'DEEP THROAT' DIES: Watergate's Mark Felt Was 95 (VIDEO) (SLIDESHOW)

SCROLL DOWN FOR SLIDESHOW AND VIDEO

"Mark Felt, the man who helped bring down President Richard Nixon as the infamous 'Deep Throat' for investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, died at his Santa Rosa home Thursday afternoon surrounded by family," the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.

W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he helped The Washington Post unravel the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 95.

Felt died Thursday at a hospice near his home in Santa Rosa after suffering from congestive heart failure for several months, said family friend John D. O'Connor, who wrote a Vanity Fair article disclosing Felt's secret in 2005.

The shadowy central figure in one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information to Post reporter Bob Woodward.

Felt's identity as Deep Throat was first made public by his family in a 2005 story by Vanity Fair.

Click through the slideshow:

• • • • • • • • • As Salt Lake FBI chief in January 1958, Mark Felt shows off his skills with a pistol.

Below is video from 2005 of Mark Felt's daughter Joan and grandson Will discussing his life:

Bob Woodward talked to Felt's daughter Joan soon after he passed away:

According to his daughter Joan, her father "was fine this morning" and he was "joking with his caregiver." She said he had a big breakfast before saying that he was tired, and went to sleep.

"He slipped away," she said.

After Vanity Fair's expose, the Washington Post reported on the historical relevance of the revelation:

Felt's identity as Washington's most celebrated secret source had been an object of speculation for more than 30 years until yesterday, when his role was revealed by his family in a Vanity Fair magazine article. Even Nixon was caught on tape speculating that Felt was "an informer" as early as February 1973, at a time when Deep Throat was supplying confirmation and context for some of The Post's most explosive Watergate stories.

But Felt's repeated denials, and the stalwart silence of the reporters he aided -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein -- kept the cloak of mystery drawn up around Deep Throat. In place of a name and a face, the source acquired a magic and a mystique...

Below, listen to audio of a meeting on October 19, 1972, when President Nixon is informed that John Mitchell has discovered the identity of the individual in the FBI -- Mark Felt -- who had been leaking information about the Watergate break-ins to the press.

Comments

[LMPE]

02:40 AM on 12/20/2008

In his elder years, he looked like an aged Gilligan.

[Readbetweentheelevens]

02:01 AM on 12/20/2008

"... But there are other reasons to doubt that Felt is Deep Throat. Colodny and Hoff point to the claim in the Woodward/B­ernstein book, All the President’­s Men, that Deep Throat provided the Post reporters exclusive informatio­n about the “deliberat­e erasures,” as “Throat” told Woodward in November of 1973, on the White House tapes. “There’s no reason to believe that Felt had access to that informatio­n because it was closely held in the White House,” says Colodny, “and Felt had left the FBI in April—six months earlier.” Hoff agrees. “It’s conceivabl­e that as the second in command at the FBI, the deputy director, he could have gotten informatio­n from somebody about this,” she said. “But I don’t think he gave them this informatio­n. I think it was somebody in the White House..."

http://www­.aim.org/a­im-column/­was-mark-f­elt-really­-deep-thro­at/

[WyomingJack]

11:08 PM on 12/19/2008

A great American hero has passed away. May he rest in peace.

[Shake-A-Spear]

09:20 PM on 12/19/2008

Death's deep throat has finally swallowed up Deep Throat.

[Epijim]

08:35 PM on 12/19/2008

He should receive the Presidenti­al Citizens Medal!!!

[pbley68]

08:28 PM on 12/19/2008

If only there were more agents like Mark Felt, ready to expose the criminal activities of officials in the highest order of executive power.

May he rest in peace.

[adv2int]

07:15 PM on 12/19/2008

I just wish he had a cooler name.

[rasit]

05:32 PM on 12/19/2008

May God bless your soul, Mr. Felt for your service to our country and for doing the right thing about the Watergate scandal...

[catmandont]

06:00 PM on 12/19/2008

...and for those illegal break-ins he was convicted for.

[movecenter]

04:47 PM on 12/19/2008

He placed justice and care for country above blind loyalty. Thank you Mr. Felt.

[redstateaz]

03:18 PM on 12/19/2008

A Soviet Mole.

[MPeter]

04:54 PM on 12/19/2008

Mr. Feldt served our democracy well. Rest in peace.

[rasit]

05:35 PM on 12/19/2008

He was an honest American, who served this counrty and her people well...

[Hirnlego]

02:42 PM on 12/19/2008

More people like him are needed since government­s are not transparen­t enough.

[wadenelson1]

02:22 PM on 12/19/2008

>Felt, along with Edward S. Miller, authorized FBI agents to break into homes secretly in 1972 and 1973, without a search warrant, on nine separate occasions. These kinds of FBI burglaries were known as "black bag jobs." The break-ins occurred at five addresses in New York and New Jersey, at the homes of relatives and acquaintan­ces of Weather Undergroun­d members, and did not lead to the capture of any fugitives. The use of "black bag jobs" by the FBI was declared unconstitu­tional by the United States Supreme Court, per WIkipedia

An angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.

[nogimmicks]

02:01 PM on 12/19/2008

Felt was a good man. He helped to remove a president-­criminal from the office. Unfortunat­ely some of his more serious crimes with longer consequenc­es, such as unilateral cancellati­on of the Bretton Woods system (that stopped the direct convertibi­lity of the United States dollar to gold). This act created prerequisi­tes of the current crisis and extreme transfer of funds from the middle class to the bankers.

[lynettema]

01:15 PM on 12/19/2008

Thank you Mark Felt. Thank you for identifyin­g yourself as well. I hope someone comes forward to out the Bush-Chene­y cabal. We need another Mark Felt.

[abby4ever]

01:24 PM on 12/19/2008

Isn't Scott McLellan, that White House Press Secretary that outed and blasted Bush et al in interviews and I think in a book, a kind of mini Mark Felt? He did try. It hasn't the drama of Felt or the depth of Watergate, but he did try and it was risky.

We could call him Shallow Throat.

:]

[marbou888]

06:44 PM on 12/19/2008

This time, the Republican­s have made sure that they controled the news in the MSM. That way, the truth came out but nobody paid much attention to it. The Bush-Chene­y Wrecking Team could continue their destructio­n of America right to the end.

[Big0725]

12:44 PM on 12/19/2008

Thank you Mr. Felt for your service to your country and your integrity. If there is a god, I hope he finds you a quiet and warm place to rest.