Years ago, Bob Woodward spoke at Alpena High School. I was in the audience, gathering material for a column for the Battle Creek Enquirer, and heard Woodward say that time had changed his mind about Gerald Ford’s decision to pardon Richard Nixon.

Woodward said he, like much of the nation in 1974, was initially angry when Ford decided to pardon his benefactor for any crimes related to the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up. Years later, however, Woodward came to agree with Ford’s assertion that the pardon was necessary to allow the nation to move on from the wounds of the scandal. To give it space to heal.

I pondered on that this week when I read that PEN America, a nearly century-old, New York-based nonprofit representing all kinds of writers, has decided to sue President Donald Trump on First Amendment grounds, asking a judge to order the president to stop threatening the free press.

It’s too early to issue any sort of judgement on the merits of that case, but I would urge PEN to move cautiously.

The press exists to hold the powerful to account so voters and taxpayers can know what they’re buying. And I tend to think it’s someone scared of accountability who calls the press “the enemy of the people” and encourages his supporters to rough up reporters at campaign rallies.

That said, Trump is a remarkably accessible president. For all his bluster , Trump repeatedly answers questions from reporters at the White House, at Mar-a-Lago, on his way to and from Air Force One. He gives most of his attention to friendly reporters at Fox News, where he repeatedly calls in to chat, but he’s also sat for interviews with the New York Times, CBS News, Bloomberg, and many others.

Plus, his administration is leaky as a sieve. In fact, the only people reporters seem to have any difficulty getting information from are the prosecutors on Robert Mueller’s team, who are investigating whether the president or his associates committed any crimes.

Add in Trump’s incessant tweets, and it becomes clear that most of the trouble Trump gets into is because he says too much, not too little.

PEN claims to have real evidence that Trump has bullied and threatened the press to stifle reports on his administration’s wrongdoing and missteps. In an essay in Politico Magazine on Tuesday, PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel points to the administration’s opposition to a Time Warner-AT&T merger after the president called a Time Warner subsidiary, CNN, “fake news.” She points also to the administration’s attempts to claw more money out of Amazon, which is owned by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos (read Nossel’s full essay here: https://tinyurl.com/y7mq4ngp).

Fair enough, but I hope there’s evidence somewhere that those moves were made for the sole purpose of intimidating the media, and that the administration can’t explain their position with justifiable motives.

I would be a fan of Trump – or any other public official, for that matter – being reminded that he works for taxpayers who have a right to know what he’s doing, and that an unfettered press is the best way for that to happen.

But in today’s fragile, tortured democracy, PEN needs a slam-dunk case that convinces not only a judge but also the American people that Trump’s activities were wrong, mean-spirited, and a threat to this country’s ideals.

Anything short of that would act only as further evidence to Trump’s supporters that members of the media are a bunch of whining, entitled ninnies hell-bent on hitting Trump wherever we can. It’ll be fuel to a fire already smoldering at the threads that tie us together.

Which brings us back to Woodward, Ford, and Nixon. Maybe the right thing to do would have been to let Nixon be tried, convicted and hauled off to the stockades for his roles not only in the Watergate break-in but many other violations against free speech, the press, and fair and free elections.

But maybe Ford was right. Maybe that spectacle would have only shattered Americans’ already waning confidence in its government and torn the country further apart.

Likewise, maybe it’s right to sue Trump and ask a judge to slap his wrists for trying to shut journalists up.

Or maybe that will give half the population one more reason to disregard everything we say.

Maybe it’s best if we stay out of the courts and stick to the printed page and airwaves as best we can, investigating Trump and his administration, chronicling his quotes and activities, telling the truth.

Maybe it’s best if we just do our jobs, prove our worth to the people, and let them decide for themselves.

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-358-5686 or jhinkley@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.