My, I think Woodward's got some real news here. As a country, for three decades, we've been trying to sort out Gerald Ford's motivations for pardoning Richard Nixon. And in that posthumously published interview of Ford, which Woodward has been excerpting, I think the late president goes pretty far toward answering the question. Said Ford: "I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma."

Woodward follows by noting that "that acknowledgment represents a significant shift from Ford's previous portrayals of the pardon that absolved Nixon of any Watergate-related crimes."

I would say that's something of an understatement.

I've always thought the notion of some knowing bargain between the two men -- the presidency for the pardon -- was a bit too Hollywood.

With people who know each other well enough stuff like this never has to be said. Perhaps it needn't even be thought. We'd like to think at least that we know who'll really have our back at the critical moment and who won't. And perhaps Nixon's well-known paranoia helped him refine that skill to a tee. As Ford told Woodward last year: "I think that Nixon felt I was about the only person he could really trust on the Hill."