Features

Dean to disclose “Deep Throat” identity in Salon

Staff
Wednesday May 01, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO — Thirty years after the break-in at the Watergate Hotel, former White House counsel John Dean intends to publish an electronic book revealing who he believes is “Deep Throat,” the anonymous informant who helped unseat President Richard Nixon. 

San Francisco-based online magazine Salon.com will offer the e-book June 17, managing editor Scott Rosenberg said Tuesday. Dean previously has written political commentary and book reviews for Salon. 

“Obviously, he has strong personal interest in the subject,” Rosenberg said. “After a lot of careful research that he details in the book, he’s pretty certain he knows who it was.” 

It won’t be the first time Dean has postulated on the identity of Deep Throat. 

In 1975, Dean said in a speech in Natchitoches, La., that it was Earl J. Silbert, one of the original Watergate prosecutors. Silbert laughed at the idea. 

In a 1982 book, “Lost Honor,” Dean said Deep Throat had to be Alexander M. Haig, who was the No. 2 aide to Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council and later Nixon’s chief of staff. Haig denied it.