Was Pat Buchanan 'Deep Throat'?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
This is from a report that was on "Dateline" last night. It's rather long but fascinating.



<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/764689.asp"; target="_blank">On the trail of 'Deep Throat'</a>



Journalism class tries to unravel the mystery




NBC News



[quote]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.



"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."



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."



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....<hr></blockquote>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    This is a very interesting subject for me. Second to the Kennedy assination. Last week there was an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that lead readers to believe that Deep throat was a not a real person but a combination of different sources. Although I've seen interviews with Bill Bradlee, in which he stated that he knew who Deep Throat was but he "agreed" not to reveal it's identity until he/she died.

    I've heard the Pat Buchane gossip in the past. I've also heard that Alexander Haigh may have been Deep Throat....

    But you know, it's a know fact that Nixion drank alot. Did he also smoke???

    Looking back, that was a scary time in US history..
  • Reply 2 of 12
    stroszekstroszek Posts: 801member
    Sorry, but I very seriously doubt that Pat Buchanan has ever deep throated.



    I'm sorry. But I just couldn't resist.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    ...and no Lewinsky jokes, please
  • Reply 4 of 12
    [quote]

    Looking back, that was a scary time in US history..[/QB]<hr></blockquote>



    Very.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    Does anyone think it's dumb for a bunch of journalism students to "out" the source of another journalist? What are they learning? What are they learning about confidentiality and protecting sources?
  • Reply 6 of 12
    Am I the only one dissapointed by the disparity between the allusion and the reality of this thread? The title conjures up a whole different image.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    stroszekstroszek Posts: 801member
    [quote]Originally posted by scott_h_phd:

    <strong>Does anyone think it's dumb for a bunch of journalism students to "out" the source of another journalist? What are they learning? What are they learning about confidentiality and protecting sources?</strong><hr></blockquote>

    That was actually the first thing that I thought when I started to read the article. I was hoping that there would be some explaination towards the end, but there wasn't. You know, I think that this may be the first time that I have agreed with one of your posts. Huh. Maybe hell has frozen over.

  • Reply 8 of 12
    [quote]Originally posted by scott_h_phd:



    <strong>Does anyone think it's dumb for a bunch of journalism students to "out" the source of another journalist? What are they learning? What are they learning about confidentiality and protecting sources?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Who was Deep Throat is a story too. I'm impressed with the way these students sytematically went about their work. Basically what they did was data mine to narrow down the list of possible sources. That's pretty cool.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    [quote]Originally posted by spaceman_spiff:

    <strong>Topic: Was Pat Buchanan 'Deep Throat'? </strong><hr></blockquote>No way. He's too political. He hated the Washington Post - probably still does. He wouldn't betray Nixon.



    It's some non-political type. Someone in the FBI or CIA - Woodward has had long history since then of connections with the CIA. Or some non-political lawyer in Dean's office.



    But I don't think there's any way it was one of Nixon's political staff like Buchanan.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    Did you read the article? They discussed why it wasn't someone in the FBI.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    gregggregg Posts: 261member
    Nah, it was Diane Sawyer.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    CONFIRMED!







    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
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