This is my response to the Washington Post's call for an investigation into the FBI. While I am an advocate of accountability, I would like to remind people that a generation ago the Washington Post became famous for getting a high level FBI agent to leak information. I guess it comes down to this question: Should a government employee turn to the media, if she/he feels the President is violating the rights of American citizens? Perhaps the answer is under extraordinary circumstances. I am not implying Donald Trump did anything wrong. I am pointing out that the election investigation occurring right now is the same controversy we were dealing with in 1972. Did a presidential candidate use questionable means to influence the results of the presidential election? William “Mark” Felt was an associate director of the FBI who later was the secret informant known as “deep throat” who broke the Watergate story to reporters. In 1972, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein received information from a high-level government official who was given the moniker "Deep Throat." The evidence eventually led to President Nixon’s resignation in August 1974. In a 2005 magazine article, "Deep Throat" was revealed to be William Mark Felt. People argue over whether Mark Felt sharing information was the result of a need for an ethical man to hold people accountable, or was it his resentment for being passed over by the Nixon administration to be the FBI Director. William Mark Felt was born on August 17, 1913, in Twin Falls, Idaho. Felt was the son of carpenter Mark Earl Felt and homemaker Rose Dygert. Felt married Audrey Robinson of Gooding, Idaho, whom he had known when they were students at UI. She had come to Washington to work at the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Upon graduation, Felt took a position at the Federal Trade Commission but did not enjoy the work. His workload was very light, and he was assigned a case to investigate whether or not a toilet paper brand, called "Red Cross," was misleading consumers into thinking it was endorsed by the American Red Cross. Felt wrote in his memoir: My research, which required days of travel and hundreds of interviews, produced two definite conclusions: 1. Most people did use toilet tissue. 2. Most people did not appreciate being asked about it. That was when I started looking for other employment. He applied for a job with the FBI in November 1941 and was accepted. His first day at the Bureau was January 26, 1942. Felt's performance caught the attention of then-director J. Edgar Hoover. After serving as a top agent in places such as Seattle, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, Felt returned to Washington in 1962, where he helped oversee training at the FBI Academy. (Keep in mind Hoover has been criticized for private files he kept on citizens.) In 1971, Hoover promoted Felt to deputy associate director, the third highest position in the FBI. In May of 1972, Hoover died in his sleep and President Richard Nixon appointed L. Patrick Gray as acting director of the FBI. Felt was assigned to the post of associate director shortly thereafter, becoming second in command at the bureau. Some theorize that Felt harbored resentment over being passed over as Director of the FBI. Mark Felt led an investigation of a group called the Weatherman Underground in the early 1970’s. (The weatherman took their name from a line in a Bob Dylan song which stated, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” The Weather Underground had planted bombs at the Capitol, the Pentagon, and the State Department building. Felt, along with Edward S. Miller, authorized FBI agents to break into homes secretly in 1972 and 1973, without a search warrant, on nine separate occasions. These kinds of FBI operations were known as "black bag jobs." The break-ins occurred at five addresses in New York and New Jersey, at the homes of relatives and acquaintances of Weather Underground members. They did not contribute to the capture of any fugitives. The use of "black bag jobs" by the FBI was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. Felt publicly stated he had ordered break-ins, and recommended against punishment of individual agents who had carried out orders. Felt commented on Face the Nation that he would probably be a "scapegoat" for the Bureau's work, but added, "I think this is justified and I'd do it again tomorrow." He justified the break ins as protecting the "greater good." The criminal case against the Weatherman was dismissed because the FBI had conducted illegal activities, including unauthorized wiretaps, break-ins, and mail interceptions. The lead federal prosecutor on the case, William C. Ibershof, claims that Mark Felt and Attorney General John N. Mitchell initiated these illegal activities that tainted the investigation. On April 10, 1978, a federal grand jury charged Felt with conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens by searching their homes without warrants. The indictment charged violations of Title 18, Section 241 of the United States Code and stated Felt and the others: "Did unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together and with each other to injure and oppress citizens of the United States who were relatives and acquaintances of the Weatherman fugitives, in the free exercise and enjoyments of certain rights and privileges secured to them by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America." Felt stated, “I was shocked that I was indicted. You would be too, if you did what you thought was in the best interests of the country and someone on technical grounds indicted you.” Former President Richard Nixon testified on Felt’s behalf, stating that presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have requested investigations into citizens. (This was a noble gesture by Nixon, when you consider Nixon ultimately fired Felt suspecting he was leak.) The case eventually ended when Mark Felt was pardoned by President Ronald Reagon. Watergate On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. Two of the robbers had checks in their billfolds from the Committee to re-elect the President (Nixon). As second in command, Felt was asked to head the bureau's investigation into the break-in in order to determine the extent, if any, of White House involvement. On June 19, 1972, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein received information from a high-level government official who was given the moniker "Deep Throat." During the phone call, Deep Throat told the journalists that a former CIA agent and Nixon staff member Howard Hunt was definitely involved in the Watergate scandal. Felt continued to guide the investigation by letting the reporters know when they were moving in the wrong direction. The tips gave journalists enough leverage to call for a widespread investigation of the White House's activities. The televised trials in 1973 revealed a string of criminal acts involving campaign fraud, political espionage, breaking and entering, and illegal wiretapping that all led back to President Nixon and his staff. The evidence eventually led to Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974. Yet even after the trial, the identity of the man known as Deep Throat remained a mystery. Felt retired from the FBI on June 22, 1973. After he suffered a stroke and encountered serious illness, his daughter, Joan, persuaded him to go public. On May 31, 2005, he broke his silence in an issue of Vanity Fair. The article revealed Felt's identity as Deep Throat, and Woodward and Bernstein later confirmed this to be fact. On December 18, 2008, Mark Felt died in his sleep after suffering from congestive heart failure. He and his wife, Audrey, who died in 1984, had two children, Mark and Joan. They lived in Santa Rosa, California. Congratulations to Sauk Centre Mainstreeters girls basketball state championship--the school’s first state championship in 30 years. Sauk Centre is the first high school basketball team to win 33 games in a season, with 0 losses. It was 55-52 over Roseau with 2 minutes left. Sauk Centre scored 8 more and Roseau didn’t score again. I have to tell you that I have a number of the Pierz girls basketball players in my college class, and I told them one game day this winter, “I want to see you come up with an upset tonight. I’ll only ask this of you once.” I had no idea of who they were playing. The response was, “Okay, but do you realize we are playing the #1 ranked team in the state and they are undefeated?” Well, Pierz didn’t beat Sauk Centre either. Quotes: All of the quotes below are from Jim Gaffigan: "You ever read a book that changed your life? Me neither." "I love how New York is so multicultural. I wish I was ethnic, I'm nothing. Because if you're Hispanic and you get angry, people are like, 'He's got a Latin temper!' If you're a white guy and you get angry, people are like, 'That guy's a jerk.'" "It would be kind of embarrassing trying to explain what an appetizer is to someone from a starving country though. 'Yeah the appetizer, that's the food we eat before we have our food...No no you're thinking of dessert, that's food we eat after we have our food.'" "But truly, women are amazing. Think about it this way: a woman can grow a baby inside her body. Then a woman can deliver the baby through her body. Then, by some miracle, a woman can feed a baby with her body. When you compare that to the male’s contribution to life, it’s kind of embarrassing, really." "The Pearly Gates. Am I the only one who finds it odd that Heaven has gates? What kind of neighborhood is Heaven in?" Thanks for listening, Frank We are expecting a couple of girls into our family in 2018, so I thought I’d share some pictures of family, starting in 1985.
2 Comments
6/20/2021 12:47:11 am
Great old photos! There are a lot of such pictures in my album! This is the story of a whole family!
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6/21/2021 12:45:06 pm
Marina,
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
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