Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent Mark Felt eventually held the position of Associate Director of the FBI. In 2005, he admitted to being “Deep Throat,” the covert government informant who provided critical material to Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the journalists who broke the “Watergate” story, in front of the American public. President Richard Nixon eventually resigned as a result of the incident. He is frequently cited as one of history’s first whistleblowers. After being accused of disclosing confidential information about the illegal monitoring techniques used by the former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Felt was forced to terminate his 31-year career with the Bureau. The prosecution of Felt and his associate Edward Miller for their participation in the execution of illegal spying resulted in their convictions in 1980. President Ronald Reagan eventually released them in 1981. Felt has been the focus of numerous novels and films about the turbulent time during President Nixon’s administration.
Early Childhood & Life
In Twin Falls, Idaho, on August 17, 1913, William Mark Felt was born to Rose R. Felt and Mark Earl Felt. Building contractor and carpenter Mark R. Felt was employed.
He graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1931 and continued his education at the University of Idaho. Felt belonged to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at the institution and was a member of the Gamma Gamma chapter. He was successful in getting his BA from the university in 1935.
After that, Felt relocated to Washington, D.C. He started out as an employee of Democratic U.S. Senator James P. Pope’s office. Later, he continued to work for Senator David Worth Clark, who succeeded Pope.
He also attended the George Washington University Law School at night during this time. He eventually received a law degree for this in 1940. He received admission to the District of Columbia Bar in 1941.
Felt was hired by the Federal Trade Commission not long after graduating. He felt his workload was minimal, thus he did not enjoy his time here.
He applied for a position at the FBI in November 1941 and was hired. Felt’s first day of employment with the FBI was January 26, 1942.
Career of Mark Felt
After completing his sixteen weeks of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, satisfactorily, Felt was assigned to Texas, where he traveled between the San Antonio and Houston field offices.
Before it was disbanded after V-E Day in May 1945, he temporarily worked for the Domestic Intelligence Division’s Espionage Section.
After the Second World War, Felt was given a number of field offices to work in, including those in Seattle, New Orleans, and Los Angeles.
Felt was sent to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1958. After spending four years there, he relocated back to Washington, D.C. in September 1962 to work as an assistant to the assistant director of the Bureau in charge of the Training Division.
He received a promotion to Chief Inspector of the Bureau and Head of the Inspection Division in November 1964. Later, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI Director, appointed Felt to the position of Deputy Associate Director of the Bureau. He was given the responsibility of supporting Associate Director Clyde Tolson, a strong ally of Hoover.
Hoover was discovered dead on May 2, 1972, in the early hours. L. Patrick Gray III was designated acting director of the FBI by President Nixon. Felt received a promotion to the FBI’s rank of Assistant Director.
On the day of his passing, Helen Gandy, Hoover’s secretary, started shredding his papers. These records included negative information about people Hoover had looked into and tried to influence.
She delivered Felt 12 cartons of Hoover’s papers on May 4th, 1972, and he kept them in his office.
Gray suggested Felt take up his post on April 27, 1973, but was forced to quit after it came to light that he had destroyed a file that had been kept in E. Howard Hunt’s White House safe.
The New York Times published a number of in-depth pieces about J. Edgar Hoover’s unlawful wiretapping and dubious surveillance operations in the middle of 1973. The source of these disclosures was allegedly Felt. In the end, Felt’s 31-year tenure with the Bureau came to an end on June 22, 1973.
When Hoover’s documents were destroyed, Felt was invited to appear before the US House in 1975.
A federal grand jury indicted Felt, Edward Miller, the FBI’s then-Deputy Assistant Director, and Gray on April 10, 1978, for conspiring to violate the constitutional rights of American residents by investigating their houses without a warrant. These accusations were brought against them as a result of their participation in the use of ‘black bag jobs,’ or unlawful surveillance techniques, on members of the Marxist organization ‘Weather Underground.
On September 18, 1980, the case went to trial after eight postponements. President Nixon provided testimony in support of Felt and made a $600,000 contribution to Felt’s legal defense fund.
On November 6, 1980, Mark Felt and Edward Miller were found guilty and given a maximum 10-year prison term. Felt received a $5000 fine, and Miller $3500.
The pardon was signed on March 26, 1981, but it wasn’t made public until April 15, 1981. Republican Party member and attorney Edwin Meese had called President Reagan on January 30, 1981, pleading with him to grant Felt and Miller pardons.
Bigger Works of Mark Felt
As part of the Domestic Intelligence Division’s Espionage Section, Felt was given the task of finding World War II spies and saboteurs as soon as he returned to the FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., following his training in Quantico. The “Peasant” case was Felt’s most prominent case during his tenure there. It was the cover name for Helmut Goldschmidt, a German spy that Felt located and tipped off on invasion plans by the Allies.
Felt was in charge of the Watergate investigation from the day of the break-in on 17 July 1972 to June 1973. He was instrumental in the FBI’s probe into the incident. Mark Felt provided information to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein during the course of the investigation. These reporters identified their informant as a member of the Executive Branch and gave him the pseudonym “Deep THroat.” The American public was unaware of this until Felt claimed in 2005 that he was “Deep Throat.”
Personal Legacy & Life
In 1938, Mark Felt wed Audrey Robinson. They have a son named Mark Felt and a daughter named Joan Felt together.
Due to the strains of her husband’s job, her separation from their daughter, and Felt’s transfer to Seattle, Audrey Felt had a nervous collapse in 1954.
In the years that followed, Audrey battled depression until committing suicide in 1984 with Felt’s service revolver.
Felt and his son Mark Jr. made the decision to keep Joan Felt’s daughter in the dark about Audrey’s passing. Only in 2001 did she discover the truth about her mother’s passing.
Mark Felt, who was 95 years old, passed away peacefully at home on December 18, 2008. His death was attributed to heart failure, according to reports.
Mark Felt Net Worth
Mark is ranked as one of the most well-liked and wealthy law enforcement officials. Mark Felt’s net worth is $5 million, according to our analysis of data from sources like Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.