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MAGAZINE | |
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University of Illinois Department of Journalism |
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This portion of the University of Illinois' Department of Journalism Web site archives the preliminary findings of an investigative report conducted by Knight Chair Professor Bill Gaines and students from his investigative journalism classes.
The investigation's findings were later finalized and presented at the following link:
All information on these Web pages are for archival purposes and are no longer current.
Interviewed sources
Developing our own sources
Students interview key participants to gather additional information
Knowledgeable persons had clues to offer. Barry Sussman, Watergate project editor for the Post who directly supervised Woodward and Bernstein and other reporters in gathering and writing the stories, confirmed the existence of Throat, which so many others have doubted.
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| STUDENTS | |
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These students participated in the quest to identify Deep Throat:
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He said about three months after the break-in, Woodward came to him with a story that had minimal bearing on Watergate. Woodward told Sussman he had a source whom he would prefer to not identify. Sussman agreed to publish it without knowing the source. Sussman said that Woodward seldom met with Throat and that he only confirmed what reporters and editors could have concluded themselves.
Sussman believed Throat was a person, probably in the Justice Department, who did not play an important part in the Watergate investigation.
Although Sussman said he did not recall the story Woodward first submitted with Throat as his unnamed source, the students found a story in Post archives that fit the description:
- Saturday, Sept. 27: Woodward and Bernstein bylines appeared on a story in which they revealed a memo that shows Charles McCord, one of the Watergate burglars, was investigating columnist Jack Anderson. The source was not named. It was 10 days after the call from Woodward to Throat about the Mitchell story.
Jim Mann, a reporter who covered federal courts for the Post in 1972 and occasionally shared a byline with Woodward, also believes there is a Deep Throat. Mann called Woodward the day Mann was leaving for Europe. It was a Saturday, and Woodward had written a story for Sunday's Post that pointed to involvement of the White House staff in funding the break-in.
Mann recalls it was one day after the Sept. 15, 1972, indictments of the Watergate burglars. When Mann called, Woodward told him, "I just talked to my FBI source. This thing goes much higher than we thought."
So when Mann read in "All The President's Men" that Woodward called Throat that day, he concluded that Throat was in the FBI.
John Dean, counsel to Nixon, who testified about the cover-up, also learned of the student project and helped with valuable first-person knowledge of the White House staff.