Leaders
Short factual profiles of figures who shaped the party and the country. Read them, then judge today's leaders by the same measure: what did they actually finish?
1809-1865
16th President (1861-1865)
Preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and pushed the 13th Amendment through Congress. His Gettysburg Address remains the clearest American statement of government of, by, and for the people.
“Let us have faith that right makes might.”
1818-1895
Abolitionist, orator, Republican statesman
Escaped slavery, became the nation's foremost abolitionist writer, advised Lincoln, and campaigned for Republican candidates and Black suffrage after the war.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand.”
1827-1901
First Black U.S. Senator (1870-1871)
A minister and educator from Mississippi who filled a Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis, arguing for reconciliation without abandoning equal rights.
1858-1919
26th President (1901-1909)
Conserved roughly 230 million acres of public land, enforced antitrust law, pushed food and drug safety, and mediated the Russo-Japanese War, winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Far better is it to dare mighty things.”
1890-1969
34th President (1953-1961)
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe before the presidency. He built the interstate system, created NASA, signed the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, and warned against an unchecked military-industrial complex.
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
1896-1969
Senate Minority Leader (1959-1969)
Assembled the Republican votes that ended the filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
1909-1998
U.S. Senator from Arizona, 1964 nominee
His book 'The Conscience of a Conservative' and his 1964 campaign rebuilt the modern conservative movement around constitutional limits on federal power.
1911-2004
40th President (1981-1989)
Cut marginal tax rates, deregulated key industries, rebuilt the military, and pressed the Soviet Union toward reform and collapse while negotiating real arms reductions.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
1897-1995
U.S. Senator from Maine
The first woman elected to both chambers of Congress. Her 1950 'Declaration of Conscience' condemned political smear tactics within her own party.
1935-2009
Congressman, HUD Secretary, 1996 nominee for VP
Championed supply-side tax cuts and urban enterprise zones, arguing that conservative economics should be judged by whether it opens opportunity in poor communities.
