Deep Throat Uncovered

April 23, 2003 5:34 PM

Deep Throat uncovered. No, not that one, the one of Watergate notoriety. A journalism class at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana has determined that this man is the infamous Deep Throat.
posted by mr_crash_davis (17 comments total)

My money was always on Haig. This guy looks nothing like Hal Holbrook.

Still an interesting read, so far.
posted by WolfDaddy at 5:46 PM on April 23, 2003

I thought it was Betsy and Arlene?
posted by muckster at 5:53 PM on April 23, 2003

now, how about someone in the current administration - do the right thing and roll on the crooks who cheated their way into the white house.
posted by specialk420 at 5:53 PM on April 23, 2003

1. Can we get over it? - No. The injustice has not been corrected.

2. er.. that's it.
posted by dash_slot- at 6:05 PM on April 23, 2003

I find it difficult to take this investigation seriously when all the "evidence" is followed by the citation "...according to All the President's Men."
posted by hippugeek at 6:27 PM on April 23, 2003

heh
posted by clavdivs at 6:33 PM on April 23, 2003

Haig had a website in 1988?
posted by PrinceValium at 6:38 PM on April 23, 2003

I find it difficult to take this investigation seriously when all the "evidence" is followed by the citation "...according to All the President's Men."

Why? You think Woodward and Bernstein made things up? I don't know that anything they wrote in that book has been discredited, has it?
posted by pitchblende at 7:39 PM on April 23, 2003

....and I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!
posted by spilon at 7:44 PM on April 23, 2003

Reviewing the interview that precedes John Dean's "Unmasking Deep Throat" (e-published via Salon), it sounds like all his research led him to the same guy the Illinois students have picked, only in the end he dismissed him as Throat. Dean says, "To make a story I tell in the book very short, I turned out to be wrong. But the exercise was important in removing from consideration a former colleague who is not Throat, notwithstanding the strong circumstantial evidence to the contrary."

Has anybody read Dean's report? Assuming that Fielding is the "colleague" that Dean eliminated, I'd like to know why. Personal interview? Deeper research? Maybe Dean will publish a rebuttal in the next few days.
posted by junkbox at 7:56 PM on April 23, 2003

And after another group of conspiracy theorists run around the block with "evidence" that decades old, we're right back where we started, knowing nothing more than we did before. It's a guess. That's not uncovering Deep Throat. It's just stoking a fire that should gone out long ago.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:56 PM on April 23, 2003

Watergate is among my earliest memories. If I die without finding out who Deep Throat was, I will be all kinds of pissed off.
posted by swerve at 9:44 PM on April 23, 2003

"Their conclusions also were posted today at a web site that is the work of another Illinois journalism class on online publishing"

It's kind of cool that they did the investigative work as part of the journalism class, and then dumped the web site off on another group that is working on web publishing.

I don't know if they are right or not, but they definitely learned by doing, and then kicked the presentation portion over to other people who learned by doing.

Whoever he is, I think Deep Throat is a hero, because he definitely did the right thing. I admire Deep Throat, if nothing else for not selling his story for the millions he could have gotten. Makes him seem principled to me.

Now watch it turn out to be Buchanon and I'll have to damn near wretch as I eat my words. ;)
posted by dglynn at 11:16 PM on April 23, 2003

I admire Deep Throat, if nothing else for not selling his story for the millions he could have gotten. Makes him seem principled to me.

...it's either that, or he's still afraid for his fucking life....
posted by interrobang at 12:03 AM on April 24, 2003

Perhaps the most compelling reason why this makes sense - it is such a boring outcome. Don't we all want it to be someone we already know, Haig, Buchanan, Dean? Ha, most of these publicity hounds could not have kept the secret all these years. By now they would likely be bragging about how they were Deep Throat. However, Fielding just seems like some schmoe who wants to keep low and practice law. Who knows whether the students have correctly identified the infamous Deep Throat, but their choice makes more sense than some of the more prominent suspects.
posted by caddis at 1:15 AM on April 24, 2003

Perhaps being Deep Throat is what has caused Fielding to need to "keep low and practice law" maybe he doesn't want people digging into his background too much.

On a related note Woodward & Bernstein have recently sold their papers to the University of Texas for $5 million on the promise that they won't reveal Deep Throat until after his/her death, so we should be finding out soon, how long can some dumbass student (or worse professor) keep that kind of secret?
posted by Pollomacho at 6:29 AM on April 24, 2003

"Will the real Deep Throat please stand up..?"

If anyone actually came forward today and claimed to be THE Deep Throat, he would be believed about as far as he could be thrown into the Potomac. Whoever really did it is not coming forward because he doesn't want to become a laughing stock. By now odds are his life would no longer be in jeopardy. Just his reputation.

"...on second thought. Sit the hell back down."
posted by ZachsMind at 12:44 PM on April 25, 2003