You sure your not thinking of FDR?
Teddy wasn’t particularly “conservative”, either. Belligerent, yes, conservative, no.
p. 92 “liberal fascism” by jonah goldberg:
“teddy’s new nationalism was equal parts nationalism and socialism. ‘the new nationalism,’ (teddy) roosevelt proclaimed ‘rightly maintains that every man holds his property subjet to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require of it.’ this sort of rhetoric conjured fears among classical liberals (again increasingly called conservatives) that teddy would ride roughshod over american liberties. ‘where will it all end’? asked the liberal editor of the new york ‘world’ about the rush to centralize government power. ‘despotism? caesarism’?”
teddy roosevelt was a big government guy.
goldberg’s book is a good read. i highly recommend it.
Theodore Roosevelt pretty much defined the Progressive Era of US History.
He was proud to call himself a “progressive”. It’s ridiculous to argue otherwise. The name of TR’s party in the 1912 election was the 1912 PROGRESSIVE PARTY.
According to Wikipedia, “Its platform called for women’s suffrage, recall of judicial decisions, easier amendment of the U.S. Constitution, social welfare legislation for women and children, workers’ compensation, limited injunctions in strikes, farm relief, revision of banking to assure an elastic currency, required health insurance in industry, new inheritance taxes and income taxes, improvement of inland waterways, and limitation of naval armaments.”
TR favored big government, Federal bureaucratic intrusion, imperial expansion, and big labor, while opposing private enterprise.
As a result, high school and college instructors love him. Evidently he is still viewed favorably by modern conservatives of the “national greatness” variety.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_%28United_States%2C_1912%29