate Director of the FBI.

Felt was second in command under J. Edgar Hoover — a man steeped in loyalty, secrecy, and resentment. When Nixon’s inner circle tried to corrupt the Bureau, Felt leaked information to protect its independence — not out of idealism, but out of fury. He believed the presidency had crossed a line no democracy could survive.

The truth shook Washington harder than any political scandal before or since. A single insider’s conscience — or vendetta, depending on your politics — toppled the most powerful man on Earth.

Deep Throat wasn’t just a whistleblower.
He was a symptom of the rot — the proof that even in the heart of power, paranoia reigns supreme.

“Follow the money,” he said.
Fifty years later, that advice still maps the modern world.