When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines

Long-time Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter describes an experience that could have arguably ruined his editorial career. In May 2005, he was on his way back to New York from his honeymoon in the Bahamas when his new wife Anna got a call from David Friend. David was one of Carter’s Vanity Fair deputies. He informed Carter that his story on the identity of “Deep Throat”—the alias given to the informant who helped journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein report on Watergate—had just been released; already the magazine was fielding calls. Carter had been working on this story for some time but had put it out of his mind due to his wedding. Via his research, Carter learned that Deep Throat was a now elderly man named Mark Felt. He also discovered that Bob and Carl weren’t planning to reveal Felt’s identity until after his death; Carl was writing a book on the issue. Both Carl and Bob were disappointed when they saw Carl’s story. However, Carter argues that Bob and Carl’s grace towards him kept him from a potentially ruinous situation.