Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, June 3, 2005
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zanerttf
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■ In my opinion
a Deep, dark secret
So now we know. W. Mark Felt is
Deep Throat.
Felt, former second-in-command of
the FBI, fed information about the
Watergate break-in, investigation and
cover-up to Washington Post reporter
Bob Woodward, who with Carl Bern
stein led the journalistic world in in
forming the public about one of the
greatest scandals in American history.
Deep Throat’s identity has been a
puzzle for more than three decades,
during which time Woodward, Bern
stein and the two other people who
knew his identity — former Post edi
tor Ben Bradlee and Woodward’s wife
— guarded the secret.
Suspicion has long centered on Felt
as Deep Throat, especially after James
Mann wrote a May 1992 article for
The Atlantic magazine that champi
oned the idea. Slate columnist Timo
thy Noah has advanced Mann’s view
for years.
But until this week, it’s all been
guessing games. That changed Tues
day when Vanity Fair dropped the
bomb, releasing from its upcoming
July issue a story written by John D.
O’Connor, a lawyer friendly with
Felt’s family.
In the story, O’Connor quotes Felt
as saying, “I’m the guy they used
to call Deep Throat.” After some
initial dithering, Woodward and
Bernstein confirmed Deep Throat’s
identity Tuesday.
Felt did his nation an enormous
service by blowing the whistle on Wa
tergate. Richard Nixon’s henchmen
broke into private offices and tape
recorded conversations at the direc
tion of the president’s closest advisers,
who, with the president himself, con
cealed the crime and lied about it to
the American people.
Domestically, Watergate was just
the tip of the iceberg of the Nixon ad
ministration’s misdeeds. The Nixon
White House ordered the Internal
CHUCK SLOTHOWER
TAKING ISSUE
Revenue Service to conduct tax audits
of its political enemies. The CIA
opened mail, installed wiretaps and
conducted break-ins against U.S. citi
zens. Executive branch agencies used
illegal methods to surveil American
citizens, subvert political opponents
and quash dissent.
At the same time, Nixon and his
predecessor had lied their way into
dramatically expanding the Vietnam
War, which cost roughly 58,000 Amer
ican lives and many more Viet
namese. Nixon continued to cynically
mislead the American people on Viet
nam at every opportunity, from the
unconstitutional bombing of Cambo
dia to Nixon’s pre-election “secret
plan” to end the war. Nixon handed
control of American foreign policy al
most entirely to Henry Kissinger while
keeping Congress in the dark.
This is a long way of saying
that the Watergate cover-up was
simply the first crime to nail Nixon
to the cross. Felt deserves credit
for helping the Post inform the
public about an aspect of the Nixon
administration’s misdeeds.
Felt is not perfect. He was convicted
of authorizing illegal FBI break-ins,
though he was pardoned by Ronald
Reagan while his case was on appeal.
He may have had a personal vendetta
against Nixon, who passed him over
for the top post at the FBI.
Now 91, Felt also betrayed Wood
ward and Bernstein by handing a
huge scoop to Vanity Fair — Wood
ward and Bernstein deserved to be the
first to tell the world Deep Throat’s
identity. Also, the behavior of Felt’s
family indicates an attempt to profit
from his courage.
Yet, without whistleblowers like Felt
and Daniel Ellsberg, the man who
leaked documents concerninggovem
ment treachery in Vietnam, democracy
would suffer from lack of oxygen.
“I’ve come to think of whistleblow
ers as good people,” said Ken De
Bevoise, a University assistant profes
sor who has taught many classes on
Watergate as well as Vietnam. “One of
the dangers of government is when it
becomes too separated from the
people. And the best way to do that is
secrecy, of course.”
Nixon had that nailed, and it took
Felt, Ellsberg, Woodward and
Bernstein to tell the American people
what they needed to know. However,
as DeBevoise pointed out, Woodward
and Bernstein’s role in Watergate is
probably overstated.
“They had very, very little impact
on Watergate,” DeBevoise said. “All
the time, behind the scenes, ... the
Justice Department was doing the
same investigation, and that was
what brought Nixon down, was the
legal system, the courts of the coun
try. And that would have gone on had
Woodward, Bernstein, Felt, any of
those guys never even existed.”
Fair enough. But Felt, at the very
least, provided valuable information
to Woodward and Bernstein that
clued the public into the
scandal while the wheels of justice
slowly turned.
Felt stands as an example of pro
found individual courage, and his
case reaffirms the value of anony
mous sources to quality journalism —
without him, Nixon may have gotten
away with it for far longer.
chuckslothower@dailyemerald. com
INBOX
Editor’s note: These letters are all
in response to Jennifer McBride’s
May 25 column, “10 reasons not to
kill Bush.”
Add family man to the list
Jennifer McBride’s “ 10 reasons not to
kill Bush” column left out a few reasons
not to kill President Bush. Did the fact
that he is a father, husband, son, broth
er and uncle escape thought? Publish
ing a piece outlining the reasons to not
kill someone, reasons which have noth
ing to do with his role as a family head
and caring human being, is absolutely
reprehensible. Thank you for providing
me with more information about why I
view most around my campus as short
sighted and hateful toward our nation
and leader.
Chris Harrelson
Georgia
Any death is a tragedy
The main “reason” to “stop praying”
that Bush be killed is that for anyone to
be killed is a tragedy, for any president
to get killed is a tragedy for an entire na
tion. Jennifer McBride seems to have
some trouble figuring this one out.
Jerry Peragine
Pennsylvania
Cheney would do better
I am a retired libertarian Republican
living in Thailand. I saw this column on
the Drudge Report and found it well
written, thoughtful and insightful. My
only point of disagreement is the seg
ment on the vice president. Cheney is
much brighter and less religious than
George W. Bush and thus would do a
better job both at home and abroad.
Jack Kirwan
Thailand
Shocked at the uninformed
Beautifully put, Ms. Jennifer
McBride. I’ve tried and failed to come
up with the words to describe what
you so simply and clearly phrased:
“I am too often shocked by the
vitriolic repulsion many people feel
for our leader and America in gener
al, especially because the loathing is
often poorly informed.
Liberalism has to be more than a
college fad or a collection of
loudmouths whose idiotic comments
stir headlines. The rabid dislike some
people feel for a man they’ve never
even met makes me ashamed to be
a Democrat.”
I’m shocked as well — not only do I
find these people often fundamental
ly uninformed, but their arrogance
and hypocrisy (decrying with every
sound bite they’ve ever heard on NPR
every American foreign policy choice
they remember to spout out while at
the same time enjoying every benefit
derived therefrom and sacrificing
nothing to enact their supposed “be
liefs”) almost overwhelms me, and I
have to exclude people from my life
lest I hemorrhage from frustration and
nausea or worse.
Robert Kabakoff
New York
OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY
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■ Out loud
“I just had to lock myself in the room and say
‘stay stoned, don’t go outside.’” — West Univer
sity Neighbors Chair Drix Rixmann, on his at
tempts to not bring home too much of the free
goods left in alleys by departing students.
“The Senate and the Executive once again
substantially increased the incidental fee. (It) is
hypocrisy at its finest — student leaders voting
to increase their own fees while lobbying the
state legislature for a tuition freeze.” — Mike
Sherman, former ASUO senator, on the activity
of this year’s ASUO Student Senate.
“I didn’t even have a black instructor on this
campus until my third term here.” — University
senior Margarita Smith, on the necessity of of
fering courses through the University’s Office of
Multicultural Academic Support.
“I just took it all in, and it just came out
perfect.” — Oregon’s Sarah Malone, after
setting new school and personal records
for the javelin throw in the NCAA West
Regional Championships.
“The fire alarm goes on and people don’t
leave.” — University Fire Protection Manager
Chuck Campbell, on the need to take campus
fire safety seriously.
“As a first draft, it has many drafts to go.” —
University emeritus math professor Richard
Koch, asking for clearer definitions within the
University’s Five-Year Diversity plan.
“Eugene prides itself on being an independ
ent-minded community that supports inde
pendent businesses. But every time I say that I
have to remind myself how many independent
businesses have gone out of business in the last
10 years.” — Evon Smith, whose parents
founded the Smith Family Bookstore.
“Not to beat the subject to death, but I
would have liked to see individual senators take
responsibility for what happened on the
retreat.” — Former ASUO Senator
Austin Shaw-Phillips, looking back on the
Sunriver retreat.
“They need to spend more money on things
like education and Social Security. I’m a polit
ical science major, so like, I think differently.”
—■ University sophomore Anh Nguyen, on a
Senate bill to lift federal restrictions on stem
cell research.
“If you’re trying to run a baseball team and
you can’t pay your free agents what
other teams are paying, you’re going to lose
your top players.”— Associate professor of
physics Stephen Hsu, discussing University
faculty salaries.
“Every man dies, not every man really lives.”
— A quote on University student Joel
Nathan Meyer’s Thefacebook profile. Meyer
drowned Sunday at Lake Shasta.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
Ailee Slater
Commentary Editor
Steven R. Neuman
Managing Editor
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CLARIFICATION
On June 1, the Emerald ran an article ("University’s food
services hold clean inspection reports") citing the num
ber of violations in recent EMU and residence hall eatery
health inspections. Andrew Smash’s score was not in
cluded, and representatives from the company said stu
dents were asking why. The Lane County Environmental
Health Department does not usually release the scores of
businesses that are in the process of dosing. The busi
ness’ score was a 98 out of 100, with two violations.
— Emily Smith