When word got out 50 years ago this Thursday that President Richard Nixon would that night be announcing his decision to resign, speechwriter Ken Khachigian furiously hung up the phone on Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein. Khachigian, who later became a favorite speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan and a legendary California political consultant, had argued until the very end that Nixon should keep fighting.

In a book released last month about his experiences with Nixon and Reagan, Khachigian essentially continues fighting for the former’s reputation. Khachigian remained a confidant of Nixon for years after his presidency, and he recounts vignettes that provide for Nixon some humanizing redemption. (The memoir, Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan and Nixon, spends even more time on Khachigian’s interactions with Reagan, who comes across as grandly likeable as ever, but that’s for another column.)