WASHINGTON — Deep in Richard Nixon’s White House files sit letters from a long-forgotten lobbying campaign to make Mark Felt head of the FBI. Instead, Felt became Deep Throat.
The National Archives released more than 10,000 pages of documents from the Nixon presidency on Wednesday and among them are the urgings of past and present FBI agents and other interested citizens to appoint Felt, then the No. 2 FBI official, as director.
Associates described his “outstanding loyalty.” Nixon did not take the advice.
Ultimately, Felt’s devastating leaks as The Washington Post’s secret Watergate source helped undermine Nixon’s presidency.
The documents, also shedding light on foreign and national security policy from the Nixon years, show increasing urgency in U.S. attempts to pacify the Middle East, alarm over Israel’s apparent progress in developing nuclear weapons and a wish to “manipulate relations with Saudis” to help broker peace. U.S. officials are also seen weighing whether to support a Kurdish rebellion in Iraq.
To fight the terrorist threat in the Mideast, the U.S. must focus on “political dialogue,” said a March 1973 directive now echoed in this week’s Mideast summit.
Deep Throat’s identity remained a mystery until Felt stepped forward in 2005 to acknowledge his clandestine role in bringing down Nixon.
Bob Woodward of The Washington Post said he first spoke with Felt about Watergate two days after the break-in.
Also in the files:
“You were particularly kind to remember me with this impressive gift,” Nixon wrote.
