[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING WILLIAM MARK FELT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 2009

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the memory of a singular 
American who helped our democracy triumph in one of our darkest 
moments.
  I speak of William Mark Felt, a former Associate Director of the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who was instrumental in 
uncovering the great abuse of presidential power known as Watergate. 
Mark Felt died on December 18, 2008, in Santa Rosa, California in my 
district, more than 30 years after retiring from a career that included 
major roles in the turbulent and sometimes troubling history of the 
FBI.
  It was Mark Felt's role of whistleblower in the Watergate affair that 
led to the resignation of President Nixon that will forever ensure his 
place in history. For Mark Felt was ``Deep Throat'' the inside 
informant of Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. Mark was the person 
who that lent credibility and verification to Woodward's and Carl 
Bernstein's investigation of what lay behind the 1972 break-in at the 
Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel.
  Over the next two years, Americans learned that the Watergate break-
in was conducted by the same team of burglars who had attempted to 
discredit another whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, who had leaked 
revelations about government lies about the Vietnam War to the New York 
Times. Through the press and congressional investigations they 
discovered that the President of the United States had his own illegal 
slush fund which his subordinates used to bankroll political espionage; 
that high ranking executive department officials were privy to these 
illegalities, that a presidential ``enemies list'' existed, and that 
the executive branch used its powers to punish those enemies through 
tax audits and extra-legal investigations.
  We had a president that had set himself above the law, a man who 
abused the trust of the people of the United States and his own oath of 
office. Fortunately, Mark Felt stood up and decided not to allow the 
FBI to be a tool in these dark schemes. In the shadowy cavern of a 
parking garage in Washington, DC, Mark Felt, risking his job, his 
reputation, his personal liberty (in a time before whistleblower 
protection laws) told Bob Woodward what the FBI had uncovered about 
Watergate, ensuring that its findings would not be suppressed.
  In the late summer of 1974 when President Nixon's own party leaders 
in the Senate told him that impeachment was inevitable, he resigned, 
ending what had become an imperial presidency. The ship of state had 
righted itself; the system worked, however imperfectly.
  Mark Felt's moment in history has a lesson for us. One man standing 
up to tyranny can make a difference, and the truth can indeed set us 
free.

                          ____________________