Guderian
Jr. Member
Posts: 575
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« on: November 05, 2009, 05:26:06 AM » |
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1904 is obviously a slam-dunk, Progressive Republican v. Bourbon Democrat.
In 1916, Hughes was somewhat to the right of Wilson on economic issues, although he was closer than Taft. Also I can't see him adopting Wilsonian liberal internationalist idealism in foreign policy.
In 1928, I guess you could make a strong case for Smith being more conservative than Hoover but I wonder how much of this is present-day projection influenced by Smith's anti-New Deal positions and endorsements of Landon and Wilkie.
1948 is another tricky year, Truman commands a lot of respect among conservatives today, but I don't think that was the case back then. I would give that year to Truman-Barkley in terms of conservatism simply because Dewey's running mate was Earl Warren who of course turned out to be one of the most important American liberals ever.
Speaking of 1960, Nixon has the edge over Kennedy, although I think they were both primarily political opportunists.
If there ever was a Republican who was inviting to be outflanked from the Right, it was Gerald Ford in 1976, and to some extent Carter did just that. However, from today's perspective it's clear that Carter was an even bigger liberal than Ford.
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