'Deep Throat' was ultimate whistleblower to some

By Susan Page and Mark Memmott, USA TODAY
Wed Jun 1, 6:33 AM ET

For a generation, the political scandal that ousted a president and roiled the capital had a mystery at its center: Who was "Deep Throat"?

Now the anonymous source who provided corroboration and encouragement to the reporters pursuing the Watergate story against the odds has been identified. The Washington Post confirmed late Tuesday that W. Mark Felt, then the No. 2 official at the FBI, was their source. The Post's announcement followed release of a story in the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine that reported Felt's role.

Outside their home in Santa Rosa, Calif., Felt's daughter Joan called her father "a great American patriot." Grandson Nick Jones said he was a "hero who went well above and beyond the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a horrible injustice."

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