Mark Felt, who was Deep Throat, was the deputy director of the FBI, and wanted to be made director upon Hoover's death. Nixon instead appointed L. Patrick Gray, specifically because he did not want a continuation of the Hoover style of agency management. Felt was a big admirer of Hoover, and resented the change.
Felt spoon fed the information to Woodward and Bernstein, although when they wrote their books, they made it sound like the stories were a result of their brilliant investigative reporting skills. Felt violated quite a few laws about leaking of information, and also by not turning his information over to Justice or other organizations that would have had enforcement authority.
In the end, though, the Post ended up glorifying a guy who wanted to continue the Hoover style of FBI management in order to take down a guy, Nixon, who was trying to end it. Considering the hatred with which the left, including the Post, views Hoover, this is the ultimate irony.
Very, very interesting. Thank you, Richard...