Deep Motive

Felt, Colson & Bremer

In the wake of the disclosure that Mark Felt was Deep Throat, few figures appeared on television to question his motives more often than former Nixon aide Chuck Colson.  Again and again, he told MSNBC he was "shocked...because I worked with him closely."  He told CNN that his leaks to Woodward were "demeaning, terribly disappointing.  It's not the image of the professional FBI that you would expect."  In another CNN interview he said: 

He could have walked into Pat Gray's office, the director of the FBI, and said, here are things that are going in the White House that need to be exposed. The president needs to know about this.

This disappointment coming from Chuck Colson is more than a bit ironic, since in at least one instance, it was Colson's activities that cried out for exposure.  Most know that Colson served time in prison in connection with the Watergate scandal, but few know of his role in the White House reaction to the shooting of George Wallace.  The story provides some important context in understanding the motivations of Mark Felt as Deep Throat. 

J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the FBI, died on May 2, 1972.  Days later, President Nixon passed over Mark Felt and other career FBI agents and nominated Patrick Gray, a Nixon loyalist, as Hoover's successor. 

Less than two weeks later, on May 15, 1972, only a month before the arrests at the Watergate, a lone gunman named Arthur Bremer shot and badly wounded George Wallace, then a Democratic presidential candidate who was then second to eventual nominee George McGovern in delegates.  The wounds paralyzed Wallace and effectively ended his campaign.   

In his book, Arrogance of Power, Anthony Summers reconstructed the White House reaction from several sources including the Nixon tapes (p. 405): 

Nixon was "agitated" when informed of the shooting, and "voiced immediate concern that the assassin might have ties to the Republican party or, even worse, to the President's Re-election Committee." Were that to have been the case, Colson was to note, "it could have cost the President the election."

Within three hours, before any details about the assassin were clear, a White House aide announced to the press that papers found in Bremer's Milwaukee apartment linked him to "leftist" causes, perhaps to the campaign of Senator McGovern. "What matters for the next 24-48 hours is the story," Nixon would tell colleagues the next morning, according to Haldeman's diary. "Don't worry about doing it all by the book. The problem is who wins the public opinion on it. It's all P.R. at this point."

His real view was in fact even blunter. The president recalled that day that he had recently told the new attorney general, Richard Kleindienst, that there were "times when it's best that the Justice Department not know ... we'll tell you what we think you need to know." Now was one of those times, and the president urged aides to use the acting FBI director, Pat Gray, as "an accomplice." Meanwhile he exhorted them: "Use Colson's outfit, you know, to sneak out things. I mean, he'll do anything. I mean, anything!"

Colson himself, in a National Archives oral history interview excerpted in Fred Emery's "Watergate," picks up the story from there (p. 119):

Nixon expressed a fear that this guy [Bremer] might be a right-wing zealot or a Nixon supporter and that the blame would then come upon Nixon. We sat there for a couple of hours talking. Early in the conversation Nixon said, "Get over to the FBI and find out what they know."

I picked up a phone from the president's office, so it's on the tapes, and got hold of Mark Felt and said, "What do we know?" and Felt said, "We know nothing; we've got the name and address of the fellow. We're sending agents out to his apartment right now. . .

Nixon's having a cocktail, he's sitting there with his feet back, we're waiting for the FBI to call. As happened hundreds of times under those circumstances, he would say, "Wouldn't it be great if ... oh, wouldn't it be great if they had left-wing propaganda in that apartment?" And in the course of conversation back and forth he said, "Too bad we couldn't get somebody there to plant it. Maybe could find out what was behind this." I excused myself, went out, called Howard Hunt ...

Emery adds that Colson "sought to make light of it, saying that it was simply an example of Nixon's political fantasies, 'the sort of thing he was always doing.'" 

However, the evidence now available in the National Archives tells a different story.  According to Emery, Colson's handwritten notes in the Archives describe the scenario involving "left wing literature" in Bremer's apartment as "our story." 

The tapes of the conversations between Nixon, Colson and Felt -- released several years after Colson's oral history interview -- show more detail.  At 7:42 p.m. on May 15, Felt called Nixon and the President.  Nixon -- already on the phone with Domestic Policy Advisor John Ehrlichman -- passed the call to Colson (my transcription of the mp3 audio).  After a quick briefing, Colson made a few suggestions:

COLSON:  One of my assistant's was just saying to me that he'd heard a couple of rumors.  One was that some Kennedy people were involved and that this fellow [Bremer] and some of his associates were Kennedy friends, and the second report we've had is that the fellow was an anti-war protester.

FELT:  I think the latter would be more likely...

COLSON: Yea, well, I'm sure...

FELT: ...Um, I've heard absolutely nothing of that Kennedy angle, [but] I'll be sure and pass that along. 

COLSON:  Be sure that you push that, Mark, just to be certain they ask those kinds of questions, you know, to get that kind of information.

FELT: Yes sir, I will.  What I'll do is get back in 30 minutes and give my report.

Colson breaks away.  Nixon can be overheard in the background telling Colson to tell Felt to "disregard [John] Ehrlichman's call."  Colson continues with Felt:

COLSON:  Mark, you can disregard Ehrlichman's call because we're taking it up with you right now directly.  He was going to discuss two rumors we had heard, one that an anti-war revolutionary from the University of Wisconsin, the second is that, uh, that he had been involved in some political activities with Ted Kennedy and some of Ted Kennedy's people.  So I think both of these ought to be checked, because as I'm told by my assistant here, they've been running rampant, these rumors.

But the president wants to be absolutely certain, Mark, that we don't delay in questioning.  That's the most important thing. 

At 8:15 p.m. Mark Felt called Nixon.  The transcript of that conversation was posted online (transcript and audio) on Wednesday by the George Washington University's "National Security Archive." It was also summarized in a story today by AP's Pete Yost. 

Felt: Hello.

Nixon: Yeah. What is the latest?

Felt: Well, we we're getting to shape up a little bit.

Nixon: Yeah.

Felt: This man, [ Arthur H.] Bremer, the assailant, is in good physical shape.

Nixon: Yes?

Felt: He's got some cuts and bruises, and-

Nixon: Good! I hope they worked him over a little more than that.

Felt: [ laughes] Ha. I think they did pretty well.

Nixon: Good.

According to Woodward's account last week, "Felt was offended that the president would make such a remark." 

The conversation continues:

Felt: Since I last talked to you-or Mr. Colson-

Nixon: Yeah, yeah, yeah?

Felt: --the Secret Service has gone into his apartment out in Milwaukee...

Nixon: Yeah?

Felt: ...and they found a bunch of rambling papers, and rambling writings.

Nixon: Right.

Felt: One of them was entitled, "How to Become Notable."

Nixon: Yeah?

Felt: Another one was entitled, "What To Do While Confined For a Long Period"--

Nixon: Good God.

Felt: This, this is a pretty clear picture to me that we've got a mental problem here with this guy--

Nixon: Right. Right.

Later, Felt spoke with Colson again, according to a memo now in the National Archives that Colson wrote to "The File" (published in Oudes, From the President: Richard Nixon's Secret Files, p. 445):   

At 9:30 P.m., Felt phoned me to say that he had obtained a further report from the Milwaukee police...Felt said that Bremer has refused to talk without his attorney and has been taken to a local magistrate and will be formally arraigned and confined in the Baltimore county jail. Felt cautioned that no information should leak out with respect to the psychiatrist's diagnosis or the documents found for fear a defense counsel could use it in pleading insanity. Felt said that the Bureau would not go into the apartment until they had obtained a search warrant. I suggested to Felt that he consider the use of informants in the jail in order to engage Bremer in conversation to try to determine motives. I explained that it was terribly important in a case of this kind to know what was behind the attempted assassination because it might have other implications but that obviously nothing should be done that would prejudice an ultimate prosecution. I suggested that his men be instructed to obtain information as soon as possible and under whatever circumstances they could [emphasis added].

At 9:23 p.m., Colson and Nixon speak by telephone.  The transcript, published in Stanley Kutler's Abuse of Power (p. 38), shows that Colson himself suggested the possibility of "planting" literature:

PRESIDENT NIXON: Is he a left winger, right winger?

COLSON: Well, he's going to be a left winger by the time we get through, I think.

PRESIDENT NIXON: Good. Keep at that, keep at that.

COLSON: Yeah. I just wish that, God, that I'd thought sooner about planting a little literature out there [in Bremer's Milwaukee apartment].

PRESIDENT NIXON: [Laughs]

COLSON: It may be a little late, although I've got one source that maybe--

PRESIDENT NIXON: Good.

COLSON: --you could think about that. I mean, if they found it near his apartment that would be helpful [emphasis added].

Anthony Summers account continues (p. 406):

That evening, Colson later told the FBI, he placed a call to the man he had in mind for the task, Howard Hunt. Hunt was to fly to Milwaukee, where the would-be assassin had lived, and penetrate Bremer's apartment. To obtain entry, Colson suggested, Hunt could "bribe the janitor or pick the lock." According to Hunt, he pointed out that it was too late, that the apartment would now be sealed and virtually impenetrable. Colson called off the mission the following day.

Colson's CYA memo in the Archives -- written before the Watergate arrests -- adds one more detail:

Pat Gray called at 10:45 to say that he was now in charge of the case...Gray said he had instructed agents to engage in conversation. Gray further said the record revealed that he was a dues-paying member of the Young Democrats, politically active but that his brother, Theodore, reported that he, Bremer, was a Wallace supporter. Gray told me of his education and his part-time employment. I advised Gray that he should be aware of the need to determine the political motives as quickly as possible. He said he understood fully and was pursuing that avenue very aggressively [emphasis added].

So we have the complete picture: Colson and Nixon discussed planting evidence that would link an assassination attempt to a political rival.  Although nothing here shows that Felt knew of the talk of "planting" evidence, Colson had dealt directly with Felt and Gray and pressured both to pursue Bremer's political motives.  He pushed Felt hard on "rumors" of connections between Bremer and Ted Kennedy.  Felt expressed skepticism, but Gray, who took charge several hours later, reported that he was pursuing the motive angle "very aggressively."

Meanwhile, the editors at the Washington Post assigned rookie Metro reporter Bob Woodward to cover the Wallace shooting.  His colleague James Mann, in his well-known article on Deep Throat, recalled that Woodward "was clearly making considerable and frequent use of a source at the FBI." 

Woodward's own account published last week completes the story:

I called Felt several times and he very carefully gave me leads as we tried to find out more about Bremer. It turned out that he had stalked some of the other candidates, and I went to New York to pick up the trail. This led to several front-page stories about Bremer's travels, completing a portrait of a madman not singling out Wallace but rather looking for any presidential candidate to shoot. On May 18, I did a Page One article that said, among other things, "High federal officials who have reviewed investigative reports on the Wallace shooting said yesterday that there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate that Bremer was a hired killer."

Woodward's May 18 story makes no reference to the diagnosis of Bremer by psychiatrists. 

Presumably, Woodward's soon-to-be-released book will shed more light on this episode, but the facts suggest that Felt's motivation for leaking about Bremer may have been just as complex as during Watergate.  He saw Nixon's men, possibly including Pat Gray, pushing a criminal investigation to achieve a political end.  To be sure, Felt leaked in part to promote and protect the image of the FBI, but he may have wanted to put out the real facts on Bremer to deter Colson and his "outfit" from attempting anything genuinely crazy.  Remember, as Felt made clear in his own book (as summarised in the Vanity Fair article) he was by this time familiar with Howard Hunt and the "plumbers." 

As for Colson, his "shock" at Felt's leaking after all these is a truly astonishing bit of hypocrisy, to put it mildly.  One would think, after all these years, that he would have learned...

What is this Blog About?

Although I have been a Watergate junkie since I watched the Senate Watergate Hearings as a ten-year-old in 1973, I got seriously reacquainted with the Deep Throat mystery three years ago, after two different research projects named short lists of Deep Throat suspects.  One was an e-book by John Dean, the second the interim report of the University of Illinois Journalism students.  Both lists included Pat Buchanan, and the students initially leaned to Buchanan as their most likely suspect.

I found the Buchanan theory so intriguing that I soon found myself with a full blown case of Deep Throat Sleuth Syndrome (I'm not sure it's in the DSM-IV manual, but it should be). I was soon spending most of my spare time (something I had more of before becoming a Dad and launching MysteryPollster) doing research. Over the course of the last three years, I read most of the major Watergate-era memoirs and histories and spent many hours with the Nixon papers and tapes housed at the National Archives.  Ultimately I penned a lengthy narrative about Buchanan and the Deep Throat mystery.  Of course, I know know that my theory was quite wrong.  Buchanan's story is interesting, but ultimately not the Deep Throat story.

About a year ago, a well known national opinion magazine "accepted" my story for publication, pending some additional reporting and much needed editing.  As it turned out, the editors of said publication were appropriately cautious and got cold feet several times.  After nearly six months of consideration and a few false starts, they finally agreed to go forward.  I had been struggling to find time to complete the necessary revisions when the Mark Felt Story broke.  Lucky for me, I've had more pressing priorities of late. 

Nonetheless, I learned a great deal about Watergate and Deep Throat from all this research, much of which is relevant to the Mark Felt story.  This blog is simply a way to unpack and self-publish a few tidbits that others may find interesting.  As such, it will have a very limited life-span of active posting.  I'll put up few items over the next few weeks that will remain in the public domain for those that stumble on it via Google, but this will not be a long term project.

Deep Throat's Deep Throat

One of the characteristics of Deep Throat that made him so elusive to those of us who obsessed about his identity was that he seemed to know a lot about two worlds:  The criminal investigation into Watergate and the Nixon White House.  As a result, many believed -- and continue to believe -- that no one man could have known everything Deep Throat seemed to know.  The skeptics generally argued that Deep Throat was a fiction or a composite of multiple sources. 

Now that Deep Throat has been identified as Former Deputy FBI director Mark Felt that argument appears to be continuing, as David Greenberg anticipated yesterday on Slate.  One such skeptic, Edward Jay Epstein, wrote yesterday:

Consider, for example, Woodward and Bernstein explosive Washington Post story on November 8, 1973 about "deliberate erasures" on one of the White House tapes. In his book All The President's Men, Woodward says that in the first week of November he "moved the flower pot" on his sixth floor balcony (a signal to Deep Throat), then met Deep Throat that night in an underground garage. Deep Throat then told him that the tapes contained "gaps" that indicated it had been tampered with. So that story is sourced to Deep Throat in November 1973.

But the person who provided that information that night could not have been Felt according to records examined by Nixon's biographer Jonathan Aitken. In November 1973, only six people knew about the gaps in the tape-- Richard Nixon; Rose Mary Woods (Nixon's personal secretary); Alexander Haig (The White House chief of staff); Haig's deputy, Major General John C Bennett and two trusted Nixon White House aides, Fred Buzhardt and Steve Bull. Not only was Felt not privy to that White House secret, but he was no longer even in the FBI, having left that October.

So how could Felt have known?  Hopefully, we'll get some answers in the book Woodward promises in July.  For now, a pretty good hint comes from the Post's David Von Drehle, who wrote the lead article confirming Felt as Deep Throat on Tuesday.  His answer on an online chat yesterday: 

Even after his retirement, Felt remained one of the best-connected men in Washington and routinely learned sensitive information from his longtime friends, colleagues and sources.

Over the last few years, I have been doing my own research on Deep Throat.  I had a different (and, as it turns out, very wrong) theory about his identity (I thought he could have been Pat Buchanan - more on that later).  But in the process I did stumble on some dots I have not yet seen connected in the media.  One concerns one possible source for Felt's information about the White House.  Perhaps Deep Throat's Deep Throat on this question was none other than Rose Mary Woods.

Nixon's long-time secretary Rose Mary Woods had been with him since 1952, when he became Vice President.  By the time they reached the White House, she had become more than a secretary. "Always on duty, single minded in her devotion to Nixon and his family, of the campaign," wrote Nixon aide Len Garment, "Rose held the [campaign] organization together from the first days....If you crossed Rose there was no court of appeal."[1]  Her obituary in the Post recalled:

Long before Haldeman and domestic aide John Ehrlichman joined the presidential campaign, Miss Woods was Nixon's gatekeeper. Reporters said she controlled who could see her boss -- and punished those she deemed critical.

But once Nixon reached the White House, she came into conflict with Haldeman.  Nixon wanted his new chief of staff to be his sole "sole doorkeeper," so he ordered Haldeman to move Woods to a remote office assign her exclusively to telephone and letter writing duties and limit her direct contact with Nixon.  Woods, who assumed Haldeman had instigated the change, reacted with what speechwriter William Safire remembered as, "grief stricken fury."[2]  She maintained what Len Garment described as "a cordial and lasting dislike of Haldeman."[3] 

On October 25, 1972, the Post had published an account by Woodward and Bernstein that linked chief of staff H.R. Haldeman to the secret slush fund that financed the Watergate break-in.  The story deeply disturbed Haldeman.  The night the story broke, according to Nixon's diary, his chief of staff "spoke rather darkly of the fact that there was a clique in the White House that were out to get him."[4]   

The next day, a taped conversation between Nixon and Haldeman captures who Haldeman had in mind (this is my transcription taken directly from the Nixon tapes):

NIXON:  You spoke about the fact, the other thing, you spoke about the fact that there were people on the White House staff who were out to try to do you in.  Who would that be? HALDEMAN:   It's...you want to know? 

NIXON: Yea

HALDEMAN:   I..It's not the tale I think we can run around talking about. 

NIXON: Yea.

HALDEMAN. Rose, primarily.[5]

As the conversation continued, both Nixon and Haldeman agreed that Woods herself could not possibly be leaking, but they suspected that someone close to her as the culprit. 

What makes this all relevant to Mark Felt is that Rose Woods also had remarkably strong connections to Hoover loyalists at the FBI.  Her brother Ed Woods had been an FBI special agent and maintained a close friendship with J. Edgar Hoover and his deputies.[6]  Rose Woods and Hoover had been on a first name basis since the 1950s and she had served over the years as Nixon's informal conduit to Hoover.[7]  Haldeman designated Ehrlichman as conduit to the FBI "because Rose Mary Woods had become too close to Hoover and, particularly, to [his secretary] Helen Gandy."[8] Yet according to telephone logs in the National Archives, Woods remained in contact with at least one Hoover loyalist, retired deputy director Louis Nichols, as late as May 1973.[9] 

Woods was certainly in a position to know about the tape gap.  In October of 1973, she had confided to Nixon's lawyers that she had erased a portion of the 18 1/2 minute gap, but was unsure who erased the rest. At first the lawyers did not believe the tape in question had been subpoenaed by the prosecutors, so they were not concerned.  But in late October they realized that they had been wrong.  On November 6, 1973, three days before the Washington Post story about deliberate erasures appeared, Rose Woods learned that she would be called to testify about the missing conversation that we now know included the 18 1/2 minute gap.  That day, according to John Dean's account, efforts were made to get her an outside lawyer.[10]  It certainly seems possible that in this moment of great personal turmoil, she may have turned to one of her FBI friends for advice, someone who passed a tip on to Felt. 

This theoretical Woods-Felt connection is entirely speculative, of course.  Whether Rose Woods passed information that made its way to Mark Felt or not, the connections point up the weakness in an argument that Mark Felt could only have known information that left a paper trail to his office.  People talk to each other in Washington.  Friendships and relationships reach across workplaces, and much information gets passed back and forth through informal contacts.  That's how Washington worked - then and now.

Footnotes (after the jump)