Inside Watergate's Last Chapter

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But the myths of Watergate look a bit different now that we have a name and a biography to attach to Deep Throat. The real man had scores to settle as a thwarted bureaucrat as well as principles to defend. He is at once a narrative hook for a complicated story of political intrigue and a marketable commodity in this age of celebrity. Yet to look at his record is to realize a deeper truth about Watergate: it was less about one character than about the process working the way it should. And as everyone has long accepted, it wasn't the dirty tricks that destroyed the Nixon Administration; it was the White House's sustained attempt to cover them up. That unraveled mainly through official investigations begun at the trial of the Watergate break-in conspirators and pursued in a Senate hearing room.

One question left unanswered last week was whether the white-haired gentleman who waved happily from the Santa Rosa house where he has lived so quietly for the past 15 years can provide rich details to fill out this chapter of history. J. Todd Foster, a journalist who says he spent nearly three years in discussions with Felt's family about bringing his version of the story to the public, thinks not. "It's about five years too late," Foster tells TIME. "Mark Felt doesn't even know who he is half the time." Foster says he turned down a joint project after deciding that Felt's mental capacity was far too diminished. But at least Felt knows Deep Throat will not go down in history as just a shadow in a trench coat. As the Washington Post itself put it, "It's nice to be able to honor him by his real name while he still lives." --Reported by Jeffrey Ressner/ Los Angeles, Nathan Thornburgh/New York, Chris Taylor/ San Francisco and Karen Tumulty/ Washington

*NIXON SUSPECTED THAT FELT WAS A PRIME SOURCE. IN A CONVERSATION TAPED IN THE OVAL OFFICE ON OCT. 19, 1972, CHIEF OF STAFF H.R. HALDEMAN TELLS THE PRESIDENT THAT THEY KNOW WHO IS LEAKING INFORMATION ABOUT WATERGATE.

NIXON: SOMEBODY IN THE FBI?

HALDEMAN: YES, SIR. MARK FELT. YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THIS BECAUSE IT WILL SCREW UP OUR SOURCE ...

REFERRING TO FELT AS A "BASTARD," NIXON AGREES THEY CAN'T REMOVE FELT BECAUSE, AS HALDEMAN PUTS IT, "HE'LL GO OUT AND UNLOAD EVERYTHING. HE KNOWS EVERYTHING THAT'S TO BE KNOWN IN THE FBI."