Was Buchanan "Deep Throat"?
msnbc.com
On the trail of ‘Deep Throat’
Journalism class tries to unravel the mystery
NBC News
June 14 — He is a man who helped change the course of
American history and yet we still don’t know his real name.
Now some college students and their professor have set out to
crack a case that’s puzzled the world for nearly 30 years. Who
was Deep Throat? Correspondent Rob Stafford reports.
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“IT’S SUCH A huge mystery,” says Professor William Gaines,
of the University of Illinois. “One of the great journalism mysteries
of all time.”
In the movie “All the President’s Men,” Hal Holbrook played
Deep Throat, the source in the shadows, passing on clues to a
young reporter about a scandal that would ultimately topple a
president.
In real life, Richard Nixon resigned and “Washington Post”
reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein won the Pulitzer Prize.
But for nearly 30 years, the identity of “Deep Throat” — the
legendary, cigarette-smoking, scotch-drinking secret source — has
remained a mystery.
Now, a soft-spoken professor and an eager team of journalism
students are vowing to change that.
“The goal is to find out the person who was Deep Throat,”
says Professor Gaines.
“Dateline” followed their search, what they hope will be the
final phase of a remarkable, three-year investigation. Using modern
computer technology and old-fashioned research, these students
are finding new clues, trying to crack the case that’s baffled official
Washington and the rest of the world for three decades.
“I think the personality of Deep Throat is just the opposite of
what you may think he is — just the opposite of the way he’s
characterized in the movie,” says Gaines. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t
get away with this. I mean, a con man can’t look like a con man and
be successful.”
‘I think the personality
of Deep Throat is just
the opposite of what
you may think he is —
just the opposite of the
way he’s
characterized in the
movie.’
— PROF. WILLIAM GAINES
University of Illinois
Over the years, there’s been plenty of speculation about the
source who helped bring down the Nixon presidency — much of it
from the president’s own men.
John Dean, the former White House lawyer famous for his
testimony at the Watergate hearings, has guessed about deep
throat several times, pointing, first, to former Watergate prosecutor
Earl Silbert, and later, to presidential aide Alexander Haig. Next
week, Dean has promised to guess again.
Others have speculated, too, suggesting everyone from former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to former CIA Director William
Colby to top FBI officials L. Patrick Gray and Mark Felt.
But Professor William Gaines and his eight students at the
University of Illinois say all of those guesses are wrong.
“Well, I don’t think anybody has really taken the time to
analyze the situation,” says Gaines.
For example, Gaines says if you simply match up the dates
when Woodward says he and Deep Throat had those late-night
garage meetings made famous by the movie, you can eliminate
some people right away.
“Like Henry Kissinger,” says Gaines. “He was in Paris signing
the Vietnam Peace agreement at one of the times in January of 1973
when Deep Throat was meeting in the garage with Woodward.”
So Kissinger’s off the
list? “Kissinger is off the
list,” says Gaines.
Gaines crossed off Al
Haig for the same reason.
And before you dismiss
the idea that a college
professor and students who
weren’t even born when Watergate happened might succeed where
so many others have failed, you should know something else about
the man leading the investigation.
Bill Gaines isn’t just a professor. For years, he was an
investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, sharing in not just
one, but two Pulitzer prizes.
“This guy is like the Columbo of journalism,” says Walt
Harrington. “And if anybody can do it, I figured Bill could.”
“I happened to see
Bradlee say that
somebody should be
able to take everything
that’s known about
Deep Throat and
figure out who he was.
And Gaines said,
‘That’s a good idea. I
think I’ll do that.’”
— PROF. WALT
HARRINGTON
University of Illinois
Another University of Illinois professor, Walt Harrington,
suggested the Deep Throat project after hearing a comment by
former “Washington Post” editor Ben Bradlee.
“I happened to see Bradlee say that somebody should be able
to take everything that’s known about Deep Throat and figure out
who he was,” says Harrington. And Gaines said, ‘That’s a good
idea. I think I’ll do that.’”
“When I took the idea to the students they just went for it right
away,” says Gaines.
Professor Gaines actually started the project three years ago,
continuing the research with a new class every semester. Each
student is given research assignments, learning how to investigate,
then entering his or her findings into a computer database and in
the process, chipping away at the mystery.
The class starts with the assumption that Deep Throat is a real
person, not a composite character as some have suggested, and
that everything Woodward and Bernstein wrote about him is
accurate — even the signal Woodward used when he wanted a
secret meeting, a red flag in a flower pot on his apartment balcony.
Then, the class scours the book and the movie for clues to his
identity.
A PRIOR SOURCE
The first one, they say, is when Woodward, played by Robert
Redford, calls Deep Throat just after the Watergate burglary on
June 17, 1972.
Is there a clue in that conversation? “Just the fact that he said
that he talked to him about the Wallace investigation before,” says
ones student.
George Wallace was shot just a month before the Watergate
break-in. The FBI was investigating and Bob Woodward covered it.
Former “Post” staffers say they remember Woodward’s secret
source helped on that story, too, leading some Watergate buffs to
conclude Deep Throat must have been in the FBI.
But when Professor Gaines got some FBI files about Wallace
through the Freedom of Information Act, his class made a
fascinating discovery.
“We found that those reports were immediately sent over to the
White House,” says Gaines. “Every report went to the White
House. And we have cover sheets that show which offices it went
to.”
So Deep Throat didn’t
necessarily have to be
in the FBI to know
about the Wallace
case? “That’s right,”
says Gaines. “It
appears that every
report was
immediately dispatched
to the White House.”
So Deep Throat didn’t necessarily have to be in the FBI to
know about the Wallace case? “That’s right,” says Gaines. “It
appears that every report was immediately dispatched to the White
House.”
And then there was another clue buried right in the university
library, in the middle of all the rolls of microfilm. There were copies
of the FBI files of the original Watergate investigation — 16,000
pages of possible leads.
When the students painstakingly reviewed those files, they
discovered something even more startling.
“That’s the smoking memo,” says Gaines.
It was an FBI memo criticizing one of Woodward and
Bernstein’s major stories, saying it had inaccurate information
about what was in FBI files.
“The foregoing statement is absolutely false,” it said.
It turns out, Woodward wrote in his book he’d gotten that
information straight from Deep Throat.
“When the FBI read The Washington Post, they put out a
memo saying that, ‘This is false,’ according to their information,”
says a student.
So all these people who’d said that Deep Throat must have
worked at the FBI, suddenly you’re saying… “No,” says the
student.
And the Illinois students say they found another important clue
hiding in plain sight. It involves Deep Throat’s tip that the
now-famous Nixon White House tapes had this mysterious
18-and-a-half minute gap.
When Woodward and Bernstein first wrote about the tapes in
the Washington Post, they quoted “White House sources.” The
students say one of the quotes from the paper also appears later in
“All the President’s Men,” this time attributed directly to Deep
Throat. It’s evidence, the students say, that Deep Throat had to
work in the White House.
“So right there, it was sitting in front of everybody the whole
time for 30 years,” says one student.
WHITE HOUSE INSIDER?
Armed with that information, the Illinois students focused on
the White House, using lists of top Nixon aides, beginning a
methodical process of elimination.
Could a note they
found in the margin
hold the key to finally
solving the mystery?
“It says: ‘Bob, too
close on ID of throat
here?’” says Gaines.
“We examined each and every name,” says Gaines. “We had 72
names of individuals. One of the things we did, first of all, was to go
on the Internet and find out if these people were living or dead.
Because Deep Throat is a living person. Bob Woodward has said
he’ll reveal the name of Deep Throat when Deep Throat dies.”
Other people, like Press Secretary Ron Ziegler, were eliminated
because Deep Throat talked about or imitated them.
“Deep Throat did an imitation of Ziegler,” says Gaines. “Well,
he wasn’t imitating himself we assume.”
One by one, the class began crossing off names, with different
colors for people who died, arrived too late or left the White House
too early. And students began tracking down former White House
insiders, making phone calls, trying to pinpoint who in the Nixon
White House had access to critical information and who did not.
Some, like former Nixon aide Steven Bull, at one time in charge
of the president’s secret taping system, cooperated.
“He seemed like a nice gentlemen, but right off the bat, he’s like:
‘You know, I’m not Deep Throat,’” says a student. “But
unfortunately for him, everything that he told me fit right in. He
even admitted to saying that he would have had all the information
that Deep Throat had.”
Others, like former White House lawyer Fred Fielding, they
could never reach.
“It can definitely be frustrating because you’re putting so much
effort into this,” says another student. “And it’s so important to
you.”
Just as they were making those calls, came what seemed like an
enormous breakthrough — the original manuscript of “All the
President’s Men.”
How many pages are we talking about here? “Like around 800,”
says the students. “There’s a lot.”
Are there clues in the manuscript that were not in the book?
“Definitely,” they say. “Yes. Oh, yes.”
Could a note they found in the margin hold the key to finally
solving the mystery? “It says: ‘Bob, too close on ID of throat
here?’” says Gaines.
At the University of Illinois, these would-be Woodward and
Bernsteins had been developing some Deep Throat sources of their
own. And one of them — they aren’t saying who — gave them a
copy of the typewritten manuscript, a rough draft of “All the
Presidents Men.”
The class studied it — every page, line by line, including the
margin notes, looking for clues. And right there on page 519, this
cryptic question: “Bob, too close on ID of throat here?”
Bob Woodward said
he wouldn’t talk about
specific names, but
said the student project
“sounds like a guessing
game.”
Student Robert Breslin found the “Too close to Deep Throat”
reference in the manuscript. What was that moment like?
“Actually, Professor Gaines gave me 200 pages. And I went
through, I think 180 of them with no reference to Deep Throat
whatsoever,” says Breslin. “And then I just turn over one page,
and then right there, like — just caught my eye right away, because
it was like half the margin size. You just see that and you get
excited. And you just look at it and you figure, ‘Well, what does it
all mean?’”
Next to the note: a passage describing Deep Throat that the
students say never appears in the book. It reads: “He was perhaps
the only person in the government in a position to possibly
understand the whole scheme and not be a potential conspirator
himself.”
What did that tell the students?
“That led me to believe that it was someone who dealt with the
press, like a speech writer, or a press secretary,” says one student.
“Just because they wouldn’t have been making the decisions.”
ADDITIONAL CLUES
And the class found other clues not in the book — a line in the
manuscript saying that Woodward and Deep Throat had become
“fast friends” is eliminated. And, in another description of Deep
Throat, the phrase “older person” is taken out.
In the manuscript it says: “There was no bitterness on his part,
rather, the understanding of an older person whose fight had been
worn out in other battles.”
“We argue about that quote,” says one student.
“We can’t figure it out,” says another.
But it’s different in the book, right?
“Yes. They take out the word ‘older,’” says a student. “Does
that mean that Deep Throat was an older man, or that he had been
in the White House, or in position to have been worn out and
aged.”
“Or it might be misleading,” says another. “Might have caused
people to think that he was an older person, but it might not have
been.”
“We don’t know,” says another student.
‘I can’t go on a hunch.
I’m happy the class
has an opinion. But
I’m not in a position to
do that because I’m
afraid it would detract
from the type of
investigation that
we’re doing.’
— PROF. WILLIAM GAINES
In class, the students discussed the new clues in the
manuscript for days. But, in the end, they decided none of them
answered the question: Who was the secret source Woodward
used to signal by moving a flower pot on his balcony? Time was
running out. The semester was about to end.
At the time of their final class, how many suspects were still on
the list? “Seven,” say the students.
Out of the list of 70 possible candidates for Deep Throat
they’ve narrowed it down to seven?
“Well, I think it’s out of more than 70,” says one student. “I
mean, some people think he was in the FBI. I mean, we’ve narrowed
it down from like thousands of people to 70 to 12 to seven, you
know? That’s impressive.”
Who’s left on the student’s list of possible Deep Throats?
Stephen Bull, the special assistant to the president with access to
the Nixon tapes.
White House lawyer Fred Fielding, who worked closely with John
Dean and, earlier, served at the National Security Agency.
Gerald Warren, a Nixon press spokesman who’s described
favorably in the manuscript of “All the President’s Men.”
Jonathan Rose, a presidential aide who, like Woodward, attended
Yale and whose father was a Nixon confidant.
Speechwriter David Gergen, another Yale grad who, like
Woodward, served in the Navy.
Raymond Price, Nixon’s chief speechwriter. Another Yale grad
and Navy veteran.
Finally, Patrick Buchanan, speechwriter and special consultant to
the president during the Watergate crisis.
STUDENTS’ HUNCH
And, although they’re far from certain, the students told
“Dateline,” they have a hunch.
Do they know who Deep Throat is?
“We all think we know,” says one student.
Who’s their best hunch?
“We can all just say it together, I think,” says one.
“I don’t know,” says
another.
“Buchanan. Yes,
Buchanan,” they all say.
“We all think
Buchanan.”
Patrick Buchanan —
the same Pat Buchanan
who would later run for president himself.
They think Patrick Buchanan is Deep Throat?
“Right now. Right now,” they say.
Since Buchanan grew
up in Washington, the
students say he’s the
one most likely to have
suggested the
out-of-the-way,
blue-collar bar where
Deep Throat once met
Woodward.
But why Buchanan? A man many viewed as a staunch
conservative, an outspoken Nixon loyalist, a man who, even in “All
the President’s Men,” is quoted defending Nixon.
Well, the students say Buchanan also had an independent
streak, shown later when he bolted the Republican Party and ran on
the Reform ticket. And they say just a few months before
Watergate, he had threatened to quit when Nixon opened relations
with China.
“He actually threatened to resign,” says one student.
Is Buchanan a smoker? “Yes,” they say.
Is he a drinker? “Yes,” the students say.
Did he live close to Woodward? “Yes, very, very close. A mile
away,” they say.
Which meant he could have seen the flower pot signal on the
balcony at Woodward’s apartment?
“Oh, yes, easily,” says another student. “A nice morning walk.”
And the students say they have other reasons to suspect
Buchanan. During their phone calls, another famous Nixon insider
— Hugh Sloan — told them Buchanan was in a position to know a
lot.
“Sloan specifically said that Buchanan would have information
pretty much on everything,” one student says.
Did they ask Hugh Sloan, flat out, “Who do you think Deep
Throat is?”
“He said he didn’t know,” says a student. “But he said, out of
the list, Buchanan knew the most.”
What’s more, since Buchanan grew up in Washington, the
students say he’s the one most likely to have suggested the
out-of-the-way, blue-collar bar where Deep Throat once met
Woodward.
And this week, when “Dateline” called the people left on the
student’s list, they all denied being Deep Throat — except one. Pat
Buchanan.
He declined Dateline’s request for an interview, a staffer telling
us Buchanan was “not interested in making a statement.”
Bob Woodward said he wouldn’t talk about specific names, but
said the student project “sounds like a guessing game.”
And the cautious professor who’s leading the investigation
isn’t quite ready to run with his students’ story. What is his
hunch?
“I can’t go on a hunch,” says Gaines. “I’m happy the class has
an opinion. But I’m not in a position to do that because I’m afraid it
would detract from the type of investigation that we’re doing.”
And the professor has the understanding of an older person
who’s been reporting for a number of years? “But I’m not Deep
Throat,” he says.
It’s not him? “It’s not me, I wasn’t there at the time,” Gaines
says.” I have an alibi.” |
