John Stanley Pottinger

Early life and education

John Stanley Pottinger was born on February13, 1940, in Dayton, Ohio, to parents Elnora (née Zeller) and John Pottinger. He grew up and attended high school in Dayton. Pottinger credits his father John with instilling in him an awareness of civil rights. In 1962, Pottinger graduated from Harvard University, and he continued his studies at Harvard and graduated with a JD from Harvard Law School in 1965. Pottinger's interest in politics led him to volunteer in 1966 to aid the campaign of Robert H. Finch for lieutenant governor of California. Finch asked him in 1968 to head the Civil Rights Division.

Career

Pottinger held significant roles as a bureaucratic appointee in the Nixon, Ford and Carter Administrations. He held the position of the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the United States Department of Justice from 1973 to 1977. According to journalist Bob Woodward, Pottinger was the only person who discovered that the true identity of Watergate source Deep Throat was Mark Felt. Pottinger maintained the secret until 2005, when Felt publicly declared he was Deep Throat.

Pottinger later engaged in a lucrative practice on Wall Street and wrote a best selling book, The Fourth Procedure (1995), as well as several other novels, including A Slow Burning (1999), The Last Nazi (2003) and The Boss (2005).

In 2013, Pottinger was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

Pottinger represented more than 20 survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse. Pottinger had previously shared an office with Epstein many years prior and worked together on financial deals.

Personal life and death

Pottinger began dating Gloria Anderson in high school; they married in 1965 and have three children together, including former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger. Pottinger and Anderson divorced in 1975. He later had a nine-year relationship with Gloria Steinem that ended in 1984. Other exes include Kathie Lee Gifford, Connie Chung, and publisher-turned-agent Joni Evans, according to a 1995 profile in The Washington Post.

Pottinger died from cancer in Princeton, New Jersey, on November 27, 2024, at the age of 84.

Books

References

References

1. (November 29, 2024). "J. Stanley Pottinger, 84, Dies; Figured Out the Identity of ‘Deep Throat’". The New York Times.
2. (March 30, 1974). "Civil Rights Protector John Stanley Pottinger". The New York Times.
3. Lasswell, Mark. (June 5, 1995). "Surgical Strike".
4. "J. Stanley Pottinger Papers, 1968–1981".
5. (April 4, 2017). "A Veteran and China Hand Advises Trump for Xi's Visit". [[The New York Times]].
6. Woodward, Bob. (July 6, 2005). "The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat". Simon and Schuster.
7. (June 11, 1995). "Here's a Man Who Can Honestly Say He's Done It All". [[The Los Angeles Times]].
8. Pottinger, Stanley. (1995). "The Fourth Procedure". Coronet.
9. Pottinger, Stanley. (1999). "A Slow Burning". Coronet.
10. Pottinger, Stan. (August 1, 2003). "The Last Nazi". St. Martin's Press.
11. Pottinger, Stanley. (2005). "The Boss". Hodder & Stoughton.
12. Avlon, John. (February 28, 2013). "The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay-Marriage Brief". [[The Daily Beast]].
13. (August 20, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein news: New lawsuits detail how Jeffrey Epstein allegedly lured victims".
14. (November 30, 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein, Blackmail and a Lucrative 'Hot List'". The New York Times.
15. Enrich, David. "Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich".
16. Span, Paula. (May 13, 1995). "The Many Lives of Stanley Pottinger". The Washington Post.
17. Risen, Clay. (November 29, 2024). "J. Stanley Pottinger, 84, Dies; Official Figured Out Identity of 'Deep Throat'". The New York Times.