SPIKE - Department of Journalism - University of Illinois

Proximity to balcony

Close encounters

How Woodward and Throat signaled each other initially seemed to be a promising line of investigation

Woodward's sixth-floor apartment at 1718 P St. N.W. had a balcony facing an inner courtyard. His signal to meet Throat could not be seen by driving down the street but only by entering an alley. For Throat to, from time to time, slip a message in a newspaper in the lobby, he most likely would have been walking. Parking was difficult in the congested neighborhood.


		Woodward's home was within easy walking distance of several White House aides, including Patrick Buchanan.

It made sense that Throat would make the signal convenient and so may have lived nearby. The students, who had found Woodward's address in the 1972 Washington phone book, got a 1972 city directory and checked all the names of nearby residents.

They also looked for home addresses of government officials on documents and in testimony.

Most of the Nixon aides lived in the Virginia suburbs of D.C. But, at the time of Watergate, Henry Cashen, assistant to the president, lived at 1231 33rd St., a substantial 1.5 miles from Woodward's apartment but not far off his route if he walked to the White House.

The students found Cashen and learned that he left the White House early in 1973. In an interview with a student he denied he was Throat and added that he did not smoke.

Another White House aide, Jeffrey Donfeld, lived within four blocks. He, too, was located and interviewed after his background was researched. He was one of the youngest staff members and was a low-level aide in Ehrlichman's Domestic Counsel. But he left the White House early in 1973 and had no known access to any of Throat's information.

Students thought they had a sure catch when they found the name of a Justice Department official listed in a building across the back alley from Woodward's balcony. They located him in retirement in the Ozarks and telephoned. He said he had lived in Virginia and left Washington early in 1973. His story checked out, and the students learned that a different man with the same name had lived across the alley.

The students would have to take a broader approach rather than chasing down individuals.