Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Deep Throat -- Watergate Part II

Composite character theory

Prior to Felt's revelation andWoodward's confirmation, part of the reason historians and otherscholars had so much difficulty in identifying the real Deep Throatis that no single person seemed to truly fit the character describedin All the President's Men. This had caused some scholars andcommentators to come to the conclusion that Deep Throat could notpossibly be a single person, and must be a composite of severalsources. Woodward and Bernstein consistently denied the theory.

From a literary business perspective,this theory was further supported by David Obst, the agent whooriginally marketed the draft for All the President's Men, who statedthat the initial typescript of the book contained absolutely noreference to Deep Throat. Obst believed that Deep Throat wasinvented by Woodward and Bernstein for dramatic purposes. It also ledto speculation that the authors played at condensing history in thesame way Hollywood scriptwriters do.

Ed Gray, the son of L. Patrick GrayIII, stated in In Nixon's Web: A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergatethat his examination of Woodward's interview notes pertaining to DeepThroat at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas atAustin provided "convincing evidence that 'Deep Throat' wasindeed a fabrication". According to Gray, the filecontained notes regarding four interviews that were attributed toeither Felt, "X", or "my friend",and a fifth interview dated March 24, 1973, that was unattributed. Hesaid he discovered that he had already seen the paper in 2006 afterWoodward released interview files with people who were not DeepThroat. Gray wrote that he contacted Stephen Mielke, the archivistwho oversees the Woodward-Bernstein collection at the University ofTexas, who said that a carbon copy of the paper contained a note inWoodward's handwriting attributing the interview to DonaldSantarelli, an official with the Department of Justice during theWatergate era. Gray wrote that he contacted Santarelli who confirmedthat the March 24 meeting was with him. Other interview notesattributed to "X" were interpreted by Gray ascontaining content that could not have been known by Felt.

Regarding Gray's allegations, Woodwardwrote that the March 24 notes were obviously not from an interviewwith Felt because Felt is referred to by name twice in quotes fromthe source and that he never stated or wrote that he met with DeepThroat on that date. According to Woodward, Mielke said the page waslikely misfiled under Felt due to a lack of source.

Other suspected candidates

Fred Fielding

Another leading candidate was WhiteHouse Associate Counsel Fred F. Fielding. In April 2003 Fielding waspresented as a potential candidate as a result of a detailed reviewof source material by William Gaines and his journalism students, aspart of a class at the University of Illinois journalism school.Fielding was the assistant to John Dean and as such had access to thefiles relating to the affair. Gaines believed that statements byWoodward ruled out Deep Throat's being in the FBI and that DeepThroat often had information before the FBI did. H. R. Haldemanhimself suspected Fielding as being Deep Throat.

Dean had been one of the most dedicatedhunters of Deep Throat. Both he and Leonard Garment dismissedFielding as a possibility, reporting that he had been cleared byWoodward in 1980 when Fielding was applying for an important positionin the Reagan administration. However, this assertion, which comesfrom Fielding, has not been corroborated.