Who now claims to have been coerced into making the movie (which I regret to say I've never seen...some Child of the Sixties I turned out to be!) Best guess is Woodstein are neither confirming nor denying because Felt wasn't their only source.
Well, now that Woodward has confirmed it, I guess it's true. Too bad; I had hoped for it to be the Vice President!
You know, when I saw the picture, I said to myself, "What the hell happened to old Linda's good looks?"
48... er... I mean... if you're talkin' about me. What made me feel it so was that earlier today I was trying to explain to someone (younger than I) where the nickname came from in the first place; and when I got to the part where I talked about the movie and Linda Lovelace, etc., he got that "what the hell are you talking about" look on his face... ...and it made me feel old. Though not as old as you, of course!
I am not sure I buy this 100%. I have always suspected it was Al Haig. If Felt is "Deep Throat," I would think he had assistance. I just don't see how Felt would have had the time to be so clandestine given all his other duties. Unless, of course, he shirked his duties to play "James Bond." Then, he is not any better than those he helped land in prison!
Apparently Felt was suspected by Nixon his men as a possiblity at the time. Also I think 'Deep throat" was just one of many sources. Also remember they were about to plea bargain the whole thing out until one of the conspirators opened his mouth. Man, those were interesting times!
The real tragedy of all this is that Nixon, in his first four years, was a really good President. Unemployment and inflation rates hovered around four percent. There was a good feeling in America and Nixon crushed McGovern in the '72 election. Nixon was his own worst enemy!
Jimmy Clifton, That's actually quite true. Only Nixon could've gone to China, for instance. And he's the one who finally bit the bullet about Viet Nam. He signed, IIRC, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Environmental Protection Act (I think...don't quote me) He was also one of the few post WWII Presidents to be a lawyer. Lessee..was Ford a lawyer? I don't think so...Cinton was...George I wasn't, was he? George II isn't. The Gipper certainly wasn't, nor was Jimmy Carter. JFK was, LBJ was not, Ike certainly wasn't, Harry Truman wasn't except in a very technical sense... Hillary will be, of course... So out of eleven post WWII Presidents, only three have been attorneys. No wonder the country went to hell! I voted for Nixon in 1972. (There really wasn't much of a choice.)
I saw Ted Kennedy on TV fairly recently say that his biggest mistake was voting against Nixon's proposed national health plan because it was not good enough. He said in hindsight the plan was better than any proposed since. In his autobiography Nixon explains why he became a republican rather than a democrat -- he thought he would get ahead faster as a republican.
How interesting it is how, in the past day or so, those closest to Nixon at the time (and who are still alive) are rallying to his defense and decrying the acts of Felt as tantamount to treason, and him as "no hero." Some are even calling, I notice, for him to now face some kind of criminal charges. He's "immoral," they declare. Well, I like former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee's take on that, as he experessed in the past day or so in an interview that was broadcast on MS-NBC: "It makes me just sick to hear guys like (G. Gordon) Liddy out there talking to us about morality, for godsake. I mean... he hasn't even been out of prison all that long." It don't get said no simpler, or better, than that.
M $.02 on Felt as hero In deciding whether or not Felt is a hero you have to evaluate more than whether or not Nixon deserved what he got. Nixon undoubtedly did. He let his paranoia and persecution complex lead him to do stupid things which justifiably caused his downfall. When he called deep throat a traitor for causing his downfall he was incorrect. Nixon’s own actions caused his downfall. However, that being said Felt is no hero as the motivations for his actions and the methods he used were not those of a hero. Let’s evaluate them with a cold eye. 1. Felt was the heir apparent to Hoover. Hoover ran the FBI like it was his personal fiefdom. He abused his office to violate the rights of those he considered “un-American” and to blackmail anyone who attempted to rein him in. Nixon came to office intent on controlling Hoover’s and the FBI’s abuse of power. To do so, he stepped over Felt and appointed the new FBI director from outside the agency. It would be naïve at best to think that this didn’t anger Felt, who was a loyal Hoover man and without a doubt had the ambition to be the director of the FBI. Anyone who doesn’t think he believed in Hoover and his methods should be aware that he was actually found guilty of abuse of power and rights violations stemming from the FBI’s activities against the anti-war activists during the Vietnam era. He avoided jail through a pardon. 2. It is a felony to release data from investigations. Felts knew that and he did it anyway. Despite the press’s protest to the contrary, he had other options if he felt the Nixon White House was covering up illegal activity. He could have insisted within his office that the investigation move forward. He could have let it be known to the congressional committee that the White House was obstructing justice. However, both of those options would have required him to go public and, probably, jeopardized his career. Instead, he sneaks around at night and slips protected information to the press. Personally, I think he hoped that after the fall of Nixon things would go back the way they had been and that could leave him ready to step up to director. 3. He continued to keep things secret until now when his family wants to make a little money and he is too old to be prosecuted for his actions 30 years ago. I’m sorry but I personally believe Felt was motivated by revenge and ambition when he went to the press. His demonstrated willingness to twist the law for he and the FBI’s benefit does not demonstrate the mindset of someone who would be offended when Nixon basically did the exact same thing. Felt committed illegal acts to benefit himself, and then worked to cover them up all these years. If he had been so offended, he wouldn’t have skulked around in the dark to let the information be known. Felt is no more a hero than Nixon.
Re: I thought he said.... He did, and got a bad rap for it. He wasn't interfering with the succession to the presidency; he was just indicating that he was holding down the fort at the White House while things got straightened out. I couldn't stand the guy, especially for his role in the Nixon administration. But that was a bad rap.
Yeah, but bureaucrats... You know how bureaucrats are. They can't stand take charge kind of people, they call them bullies. They prefer to sit around and talk a problem to death in hopes it will just go away....
