Deep Throat

With the revel that Deep Throat was the No. 2 man at the FBI, W. Mark Felt, there has been a lot of discussion about Watergate. I must admit, I have no deep knowledge about the subject, but have probably know more about it since my degree is in History and I focused more on Western histroy.

The majority perception about events in history are rarely true, as I found out from research I did on the Vietnam War. As an example, due to the media attention on draft dodging, I always thought that it was a huge problem for the US Government and I guessed that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands burned draft cards. However, history matches our perception. For example, if I remember correctly, there were only between 100-200 draft cards burned during the war, far less then I thought based on my perceptions from movies.

I mention this because it marks the start of my skepticism towards "facts" that our society takes for granted. Watergate is one that I have always been suspicious. The general feeling, from my perception, was always that Nixion was an evil man and that two heroic journalists had managed to root out this corruption. How much of this is true. It appears Deep Throat (Mark Felt) may have been motivated by anger at Nixion for passing him over for the top FBI job after Hoover died and not because of some great love of his country.

For a more typical view on this event, try this article

Here are a few people that have a more, shall we say, non-PC view of Mark Felt:

This article by Mark Steyn

And this by Adam Yoshida

Or this

Update: More on the effects of Watergate on Journalism in this post at Captain's Quarters.