"Father of Affirmative Action" died Tuesday

Arthur Fletcher, a maverick Republican who proudly laid claim to the title "the father of affirmative action" and who advised four Republican presidents, died of a heart attack on Tuesday.

Fletcher served as secretary of labor to President Richard M. Nixon; as deputy assistant for urban affairs to President Gerald Ford; was an adviser to President Ronald Reagan; and chairman of the Civil Rights Commission, from 1990 to 1993.

Although I do not support affirmative action, I believe that this man should be remembered in the ongoing debate over what the federal government should do to assist black people. With that said, I hope affirmative action policies everywhere die with the man who bore them.