John_Singer_Sargent_-_Theodore_Roosevelt_-_Google_Art_Project

Roosevelt Republican is a term used in discussions about

politics of the United States In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal republic, federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches Separation of powers, share powers: United States Congress, C ...

to describe individuals with beliefs reminiscent of

American President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forc ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who spent much of his career as a Republican. Roosevelt possessed diverse political positions and social views, but this label has been generally deployed by figures who wish to publicly align themselves with Roosevelt's record of

nature conservation Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values ...

. In particular, defending historic wildlife and undertaking related efforts to preserve environments seen as a part of classic Americana receives emphasis. This mindset broadly contrasts with the

ideologies An ideology is a set of beliefs or values attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely about belief in certain knowledge, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones". Form ...

ethnic nationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnostate/ethnocratic) approach to variou ...

and

religious nationalism Religious nationalism can be understood in a number of ways, such as nationalism as a religion itself, a position articulated by Carlton Hayes in his text ''Nationalism: A Religion,'' or as the relationship of nationalism to a particular religio ...

through

identity politics Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as ethnicity, Race (human categorization), race, nationality, religion, Religious denomination, denomination, gender, sexual orientation, Socioeconomic status, social background ...

coupled with wholesale

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

without protections for nature advocated for by the Republican mainstream of the 2010s and 2020s, though more

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

and

center-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commonl ...

thinking significantly influenced the party in prior decades.

Viewpoints

In terms of specific policies, being a "Roosevelt Republican" has been described as supporting the

conservation movement The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...

and having sympathies for environmentalist measures aimed at protecting

natural Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

landscapes. This frequently entails an emphasis on

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

along with

wildlife tourism Wildlife tourism is an element of many nations' travel industry centered around observation and interaction with local animal and plant life in their natural habitats. While it can include eco- and animal-friendly tourism, safari hunting and ...

under the backdrop of government ownership of certain areas, with a particularly limited room for more invasive uses of public areas such as

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

. Administrative efforts in cleaning up locations after

coal extraction Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

and other intensive uses of various lands to restore previous appearances have importance as well. This all contrasts with the Republican Party's traditional focus on

privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

to encourage corporate ownership of former public locations as well as related policies aiming to radically convert more areas from a natural status to one of industrial economic development.

Politicians associated with the label

Statesmen who have self-identified as such include political figure

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, who possessed diverse social positions and thoughts on differing issues but championed Roosevelt's ideas for decades and viewed the president as a personal

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

. An article published by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' in June 2001 described both individuals as having "a larger-than-life personality and a war hero" background while additionally labeling McCain a " verick" alienated from Republican Party orthodoxy. McCain notably served in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

for many years as an 'institutionalist' aiming to preserve social traditions of bipartisan activity in America. His beliefs contrasted more and more as time went on with the

and ideological closeness based on cultural categories such as

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

and race that has defined the Republican mainstream under

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

figures such as

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, with McCain's legacy becoming largely repudiated by his party upon his death. Former

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

and present

Governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...

, has referred to himself as a "Teddy Roosevelt conservationist". This labeling has attracted public criticism from news agencies such as the ''

Orlando Weekly ''Orlando Weekly'' is a liberal progressive alternative newsweekly distributed in the Greater Orlando area of Florida. Every Thursday, 40,000 issues of the paper are distributed to more than 1,100 locations across Orange, Osceola and Semino ...

'' as well as from non-profit organizations focusing on conservation such as the

League of Conservation Voters The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "builds political power for people and the planet." Through its affiliated super PAC, it is a major supporter of the Democratic Party. The org ...

(LCV). His voting record as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

indicates very little support for policies supported by environmentalists, earning him a ranking of 2% (out of a possible 100%) by the LCV. DeSantis has denied the scientific realities around

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, asserting that the

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

may or may not be "because of human activity". Another self-described "Roosevelt Republican" is

Ryan Zinke Ryan Keith Zinke ( ; born November 1, 1961) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative for since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Zinke served in the Montana Senate from 2009 to 2013 and as the U.S. re ...

, a

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

politician and

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

veteran who became the 52nd U.S. Secretary of Interior on March 1, 2017. However, during his tenure as Secretary of the Interior, Zinke oversaw an aggressive expansion of industrial activity on public lands, including fast-tracking environmental reviews for oil and gas drilling to increase the number of permits, proposing offshore oil drilling on both the east and west coasts (an act that was opposed by governors of all 15 coastal states), and the nation's first-ever reductions in the boundaries of national monuments to favor utilization of the land by private companies involved in the oil and gas industry.

References

{{Theodore Roosevelt Eponymous political ideologies Progressivism in the United States Theodore Roosevelt

Viewpoints

Politicians associated with the label

See also

References