TR was a Progressive down to his toes. A Big Government Liberal. FDR was just following TR’s example in growing government. Just because he got ONE thing right does not excuse the monstrous government he grew. I was through with him LONG before Beck ever came on the scene.
TR had a period of clamoring for progressiveness. Roughly from the end of his presidency through 1912, when he lost as the Bull Moose candidate. If you judge him by those stupid years, then yes, he was strictly a big government progressive. But that is the same as judging Churchill by his foray into the Liberal party and his other boneheaded mistakes instead of as a whole.