Family and Early Career
William Mark Felt was born on August 17, 1913, in Twin Falls, Idaho, the son of carpenter and building contractor Mark Earl Felt and his wife, the former Rose R. Dygert. His paternal grandfather was a Free Will Baptist minister. His maternal grandparents were born in Canada and Scotland, respectively; through his maternal grandfather, Felt was a relative of American Revolutionary War General Nicholas Herkimer. After graduating from Twin Falls High School in 1931, he received a BA from the University of Idaho in 1935, and was a member and president of the Gamma Gamma chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
He went to Washington, D.C. to work in the office of U.S. Senator James P. Pope (D-Idaho). In 1938, Felt married Audrey Robinson of Gooding, Idaho, whom he had known when they were both students at the University of Idaho. She had come to Washington to work at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and they were wed by the chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, the Rev. Sheara Montgomery. Audrey, who died in 1984, and Felt had two children, Joan and Mark.
Felt stayed on with Pope's successor in the Senate, David Worth Clark (D-Idaho). Felt attended The George Washington University Law School at night, earning his law degree in 1940, and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1941.
Upon graduation, Felt took a position at the Federal Trade Commission but did not enjoy the work. His workload was very light. He was assigned a case to investigate whether a toilet paper brand called "Red Cross" was misleading consumers into thinking it was endorsed by the American Red Cross. Felt wrote in his memoir:
- My research, which required days of travel and hundreds of interviews, produced two definite conclusions:
- 1. Most people did use toilet tissue.
- 2. Most people did not appreciate being asked about it.
- That was when I started looking for other employment.
He applied for a job with the FBI in November 1941 and was accepted. His first day at the Bureau was January 26, 1942.
Read more about this topic: Mark Felt
Famous quotes containing the words family and, family, early and/or career:
“Realizing that his time was nearly spent, he gave full oral instructions about his burial and the manner in which he wished to be remembered.... A few minutes later, feeling very tired, he left the room, remarking, I have no disposition to leave this precious circle. I love to be here surrounded by my family and friends. Then he gave them his blessing and said, I am ready to go and I wish you goodnight.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Every family should extend First Amendment rights to all its members, but this freedom is particularly essential for our kids. Children must be able to say what they think, openly express their feelings, and ask for what they want and need if they are ever able to develop an integrated sense of self. They must be able to think their own thoughts, even if they differ from ours. They need to have the opportunity to ask us questions when they dont understand what we mean.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)
“The early Christian rules of life were not made to last, because the early Christians did not believe that the world itself was going to last.”
—George Bernard Shaw (18561950)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows whats good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)