President Gerald Ford, the only former Republican president to reach out to gay men and lesbians and to call for their inclusion in the GOP, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Tuesday night. He was 93.
The 38th president is most remembered for restoring the nation's political stability after the resignation of President Nixon amid the Watergate scandal in 1974. At the time, he was criticized for pardoning the disgraced president, a move some say cost him the White House in 1976.
But the former congressman from Michigan was praised by some for ignoring his own political viability in favor of helping the nation heal after Watergate. That unifying spirit was again evident in 2002 when Ford joined the Republican Unity Coalition as a member of its advisory board. The coalition is a fund-raising organization dedicated to making homosexuality a "nonissue" for the Republican Party.
"I have always believed in an inclusive policy, in welcoming gays and others into the party," Ford told The Detroit News in 2001. "I think the party has to have an umbrella philosophy if it expects to win elections."
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