This week in Baylor history: Watergate’s “Deep Throat” visits campus

By Randy Fiedler

On Feb. 6, 1974, six months before President Richard Nixon resigned the American presidency in disgrace, the former associate director of the FBI, Mark Felt, came to Baylor to deliver an address for University Forum titled “Inside the FBI.”

Felt had joined the FBI in 1942, and served as associate FBI director at the time of the Watergate break-in. He retired in 1973, and in 2005 it was revealed that Felt was the high-level government official, given the nickname “Deep Throat,” who supplied Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with important information on the Watergate scandal.

During his Baylor appearance, Felt began his remarks by saying, “You don’t need to worry about the survival of our government. In fact, all this coming out (referring to Watergate) is indicative of a strong government.”

Felt went on to says he was “extremely proud” of the FBI, and urged Baylor students to consider working for the Bureau as a career.

Source: Baylor Lariat 2/7/1974

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