Opinion of Theodore Roosevelt

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

FF.

How is he a liberal outside of the fine and storied tradition of modern Democrats "claiming" any and all past Republicans who are remembered fondly by history?

Well, let's see... he oversaw a massive expansion of the power of the federal government; he enforced and expanded regulation of the private sector more than any president before him; he was recognized as the furthest-left president up to that point in history by virtually all of his contemporaries; and he founded the Progressive Party. Based on that, I don't see how you can not consider Roosevelt a progressive in the context of early-20th Century America.

As to your conspiracy theory about the left "claiming any and all past Republicans who are remembered fondly by history", you don't see a lot of Democrats placing dibs on Reagan and Eisenhower.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

FF (racist, imperialist, conservative nutjob)

...
As to your conspiracy theory about the left "claiming any and all past Republicans who are remembered fondly by history", you don't see a lot of Democrats placing dibs on Reagan and Eisenhower.

Actually, I have seen Democrats claim that Eisenhower would be one if he was alive today.

Not saying I necessarily believe in that claim, but there is evidence in favor of the argument. Eisenhower was a moderate, coveted by both parties for a presidential run, who preserved and in some cases expanded New Deal ideas, enhanced government spending and created various agencies (Highway System, NASA, etc.), criticized growing military spending, etc. Combine that with the hard evidence that the Republican Party is more conservative than its 1950s counterpart and you have a compelling argument.

Here's a more compelling argument: how many Presidents who have lived decades after leaving office and watched their parties change significantly have ever switched parties?

Well, how many presidents have lived to see their parties change significantly, period? The only examples that come to mind immediately are John Adams and Martin Van Buren, both of whom did abandon their parties once it became clear that they no longer represented their ideals.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

FF (racist, imperialist, conservative nutjob)

...
As to your conspiracy theory about the left "claiming any and all past Republicans who are remembered fondly by history", you don't see a lot of Democrats placing dibs on Reagan and Eisenhower.

Actually, I have seen Democrats claim that Eisenhower would be one if he was alive today.

Not saying I necessarily believe in that claim, but there is evidence in favor of the argument. Eisenhower was a moderate, coveted by both parties for a presidential run, who preserved and in some cases expanded New Deal ideas, enhanced government spending and created various agencies (Highway System, NASA, etc.), criticized growing military spending, etc. Combine that with the hard evidence that the Republican Party is more conservative than its 1950s counterpart and you have a compelling argument.

Here's a more compelling argument: how many Presidents who have lived decades after leaving office and watched their parties change significantly have ever switched parties?

Well, how many presidents have lived to see their parties change significantly, period? The only examples that come to mind immediately are John Adams and Martin Van Buren, both of whom did abandon their parties once it became clear that they no longer represented their ideals.

I'm sure you'd argue that today's GOP is crazy or whatever compared to its past selves, but Gerald Ford remained a Republican until his death in 2004.  When Truman first would have been a Democrat, it would have been a very different party (especially in MO) than the one he died seeing in the 1970s, but he never defected.  Hoover remained a Republican until his death in 1969.

Actually, the Democratic Party of 1972 was pretty similar to what it was during Truman's presidency. There were minor shifts, to be sure, but no underlying transformation of what the party stood for. The same can be said for the Republican Party at the time of Ford and Hoover's deaths. By contrast, today's GOP is a world away from the party that elected Teddy Roosevelt.

For the record, my original point was that Roosevelt was a progressive, not that he would be a Democrat. That being said, it's pretty hard to argue that the man who argued in favor of establishing Social Security, the minimum wage, and the income tax in the election of 1912 would be welcome in today's Republican Party.