We all know now that the Deep Throat of Watergate was the FBI’s 2nd in command, Mark Felt, but how did he become Deep Throat?

This is the story, from the horse’s mouth you might say, Bob Woodward. From a chance meeting at the White House before Woodward even had inklings of becoming a reporter to the publishing of this book in 2005, this is the story of how it all happened.

Many speculated & few knew the identity of the source used to take Nixon’s Presidency down. Most of the information that Mark Felt passed onto Woodward was enigmatic and seldom did he say anything that didn’t lead the reporters in a direction that they may not have found on their own with time.  Simplified, Mark Felt told Woodward, in the secret parking garage meetings, was to think bigger. Meaning that the whole story was much bigger than just a simple break in at the Democratic headquarters.

Throughout the book, Woodward often tries to analyze Felt’s motives in hindsight. He admits that at the time, they weren’t important, the story was. Ultimately many call Felt a patriot, but if he had been found out at the time, he probably would have been tried for treason. Woodward and those that knew the secret left it’s telling up to Felt. Unfortunately, by the time that  his identity was revealed, old age and memory loss had robbed him of his ability to remember the events, little own his motives.

The Secret Man is an interesting mini-biography of how Woodward became a reporter after a brief stint in the Navy and the timeline for the fall of the Nixon Presidency. Even though you think that you know the whole story, it becomes much clearer and you are left with a better grasp of what pieces fit together where.
There is enough detail, but not so much that you get wallowed down in tiny useless details. It is a short, tight read.

Mark Felt, AKA Deep Throat,  died from heart failure on 18th December, 2008, at a hospice care facility in Santa Rosa, California.

The Secret Man
By Bob Woodward
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 6, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0743287150
ISBN-13: 978-0743287159