By: E&P Staff The author of the 1993 biography of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, ?Deep Truth,? today named George H.W. Bush the new chief suspect as famed Watergate source Deep Throat.
The ?outing? was timed to the opening of the two reporters? Watergate archives at the University of Texas.
The author of several books for major publishers, Adrian Havill says his claim is based on recent events and his own research at the the National Archives. He announced the ?finding? in a letter posted at the
Romenesko site at the Poynter Institute.
Havill, author of a book about FBI double agent Robert Hanssen, ?The Spy who Stayed Out of the Cold,? formerly believed that the Deep Throat character was a composite of several sources.
Among the suggestive evidence he cited for his new theory:
?Did Bush have motivation? You bet,? Havill wrote. ?It was Richard Nixon who urged Bush to leave a safe seat in Congress, hinting there would be a position as assistant Secretary of the Treasury waiting for him if he failed to win a Senate seat held by Ralph Yarborough. When Bush lost, Nixon reneged and asked him to take the U.N. slot instead but teased him by hinting he would be the replacement for Spiro Agnew in 1972. Instead, he was given the thankless task of heading the Republican National Committee in 1973. The elder Bush got his revenge in the end, by standing up at a cabinet meeting in August of 1974 and becoming the first person in Nixon's inner circle to ask the President to resign.
Havill also pointed out that, like Woodward, Bush was a Yalie and a Navy man. And he recalled that Woodward in his 1998 book, ?Shadow,? boasted that Bush had aides drop off ?classified documents to his home which became the basis of a Washington Post front page story.?
Furthermore, George W. Bush, to the surprise of many, gave Woodward seven hours of interviews and urged his cabinet to cooperate with Woodward on book projects.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here