Posted on 03/17/2005 2:48:57 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
OCONOMOWOC - A former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said he believes John Dean is "Deep Throat," an anonymous newspaper source made famous during Watergate.
Ody Fish of Pewaukee, who spent nearly 15 years as a member of the Republican National Committee, said he believes Dean was the one who passed along information to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
"Deep Throat brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon," Fish said. "Woodward said he wouldn’t tell who it was until after Deep Throat died. Dean is still alive."
Dean was White House counsel to Nixon from July 1970 to April 1973. He became deeply involved in the Watergate coverup and was referred to as "master manipulator of the coverup" by the FBI. He would go on to become the star witness of the Watergate prosecution.
Dean was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in Watergate but served less than four months after cooperating with authorities.
In the summer of 1974, Fish was joined by then-Mich. Gov. Bill Milliken and then-Rep. John Rhodes, R-Ariz., to meet with Nixon and tell him his support was dwindling.
"The House (of Representatives) had already voted for impeachment proceedings. Rhodes had voted ‘yes’ in the House. Milliken was one of a few governors supporting him, and I told him there were only three or four state chairmen supporting him," Fish said. "We told him we thought he ought to resign.
"He (Nixon) said he wanted to talk with (then-Attorney General) John Mitchell and a couple of key senators, hoping for somebody to tell him he could beat the rap. He resigned a few days later."
Chuck Herro of Oconomowoc, a longtime friend of Fish, said the former GOP leader has the credentials to speak candidly about the Nixon White House.
"As author Michael Crichton said, ‘If you don’t know history, you don’t know anything,’" Herro said. "(Fish) is a witness to history."
While speaking Monday to the Oconomowoc Rotary Club, of which he is an honorary member, Fish said he did not believe Nixon gave the go-ahead for the attempted burglary at Democratic National Committee headquarters inside the Watergate building.
"It is my personal opinion that he did not authorize the break-in, but once it had occurred, he perjured himself in defending those involved," Fish said. "I believe the Senate would have found him guilty.
"Is Nixon to be forever chastised for what he did? I guess he probably should be. He can never be considered a great president. Perjury can never be forgiven."
Fish said the same should hold true for Bill Clinton, who was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial resulting from lying under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
On June 20, 1972, three days after the Watergate break-in, about 18 minutes of a secret audiotape of the president’s Oval Office conversations were erased. Nixon’s secretary, Rose Mary Woods, who died in January, later said she could have been the person responsible.
"Clearly that was not an accident," Fish said. "Why he didn’t just throw the whole damn tape away I don’t know."
Fish organized security at the 1972 Republican national convention, at which Nixon was nominated for a second term. Although he served as national committeeman for the Republicans into the 1980s, he said he had no contact with Nixon after the president resigned Aug. 9, 1974.
Nixon died in April 1994.
"Remember what our mothers taught us - we ought not to lie," Fish said.
"YEEEEAAAAAAGH!"....oh wait, wrong Dean.
Wronf Dean..more likely Maureen (Mo).anybody that could pull her hair back that tight in a bun obviously has a wild side..
Dean is still attacking republicans. And the fact that the MSM continually disses the idea that Dean might be DT is even more confirmation that it must be him.
There was something about her, wasn't there?
Why would Dean leak information that would later lead to his own imprisonment? This is silly. Surely he would have confessed to being Deep Throat in an effort to gain sympathy during sentencing.
Oh, yeah..she sat behind him first row....pure steel...didn't she end up running an escort service or something after they got divorced? I may try and Google her tonite, during the NCAA's
Fish said the same should hold true for Bill Clinton, who was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial resulting from lying under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Nixon purjured himself. But Clinton "lied under oath".
Even this republican can't see the two actions as the same.
And did Nixon actually lie under oath? I didn't think he ever gave sworn testimony.
Dean had already cooperated in order to get his sentence reduced. With Ford in the WH, I wouldn't doubt that he wouldn't want to cop to his identity in public in the hope of reducing his sentence more. That might have done the opposite. There were many of us back then who were mad as hell that Nixon had been run out of town by the lefties who never did like the fact that he had been a commie hunter and McCarthy cohort back in the 50's.
And the fact that Dean's girl friend was a hooker might have made the handle "Deep Throat" awfully appropriate. Woodward has said he didn't want to name DT because he might be embarrased by the name.
don't think it is Dean......didn't fit the profile and didn't they say DT was very sick......even so, Dean makes for a nice "TRAITOR"
Makes you wonder what Woodward and Bernstein were doing when they got the information from DT.
Maybe it was all just pillow talk and we've only assumed all these years that DT was a man.
BTW, Clinton can never be considered a Great President but this distinction has nothing to do with his admitted Perjury and lying. There are plenty of other reasons to keep him off the list of Great Presidents and his lying only reinforces that conclusion.
I have always felt that dean was "Deep Throat". I had read the book Slient Coup and it showed that dean was a backstabbing little toady who would do anything to advance his career. He did not count on the outrage that the dims & the Country had felt after words. I think that he had leaked the information in order to deflect any attn. away from himself. I have listened to the Gman on several occasions, & he has stated that if he had gotten the call to remove dean from this world he would have gladly done it!
Nixon was the 2nd greatest president of the 20th century, right behind Ronaldus Magnus.
I'm sure he didn't think he'd go to prison over it, whoever he might have been. If it was Dean, think about this: Would you rather go to prison, or have G. Gordon Liddy rip out your "Deep Throat"? Hmmm?
Nixon was nuts, John Dean was slime.
Furthermore, Nixon was covering for his staff. He refused to throw them to the wolves.
Clinton was covering for his own transgressions. Remember that before the "blue dress" came into evidence he was already fabricating a story to the effect that Lewinski was a stalker!
We're talking about two different animals in the zoo, here!
I'll bet Liddy agrees.
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