Chase Culeman-Beckman

On a field trip to the beach, student Chase Culeman-Beckman said, Jacob Bernstein had confided the name of his dad's secret source-W.

On a field trip to the beach, student Chase Culeman-Beckman said, Jacob Bernstein had confided the name of his dad's secret source,W.

Culeman-Beckman was 8 when told at camp by son of Carl Bernstein
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I wasn't that shocked," Culeman-Beckman said after hearing the news."I thought this would happen."

Culeman-Beckman first told his story in 1999 to David Daley, then a reporter with the Hartford Courant and until recently an editor with The Journal News in Westchester County.
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In 1988, Culeman-Beckman and Jacob Bernstein were young boys attending a summer camp in Bridgehampton, Long Island.
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"Somehow, a discussion of Watergate came up," Culeman-Beckman said from his family's home in Port Chester, where he will spend the summer before returning to Cornell to continue work on a graduate degree in statistics.

In the ensuing years, Culeman-Beckman began to research the Watergate scandal and became more and more convinced that Felt was the man.

"It occurred to me that I had a very novel piece of intelligence," he said.
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But Culeman-Beckman said he was sure the tip was correct.

"It would make sense not to tell your 8-year-old son," he said.
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Chase Culeman-Beckman, Cornell grad student

It even found its way into a 20-page high school history paper written by a Port Chester student by the name of Chase Culeman-Beckman.

When Culeman-Beckman was 8 years old, he attended summer camp on Long Island and among his fellow campers were Jacob and Max Bernstein, the sons of Post reporter Carl Bernstein.Playing in the sand one fine day in 1988, Jacob and Chase got to talking about Watergate - an amazing topic of conversation for such little kids.
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In any event, Culeman-Beckman never forgot the tip and 11 years later conducted some research on his own and wrote the tell-all term paper for which he received a somewhat disappointing grade of B.

Nevertheless, his assertion received widespread press attention in 1999.At the time, I had some fun with it in a column, giving the Bernstein kid the anonymous-source moniker of "Big Ears."

Reached at this home, Culeman-Beckman, who is a now a 25-year-old graduate student in statistics at Cornell University, told me he feels vindicated by Felt's public admission that he is indeed Deep Throat.

It was always plain to him that Felt was the top Watergate source."I think going back, people will kick themselves in the head for not realizing it," he said.

Culeman-Beckman has a point.
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In any event, Culeman-Beckman is still chafing over that B grade.

"My teacher wasn't particularly fond of me," he said.

"I wasn't that shocked," Culeman-Beckman said yesterday of hearing the news."I thought this would happen."

Culeman-Beckman first told his story in 1999 to David Daley, then a reporter with the Hartford Courant and until recently an editor with The Journal News.
...
In 1988, Culeman-Beckman and Jacob Bernstein were young boys attending a summer camp in Bridgehampton, Long Island.
...
"Somehow, a discussion of Watergate came up," Culeman-Beckman said yesterday from his family's home in Port Chester, where he will spend the summer before returning to Cornell University to continue work on a graduate degree in statistics.

In the ensuing years, Culeman-Beckman began to research the Watergate scandal and became more and more convinced that Felt was the man.

"It occurred to me that I had a very novel piece of intelligence," he said.
...
But Culeman-Beckman said he was sure the tip was correct.

"It would make sense not to tell your 8-year-old son," he said.