PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2017-02-16 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Did President Nixon Say Watergate Details Were 'Illegally' Leaked by Deep Throat? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • In February 2017 a meme began circulating that attributed a quote about leaks and Watergate to President Richard Nixon: As is often the case with similar memes, the quote began popping up with frequency on Facebook in seeming response to current events. One version appeared in a comment thread on California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom's Facebook wall: The meme picked up steam directly after President Donald Trump made widely reported statements describing intelligence community leaks as illegal: The quote attributed to Nixon was similar, stating that Deep Throat (FBI whistleblower Mark Felt's alter ego) was solely responsible for the administration's Watergate-related downfall. When Felt's identity was confirmed in 2005, the Washington Post summarized the scandal thusly: Damning information to provided by Felt to Post reporters in the early 1970s led to the eventual resignation of President Nixon, but more than 40 years after those events familiarity with them was increasingly uncommon. A Post series on the Watergate timeline (and the newspaper's role in it through investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein) described the Nixon White House's reaction to initial coverage: That report suggested that President Nixon dismissed the coverage (as a politician in 2017 might decry fake news), but it did not indicate he dismissed Deep Throat as an illegal leaker. In their retrospective, the Post quoted Nixon's final resignation speech, which came after years of mounting allegations: Nixon did not lash out at Deep Throat during that address. In the paper's 2005 coverage of the unmasking of Deep Throat, Nixon's distaste for leakers was mentioned, but Woodward and Bernstein emphasized Felt's role had become overstated and mythical over the decades: During the Watergate scandal, the eventual release of extensive White House recordings provided large record of remarks made by Nixon or his aides during his presidency, many of which were unflattering or invited reproach; none targeted Felt. A lengthy 22 May 1973 statement made by Nixon about various scandals mentioned leaks and leakers, but use of the word illegal largely referenced accusations refuted by Nixon about himself. The only leaker mentioned by name in that statement was Daniel Ellsberg: We found no statements that resembled the quote attributed to Nixon in the meme. Although President Nixon described leaks as a threat to national security, for the most part he directly addressed allegations against his administration and did not claim leakers were to blame for the controversies. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url