Former President Gerald Ford passed away last night in his sleep. He was 93.

Ford is widely credited with “healing the nation” after the tumultuous Watergate scandal that rocked the public’s trust in the national government. Though he lost re-election to the Presidency in 1976, Ford’s 895 days as President of the United States were remarkably productive. He met with foreign leaders from China, Russia, and the Middle East. He even brokered the first Middle East peace accords.

But much more than this, President Ford brought the nation together in a nonpartisan way. In his later years, the President would comment that the partisan divides across the country and especially in Congress were hurting the nation. If this can be his life’s lesson – that we all need to calm down with the partisan bickering and see value in the opposing point of view – then that will be a lesson that catapults Ford into the highest heights of history.