The story behind 'Deep Throat'

Tom Brokaw • Profile

It was once dismissed by the White House as a third-rate burglary. And when it occurred, the story was assigned to a Washington Post police reporter, a rookie — Bob Woodward.

The date was June 17, 1972. On that fateful morning Woodward got a call from the desk. He went to the courthouse, expecting a routine police case.

"But it didn't smell routine when the five burglars walked into the courtroom in business suits," he says. "I've seen a lot of burglars. They normally don't wear business suits."

One of the burglars was James McCord.

Bob Woodward: The judge asked them, “Where do you guys work? Where do you come from?” No one would talk. And finally James McCord whispered something. The judge said, “Speak up.” And McCord said he had worked at the CIA. That was just like a 10,000 volt jolt.

Woodward instantly realized that lots of things about that burglary didn't add up. It happened at Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate office complex. The five burglars not only wore business suits, they had electronic bugging equipment. And they carried cash — about $2,300 — some of it in sequentially numbered $100 bills.

But at the beginning, Woodward couldn't know that this burglary was part of a much larger scheme, organized in the White House itself: to destroy President Richard Nixon's enemies, real and imagined — the protesters against the Vietnam War, the press, not to mention the Democrats who opposed his re-election. All had been targeted for dirty tricks, wiretaps, and break-ins. 

"The Nixon administration said, 'OK, we've got sort of a civil war going on here, and we're either going to win this war or lose this war.' And we had no intention of losing that war," says G. Gordon Liddy who worked for the president's re-election committee. Liddy went to prison for supervising the Watergate burglary.

But in June 1972, all that was a secret.

For reporters covering the Watergate burglary, there were a lot of questions, but not many answers. Why did two of the burglars carry address books bearing the name of Howard Hunt, a former CIA man who worked in the White House?

Woodward turned to a trusted source in a high place — a source he had been cultivating for two years, who demanded that he never be quoted or named. 

Tom Brokaw: And what did he say?

Woodward: At first, he seemed very nervous, oddly enough. And he was not a nervous man. I said, “You know, anyone can have your name in their address book. What does it mean?” And he gave me the first key piece of information saying, “Don't worry. Howard Hunt is involved. And this is serious.” It was the first White House connection.

Woodward wasn't working this story alone. From the beginning, his partner was another young reporter — Carl Bernstein. They both quickly realized that the White House connection was a major development.

Carl Bernstein: It was unprecedented. And obviously we were a little awestruck. It gave us a special sense of responsibility.

They knew the FBI was also investigating. What they didn't know was that the White House was trying to limit that investigation.

"One of the first things we did after the Watergate break-in, and one of our concerns was, was where this investigation would go. And we were very concerned about that, that the investigation be very limited," says then-White House counsel John Dean.

It would be learned only later from the Nixon White House tapes that the president himself ordered his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, to cover up the reasons for the Watergate burglary. Nixon ordered to tell the FBI, which was investigating, to back off.

But Woodward's secret source encouraged the young reporter to press on.

Woodward: [He said] “Keep going, young man. There is a lot here.” Clearly, this has gone from two or three on the Richter scale to 100.

In his notes on his secret source, Woodward referred to him as “X,” or "M.F." or “my friend.”  But Howard Simons— one of Bob's bosses— came up with a more colorful name: "Deep Throat."

Woodward:  At this point the managing editor had given him that very unfortunate name. Kind of by accident, it just kind of came out because it was on deep background.

“Deep Throat” was the title of a very popular and very pornographic film released in 1972.

The Post editors were anxious about the Watergate stories. This was high stakes journalism, going after the White House and Woodward and Bernstein were relatively low-level staffers.  Federal prosecutors on the case didn't seem to be finding any larger conspiracy. And Nixon loyalists denied every story, furiously attacking the Post day in and day out.

The reporters could feel the pressure building, and so could "Deep Throat." He told Woodward they both had to be extremely cautious, that they should never talk on the telephone. And "Deep Throat" proposed an elaborate, clandestine scheme for their face-to-face meetings. If Woodward wanted a meeting, he needed to move a flower pot with a red flag on the balcony of his apartment. If “Deep Throat” wanted to meet, he would draw a clock on page 20 of The New York Times delivered each day to Woodward's apartment.

“Deep Throat” began insisting on meeting at 2 a.m. in a parking garage in Rosslyn, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington. He ordered Woodward to change cabs on his way there, to walk the last several blocks, and to make sure he wasn't being tailed.

Woodward had never disclosed the exact location and never taken anyone there — until now.

Woodward: It was like the oracle had come down.

Brokaw: At any point do you say to yourself, Woodward, "What the hell have I got myself into here?"

Woodward: Yeah, all that time. But you want the information. You know this is a guy who can help you. Like no one else.

And in one of the first of those garage meetings, October 9^th, 1972, almost four months after the Watergate burglary, “Deep Throat” made a promise.

Woodward: I have the notes that I typed that night. And the first line is him saying there is a way to untie the Watergate knot.

Brokaw: It was very reassuring to you wasn't it? To know you had this guy who said, “You're on the right track.”

Bernstein: It would have been more reassuring if I could get Woodward to see him more. I can't tell you how many times I said to Bob, I said, “Call that guy.” And Woodward said, “I can't get him. I can't get him.” “Move the damn flowerpot.” 

With the help of “Deep Throat,” Woodward and Bernstein were finally putting the puzzle together. For the first time they tied the Watergate burglary to the broader dirty tricks campaign. 

Then, at another meeting in the garage, “Deep Throat” told Woodward the conspiracy reached right into the president's inner circle.

Woodward: He said it was a Haldeman operation. So the White House Chief of Staff ran it all and knew about it. 

About that time, it dawned on them that the conspiracy could involve the president himself.

Brokaw: You were having a little meeting up in the Washington Post.

Woodward: Yes, the little cafeteria where they have the worst coffee in America.

Bernstein: And I pressed the button for this awful coffee in the machine. And I felt a chill. I remember it to this day. I turned around to Woodward and said, “Oh my God, this president is going to be impeached.”

Woodward: I realized this was no flight of fancy. And said ,“You're right.” And we paused and kind of held the moment and I said, "We can never say that in this newsroom ever." Because people would think we had some agenda or there was a political motive.

They were choosing every word so carefully — but there was a problem. Nobody was paying attention.

Brokaw: The rest of the press is not picking it up very much. The public is not responding to it. Richard Nixon has a triumphant second inaugural.

Woodward: Triumphant in a way — you don't get a victory like he got.

Less than five months after the Watergate break-in, Richard Nixon won re-election with 61 percent of the vote, one of the biggest landslides in presidential history. 

"Deep Throat" had promised to help untie the Watergate knot, but so far it was holding fast. 

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