The person who was Deep Throat would have been lauded loved and honored by the media. Yet Jerry Ford went into the 1976 election painted by the media and the Democrats as the man who had made a deal to be president. Much of the public believed that Ford was a Nixon guy who was made Vice President by Nixon in return for a promise to pardon Nixon. Ford failed to convince enough voters that he had pardoned Nixon for the good of the nation.
If it had been revealed before the 1976 Election that Ford had been Deep Throat.. Ford would have been the wonderful man who was responsible for bringing Nixon down. Had Ford Been Deep Throat there was no way to paint Ford as Nixon's puppet, unless you believed that Nixon wanted to get caught. Ford revealed as Deep Throat would have been elected president in 76 and Carter would have gone down in defeat. If Ford was deep throat you have to believe that Ford did not want to be elected president in 1976. That is just crazy. If Ford had been deep throat he would have leaked the story himself during the 1976 campaign.
The big problem for Deep Throat credibility is he is painted as someone who knew what Nixon had done in the coverup. Remember there was no proof that Nixon had done anything himself other than the tapes.. Nixon was accused of covering up for those who worked for him. So Deep throat had to have direct knwoledge of what went on in the White House. Deep throat had to want Nixon taken down. Why leak bad stuff about Nixon if you don't want him caught.
So if deep throat knew what the Nixon coverup was doing, why didn't deep throat tell Woodward about the Nixon tapes. Everyone working in the white house knew about nixon taping all conversations in the oval office. But Deep Thoat never told Woodward about the tapes. Why? It was a relatively low level person on the white house staff who revealed the existance of the Nixon tapes in testimoney before congress. The media knew nothing about the existanc of takes prior to the testimoney before congress of a Nixon Staffer.
It was the one piece of information that brought Nixon down. Without the tapes there was no proof that Nixon did anything wrong. Yet Deep Throat supposedly on the inside in the Nixon administration never told Woodward about the tapes.
The only conclusion that makes sense is that Deep Throat was not the source of much if any useful information becuase Deep Throat did not know what was going on .. The most likely conclusion based on what we now know about woodwards use of fake sources is Deep throat was a figment of Woodwards imagination.
The other problem with deep throat his how does John Dean know who deep throat is. Did Dean know when he testified before congress? Did John Dean know there was a mole when he was atill Nixon's lawyer?
When did Dean learn Deep Throat's identity? Over the decades Woodward, Bernstein and Bradley have told us over and over that only 4 people know the identity of Deep Throat. They were Woodward, Bernstein, Bradley, and Deep Throat himself. Which one of them told John Dean Deep Throat's identityu?
ONe final thought Woodward and Bernstein put in their book that Deep Throat was a chain smoker. Ford never smoked and lots of others thought to be Deep Throat have never smoked.
One other point why would Woodward say they will not reveal who deep throat is until Deep Throat is dead. Have you ever met someone who does cares a lot about what people think of him when he is alive but does not care once he is dead.
On the other hand it is likely that a real deep throat would want to be known because he would be a hero to much of the nation. Can you imagine someone saying... I don't want to be a hero while I am alive... I prefer to wait until I am dead to be kown as a hero.
Most of the Deep Throat story makes no sense...unless it is a fabrication to make the pure guesses printed by Woodward and Bernstein as fact appear to be based on a real source.
Woodward has been caught printing what he thinks has happened and then inventing a fake sources for his story.
Woodward is the guy that said he interviewed William Casey when hospital and doctors records say Casey was in a comna from which he never recovered before his death. Doctors, Nurses, and family all say Casey was comatose before and after the date and time Woodward says Casey confessed to him what he had done as CIA chief. Woodward claims that casey had chosen to confess to him on his death bed. Wooodward apparnetly dod not know that Casey spent his final days comatose and brain dead.
Woodard has a history of quoting dead men as his source. The dead make wonderful sources for guesses printed as sourced fact. Dead people be they Casey or Deep Throat can't contradict the words put in their mouths.
Woodstein's boss, Bradlee was notorious for this sort of thing. Another WaPo reporterette won a Pulitzer for a fictional "boy of the streets who's Mom was a crack addict" story.
Why were Woodward and Bernstein chosen to head this story? If they were caught it would be no big loss.
After years of watching these two in interviews, one can only conclude that if they were the brightest bulbs in the WaPo fixture, the other "lites" couldn't even make a decent imitation of a firefly's butt.
Having been involved on the periphery of Republican politics at the time, I have been persuaded that DT in fact existed--some of the material attributed to him was speculation on his (or her) part and thus may have proved less than accurate.
I also believe that it was not common knowledge, at least in 1968, that Nixon was taping the Oval Office--DT may not have known in the early stages; may have learned later. Although almost everyone who did know about the tapes assumed until the matter got into the courts that they would be destroyed before they were revealed--they weren't viewed as a particular exposure because everyone though Nixon would simply take them out and burn them.
An agreement not to reveal until after death meets a number of legitimate interests, depending on the individual. If Rehnquist or Dole were DT, publication of the fact would have impacted their future political career. Or, someone with aspirations, might have been concerned that revelation would have an adverse impact. But, it would not surprise me, if in addition to an obituary, we also get a deathbed confession.
Len Garment's book, "In Search of Deep Throat" nominates John L. Sears, III (Deputy Counsel to the President). On the other hand, the suggestion that Garment himself was DT was widespread at the time he wrote the book. Sears is a good candidate if he is still alive although I have not seen or heard of him for several years.
That's not likely. You may have had a lousy boss, but if the new guy stabbed him in the back to get the job, you'd certainly keep your distance, wouldn't you? If he couldn't stay loyal to those above him, or at least wait until they undid themselves, how's he going to treat his subordinates if they get in his way? John Dean was hated by Republicans and never especially trusted by anyone else after he turned on Nixon, and he wasn't going to get the Presidency if he brought Nixon down.
How much is fiction and how much is fact remains to be seen. Woodstein may have had a main informant who gave them a crucial bit of information, but it would be surprising if the smoking and parking garages were factual details. More likely different informants were run together into a composite and telling details like chain smoking were invented to cover the tracks.
"Ford revealed as Deep Throat would have been elected president in 76 and Carter would have gone down in defeat."
President "Deep Throat"? I doubt it. He would have been seen as a traitor to Republicans, and a joke to Democrats.
"Woodard has a history of quoting dead men as his source. The dead make wonderful sources for guesses printed as sourced fact. Dead people be they Casey or Deep Throat can't contradict the words put in their mouths."
You have a point there. Woodward probably would lie about the true identity of deep throat.
I don't think Ford did it, but it would not have helped him in '76. The revelation would have damaged him incredibly with his own party. And even the people who were glad he did would have seen him as a snitch. Besides, for all his problems he only lost to Carter by a tiny margin. It would have been bigger if he was admittely deep thorat.