# Deep Throat (at last)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 31, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232 "2005-05-31T16:36:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/1 "2005-05-31T16:36:23Z")

</div>

[http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/richard\_nixon](http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/richard_nixon)

I seem to recall his name coming up before in speculation. Still if that’s the man, it looks like another Big Secret out in the light of day, eh?

This whole thing reminds me of my favorite piece of graffiti ever. On the bathroom wall of the old fieldhouse at the University of Chicago, somebody wrote:

“Richard Nixon had to take his wife to see Deep Throat three times before he finally got it down Pat”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/2 "2005-05-31T17:52:27Z")

</div>

Benrstein is saying that he won’t confirm this (or any other report) because the source is not dead, and he has not yet received clearance from DT to do so.

I’ll kind of be disappointed if it is him. I have never heard of him (he was a fairly high ranking official and it WOULD make sense) AND I had always thought it was someone IN the White House…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/3 "2005-05-31T17:54:01Z")

</div>

I was hoping for George HW Bush or Gerald Ford. Oh well. Hope that nothing happens to the old fellow or his family as a result.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/4 "2005-05-31T18:01:31Z")

</div>

I couldn’t see anyone in power cracking back at him. I think all but the most far right wingers now believe Nixon was a crook.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/5 "2005-05-31T19:54:16Z")

</div>

> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I was hoping for George HW Bush or Gerald Ford.

I recall reading an article once that speculated that Deep Throat was, in fact, Pat Buchanan. Interesting read, too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/6 "2005-05-31T19:57:19Z")

</div>

There was also a Diane Sawyer theory.

With all these crazy theories, it likely turns out to be some guy few of us had ever heard of…;(

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/7 "2005-05-31T20:08:19Z")

</div>

I bet the reason Berenstein isn’t confimring is because Deep Throat is actually a composite of multiple sources, and they all have to be dead or agree before he can confirm.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/8 "2005-05-31T20:28:26Z")

</div>

Reading a lot of the analysis on the web, I came across one of my favorite candidates, Ben Stein.

He was a speechwriter with limited access, but his voice really yelled “DEEP THROAT.”

Wouldn’t that have been awesome?

_“So who had the motive to cover this up? Anyone. Anyone? It was Richard Nixon. Why did he do it? Anyone? Anyone? Woodward? Woodward?”_

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/9 "2005-05-31T20:30:13Z")

</div>

Woodward and Bernstein have always said that Deep Throat is a person and not a composite.

That Deep Throat was an FBI official is a long-standing theory based on the type of information that he gave.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/10 "2005-05-31T21:49:59Z")

</div>

Slate columnist Timothy Noah picked Felt as Deep throat’s secret identity back in '99 or so.

Bernstein’s refusal to confirm isn’t surprising – Felt’s claim is related in a Vanity Fair article and I think Woodstein would want to call him and verify he really was ready for exposure before confirming the story.

–Cliffy

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/11 "2005-05-31T22:05:36Z")

</div>

[Confirmed](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/31/AR2005053100655.html).

–Cliffy

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/12 "2005-05-31T22:19:40Z")

</div>

Wow. Feels kinda historic, dunnit?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/13 "2005-05-31T22:54:29Z")

</div>

Damn… I was hoping all along that it was Haig.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/14 "2005-05-31T23:29:07Z")

</div>

Why?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/15 "2005-05-31T23:33:26Z")

</div>

This is possibly entertaining, but it isn’t “entertainment” per se, and so doesn’t belong in Cafe Society. I’m moving it to MPSIMS forum.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/16 "2005-06-01T00:32:58Z")

</div>

Man, I can’t wait for the book to come out on this. There’s so much more that Woodward can reveal now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/17 "2005-06-03T15:20:23Z")

</div>

> [@Superdude](#):
>
> I recall reading an article once that speculated that Deep Throat was, in fact, Pat Buchanan. Interesting read, too.

Speaking of Ol’ Pat, here’s his take on the situation:

[http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0506030311jun03,1,6148761.story?coll=chi-news-hed](http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0506030311jun03,1,6148761.story?coll=chi-news-hed)

Buchanan (who used to work for Nixon) seems more upset about Felt’s “lying” and “treachery” than any petty antics Nixon might have done, like Watergate.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-throat-at-last/306232/18 "2005-06-03T17:16:22Z")

</div>

Anyone else feel like this is Carl Bernstein’s swan song?

Woodward will go on being Woodward. There is a fair to average chance he will win ANOTHER Pulitzer Prize in his lifetime.

He is still the gold standard of investigative journalism.

But the Deepthroat Mystery kept Carl in the game. Sure he has work, but now that the cat is out of the bag, Watergate can slip further into history.

The mystique of DT kept the story, and the player, much more interesting over the years.

WG will always be important because it brought down a POTUS, but without the mystery, it is just a bigger Teapot Dome.
