Mark Felt

Mark Felt was a law officer.

He worked for the FBI for many years. He worked in many different cities. He even helped track down spies.

Later, he became a very high leader. He was the number two person at the FBI.

He helped with many big jobs.

One day, he shared a big secret. He told news writers things about a leader. This helped the leader leave his job.

People called him "Deep Throat." This was a secret name for a long time. He finally told the truth about it.

He lived to be a very old man. He wrote books about his life. He was a very important man in history.

Mark Felt was a law officer for the FBI.

He joined the FBI in 1942. He worked in many cities like Houston and Seattle. During World War II, he helped track down spies.

Felt rose to a high rank. He became the Deputy Director. This was the number two job at the FBI.

He worked under J. Edgar Hoover. After Hoover died, Felt did much of the work.

Felt was part of a big news story. He gave secrets to two reporters. They were Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. These secrets were about the Watergate scandal.

Because of this, President Richard Nixon had to leave his job.

For 30 years, no one knew who the source was. People called the secret source "Deep Throat." In 2005, Felt told the truth. He said he was "Deep Throat." He told this secret because his daughter asked him to. Felt lived to be 95 years old. He wrote books about his life.

Mark Felt was a very important law enforcement officer in America. He spent many years working for the FBI, which is a group that investigates crimes.

Felt joined the agency in January 1942. He started his career by working in several different field offices. He spent time in cities like Houston and San Antonio in Texas. Later, he worked in Seattle and New Orleans. He also spent time in Salt Lake City and Kansas City.

This helped him learn how to handle many different kinds of jobs.

During his early years, Felt did many important tasks. During World War II, he worked in the Espionage Section. His job was to track down spies and people trying to cause trouble. One famous job involved a man named Helmut Goldschmidt. The code name for this man was "Peasant." Felt helped lead his enemies to believe the man was in the United States. This was a way to share false information to protect the country. After the war ended, Felt worked as a firearms instructor. He also helped check the backgrounds of people working at a special plant in Washington.

Felt rose through the ranks to become a very high leader. He worked for a long time under J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was the director of the FBI for many years. In 1971, Felt was promoted to become the Deputy Associate Director. Later, he became the Deputy Director. This was the second-highest job in the whole Bureau.

When Hoover died in May 1972, Felt had a very big job. He helped manage the agency while other leaders were busy or away. He even looked after many important files left behind by Hoover.

One part of Felt's career was very difficult and controversial. In 1980, he was convicted of a crime involving the rights of certain people. This happened during investigations into a group called the Weather Underground. The court found that agents had broken into homes during the search. Felt was ordered to pay a fine for this. However, President Ronald Reagan later gave him a pardon.

A pardon means the legal trouble from that event was cleared away.

Felt is most famous for a huge secret he kept for a long time. For many years, reporters talked about a secret source named "Deep Throat." This person gave clues about the Watergate scandal to reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. These clues helped show what was happening with President Richard Nixon. Because of these discoveries, Nixon resigned from his job in 1974.

For 30 years, no one knew who "Deep Throat" really was. In 2005, at the age of 91, Felt finally told the truth. He said he was the secret source because his daughter asked him to tell the story.

Mark Felt was a high-ranking American law enforcement officer. He spent over thirty years working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Felt eventually rose to become the Deputy Director. This was the second-highest position in the entire Bureau. He is most famous for a secret identity. For decades, people wondered who the anonymous source "Deep Throat" was. In 2005, Felt revealed he was that source. His information helped uncover the Watergate scandal. This scandal eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974.

Felt's career began in the early 1940s. He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1935. He also earned a law degree from George Washington University in 1940. After a brief job at the Federal Trade Commission, he joined the FBI in January 1942.

During World War II, he worked in the Espionage Section. This division focused on domestic intelligence. He worked on the Major Case Desk to track spies. In one notable case, he used disinformation to protect Allied plans. He directed agents to trick German masters into believing a prisoner named "Peasant" had reached the United States.

After the war, Felt moved through many different field offices. This was a common practice under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Felt worked in Texas, Seattle, and New Orleans. In Seattle, he oversaw background checks for the Hanford plutonium plant. Later, he served as Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge in New Orleans. In 1956, he was promoted to Special Agent-in-Charge in Salt Lake City. There, he oversaw investigations into organized crime in Nevada. He later directed similar investigations in Kansas City, Missouri.

Felt continued to rise through the ranks of the FBI. In 1964, he became an Assistant Director. He also served as the Chief Inspector of the Bureau. This role meant he led the Inspection Division. This division ensured that agents followed Bureau regulations. In 1971, Hoover promoted Felt to Deputy Associate Director.

This position was created to help manage domestic spying operations. Felt was known for being tough on agents while remaining tactful with Director Hoover. He was often described as a reliable leader within the agency.

Significant changes occurred when J. Edgar Hoover died in May 1972. Following Hoover's death, L. Patrick Gray became the Acting Director.

Felt succeeded Clyde Tolson as the Deputy Director. During this transition, a controversy arose regarding Hoover's files. Hoover's secretary, Helen Gandy, began destroying many of his papers. She turned 167 files, totaling 17,750 pages, over to Felt. These files contained sensitive information about many people. There was a disagreement between Gray and Gandy regarding whether the destruction of personal files was authorized. Felt later testified before the U.S. House about these lost papers.

Felt's career also included a difficult legal period. In the early 1970s, the FBI investigated a group called the Weather Underground. In 1980, Felt was convicted for violating the civil rights of people linked to this group. The court found that agents had conducted unauthorized break-ins and searches. Felt was ordered to pay a fine for these actions. However, he later received a pardon from President Ronald Reagan.

This legal resolution cleared his record regarding that specific conviction.

The most lasting impact of Felt's life was his role in the Watergate scandal. While serving as Deputy Director, he acted as "Deep Throat." He provided critical information to reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

These reporters worked for The Washington Post. Their investigation into the Watergate burglary helped expose political wrongdoing. Although many suspected Felt's identity, he kept the secret for 30 years. He only revealed the truth at age 91 after his daughter persuaded him. His life remains a major part of American political and legal history.