Simple Revenge

Now that the veil has been lifted on the mysterious identity of ‘Deep Throat’ (aka Mark Felt), one thing has become very clear. Felt ratted Nixon out because the president didn’t promote him to FBI director.

Bob Woodward said Felt helped The (Washington) Post at a time of tense relations between the White House and much of the FBI hierarchy. He said the Watergate break-in came shortly after the death of legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Felt's mentor, and that Felt and other bureau officials wanted to see an FBI veteran promoted to succeed Hoover.

Felt himself had hopes that he would be the next FBI director, but Nixon instead appointed an administration insider, assistant attorney general L. Patrick Gray, to the post.

So, in the end, it was an act of revenge, pure and simple. Felt had a vendetta against the president, and he got back at him by spoon feeding information to Woodward, knowing it would fatally damage Nixon.

That’s the real story.