A Question and a Few Answers
Richard Nixon is unlikely to make it to a list of Great Amriican Presidents in a hurry. Thirty yersa after Watergate he is, unfortunatly, a rather lonely figure on the landscape of American memory. The Media destroyed him because the Liberal Pressdetested him. The bloched attempt at forced entry into the Democratic Headquarters was harldy an issue to drive an elected President from his office. His contribution to American foreign policy and economy are yet to be assessed. Anything good that he did is attributed to his Advisor for National Security, Dr Henry Kissenger. Hence the revelation that Mark Felt was the Deep Throat has to be reassessed.
Felt was a serving Deputy Director of the FBI and as such did a wrong thing in providing unsolicited and unauthorises information to Wasington Post and Bob Woodward. AS an important functionary of the state he could have placed the information before the Senate and House Committees for action. Instead he chose to act in a covert and dangerous manner by leaking the information gathered by the FBI using the Americabn tax payers money over to the Washington POst. This does little credit to his sense of character. If he felt strongly about the sins of Nixon he should have resigned his job and attacked Nixon. Instead he chose to hide his face and selectively leak information to chosen press clients in total violation of all codes of bureaucratic conduct. Nixon had become a liablity to the Establishment and it wanted him out. Mark Felt was the instrument that acco,plished that vile deed.
I do not say that Felt did an immoral or even an illeghal act. Iam only saying that he not the Great American Hero that some are claiming him to be. He may have had his motives, even honorable ones at that, but what he did was very very wrong.