W. Mark Felt

William Mark Felt, Sr. (born August 17, 1913) is a former agent and top official of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was revealed in 2005 to be the Watergate scandal informant nicknamed "Deep Throat."

After Hoover's death

Hoover died in his sleep and was found on the morning of May 2, 1972. Tolson was nominally in charge until the next day when Nixon appointed loyalist L. Patrick Gray III as acting FBI director. Tolson submitted his resignation, dictated by Felt, and Gray accepted it, the acceptance also being dictated by Felt. Felt took Tolson's post as Associate Director, the number-two job in the bureau.{{ref|TolsonResignation}} Felt served as an honorary pallbearer at Hoover's funeral.{{ref|HooverPallbearer}}

Related Topics:
May 2 - 1972 - L. Patrick Gray III

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Immediately upon his death, Hoover's secretary for five decades, Helen Gandy, began destroying his files with the approval of Felt and Gray. She turned over twelve boxes of the "Official/Confidential" file to Felt on May 4, 1972. This consisted of 167 files and 17,750 pages, many of them containing derogatory information. Felt stored them in his office, and Gray told the press that afternoon that "there are no dossiers or secret files. There are just general files and I took steps to preserve their integrity." Felt earlier that day had told Gray, "Mr. Gray, the Bureau doesn't have any secret files," and to prove it had taken Gray to Hoover's office. They found Gandy boxing up papers. Felt said Gray "looked casually at an open file drawer and approved her work," though Gray would later deny he looked at anything. Gandy retained Hoover's "Personal File" and destroyed it.{{ref|GandyHooversFiles}} When Felt was called to testify in 1975 by the U.S. House about the destruction of Hoover's papers, he said, "There's no serious problems if we lose some papers. I don't see anything wrong and I still don't." {{ref|FeltBeforeUSHouseOfRepsOnFileDest}}

Related Topics:
Helen Gandy - May 4 - 1972 - U.S. House

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In his memoir, Felt expressed mixed feelings about Gray. While noting Gray did work hard, he was critical at how often he was away from FBI Headquarters. Gray lived in Stonington, Connecticut, and commuted to Washington. He also visited all of the Bureau's field offices except Honolulu. His frequent absences led to the nickname "Three-Day Gray". {{ref|ThreeDayGrayNickname}} These absences, combined with Gray's hospitalization and recuperation from November 20, 1972, to January 2, 1973,{{ref|GrayHospitalisation}} meant that Felt was effectively in charge for much of his final year at the Bureau. Bob Woodward wrote "Gray got to be director of the F.B.I. and Felt did the work."{{ref|WoodwardonGray}} Felt wrote in his memoir:

Related Topics:
Stonington, Connecticut - Washington - November 20 - 1972 - January 2 - 1973

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:The record amply demonstrates that President Nixon made Pat Gray the Acting Director of the FBI because he wanted a politician in J. Edgar Hoover's position who would convert the Bureau into an adjunct of the White House machine.{{ref|FeltMemoirOnGray}}

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