A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington

After seeing and loving Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House and planning to borrow James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, I decided to read the most recent book written by Felt, A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington, which was probably rereleased under the movie’s title. Because it was published after Felt revealed that he was the man called Deep Throat (he never liked that alias), I thought that this later book would be less circumspect than his first memoir, The FBI Pyramid: From the Inside, which I assumed would be less frank because it was published in 1979. Now I wonder whether or not his second book is even different from his first since he discusses Watergate, but never discusses his pivotal role as Bob Woodward’s informant.
Felt wrote A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington with John O’Connor who wrote a barely readable introduction for those unfamiliar with the basics of the major Watergate players, a must read epilogue and provides helpful footnotes in the latter third of the book to flesh out details that Felt left out of his autobiography during the 1970s. The biggest problem with the book is that it takes a long time to gain momentum, and it reads more like a discussion about Felt’s resume during a job interview than a life. A skilled, lesser-known co-author should be an expert writer so he or she can help craft a story that is approachable to audiences who are attracted to the more famous writer who may have lived an interesting life but is unlikely to have any writing experience. O’Connor is a practicing lawyer, and he doesn’t even list this book in his bio on his firm’s website, but he does on his LinkedIn profile. While he may be deeply invested in Felt’s story, he did not quite know how to tell it effectively.
A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington needed to be told in chronological order. If the epilogue was the introduction, it could have worked because the epilogue contained more details about Felt’s personal life and most turbulent professional period, but those elements are not a part of Felt’s account, which is a majority of the book. Instead of providing orienting bookends, it may have been better to not deliver Felt’s account undiluted. Perhaps every chapter of his book should have included the coauthor’s elaboration of what he did not reveal because of dementia or discretion, but is now widely known instead of relegating it to the footnotes or the margins, which most readers skip, but would be a grave error in this case.
In spite of its shortcomings, I did find value in reading A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington. If you are interested in the FBI as a historical institution or law enforcement, I think that it is essential reading. Felt was clearly conscious of popular culture’s adoration of the FBI, frequently references The F.B.I.’s Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (for me, it would be The X-Files or Fringe) then compares and contrasts it with the daily reality. Considering that Felt’s career spanned from WWII to Watergate, the constant changes in the duties that he focuses on and takes pride in reflects the concerns of those times. Even though Felt did not intend for his book to be used in a discussion about extrajudicial executions and excessive force, one can’t help but infer that he would not approve. In his account of hunting violent people who resist arrest by throwing desks at him, he reveals, “I told myself I would not shoot a man for writing bad checks.”
On the other hand, you may not agree with Felt’s perspective on Hoover as a harsh but fair, non-partisan prude. Felt is clearly an early apostle formed by Hoover’s leadership. I can confidently attest that if you spend a considerable amount of time in a bureaucracy with a visionary pioneer who created the institution, you joined the institution for a reason, and criticism is not instinctual until a new person is in charge, and you are more likely to be suspicious. Then every action is questioned regarding whether or not it is a departure from the original mission statement, which explains his actions after Hoover died. If Hoover was alive during Nixon’s entire term, Nixon may not have pulled shenanigans, but when Nixon did, if Hoover gave in occasionally, I don’t think that Felt would have questioned him because Hoover made the FBI. Felt is no Serpico even though they share some similarities.
Even though Felt is a company man, A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington, like Serpico, he eventually must confront his allegiance to broader concepts such as justice and choose between upholding the law and the institution that he tried to preserve from kakistocracy. Is there something innately cruel about institutions that they eventually force those that choose to devote their lives to them to leave feeling betrayed and that the institution is slowly decaying? If someone like Felt who was a fixture of the establishment can be exiled, then that leaves little hope for those that don’t personify the ideals of that institution.
A major problem of A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington is that you know that you are not reading the unvarnished truth. When Felt explains facts or policy, it sounds reasonable and plausible, but because we have the benefit of hindsight, you have to wonder what is missing, not because of venality, but because of Felt’s particular logic behind his code of honor. To remove it from politics and controversy, his wife committed suicide by shooting herself in the head with his gun. This fact is undeniable, but out of a sense of decorum, respect and love, he often said that she passed away from heart problems. If Felt liked you, he would protect you and revise the truth, but based on his career, he was hard as flint with everyone else and unrelenting in getting people to act right.
Only God can look into a man’s heart, and based on the actions in his personal life, he probably grew as a person, but he seemed to have issues with women in the professional sphere if they left the gendered spaces carved for them and entered more traditionally male arenas based on his casual repeated criticisms of Bella Abzug, a New York congresswoman whom I know nothing about, because he frequently questions her true motives, and his initial reluctance to allow women to apply to become agents. O’Connor later reveals that Felt sternly punished any sexual harassers and supported his left leaning daughter. Felt was a man of his times.
A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being “Deep Throat,” And the Struggle for Honor in Washington is not an enjoyable read though it provides a more sober and lonelier view of Felt’s life than provided in the earlier referenced movie. If you are not someone who finds reading innately entertaining, you should definitely not attempt to slog through this book.