Conservative Heroes

Fourteen Leaders Who Shaped America, from Jefferson to Reagan

Garland S Tucker

• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781610171571
• eBook ISBN: 9781504018692
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Conservatism in America, as one early twentieth-century politician said, is "as old as the Republic itself." But what are its foundational principles, and how did they form the modern conservative movement? Author Garland S. Tucker III tells the story in this lively look at fourteen champions of conservative thought—some well known, others hardly remembered at all. Taking readers on an exciting tour from the American Founding to the modern era, Tucker traces the development of conservatism's basic tenets and shows how leaders put principle into action (some more successfully than others). Conservative Heroes offers brief but penetrating profiles of:
—The Founders who agreed on the two primary purposes of government—but differed on how best to achieve the balance between them
—The pair of nineteenth-century congressional leaders who fought to preserve the founding vision of a limited national government
—The towering statesman whose defense of slavery has obscured his considerable contributions to American constitutional history
—The last Democratic president to advance conservative principles
—The president and treasury secretary who together reduced taxes and the size of the federal government—and sparked an economic boom
—The forgotten leaders, both Democrats, who spearheaded the conservative challenge to FDR's New Deal
—The man who revived the GOP as the conservative party
—The three driving forces behind the ascent of modern conservatism Here is the story of American conservatism in fourteen lives—a story we need to understand to tackle the challenges we face today.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword :Tucker’s Gift by Amity Shlaes
• Introduction: “A Faithful Band”
• 1. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison: Founding Collaborators
• 2. Nathaniel Macon and John Randolph: The “Tertium Quids”
• 3. John C. Calhoun: “The Cast-Iron Man”
• 4. Grover Cleveland: Character and Courage
• 5. Calvin Coolidge and Andrew Mellon: Commonsense Government
• 6. Josiah W. Bailey: The Conservative Manifesto of 1937
• 7. John W. Davis: “Public Enemy Number One”
• 8. Robert A. Taft: “Mr. Republican”
• 9. William F. Buckley Jr., Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan: The Conservative Triptych
• Epilogue: “As Old as the Republic Itself”
• Notes
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the Author
• Copyright Page