June 26, 2006 3:26PM 

# “Bush’s Brain” on T.R. 

By [Gene Healy](https://www.cato.org/people/gene-healy) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

Karl Rove has [an essay about Teddy Roosevelt](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1207825,00.html) in the current issue of *Time*. In it we learn–or, at least, we read–that T.R. had “a larger-than-life personality”; that “leadership matters;” and that “Roosevelt holds a special place in the American imagination.” Edgy stuff.

T.R.‘s enduring appeal is an enduring mystery. What, after all, is so attractive about Roosevelt’s political philosophy, such as it was: a loudmouthed cult of maniliness; a warped belief that war can be a good tonic for whatever ails the national spirit; and a contemptuous attitude toward limits on presidential power?

Michael Chapman deflates T.R.‘s legacy in [this Cato Policy Report article](https://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v24n6/cpr-24n6.pdf) \[.pdf\], and, starting this August, you’ll be able to buy Cato senior fellow Jim Powell’s new book [Bully Boy: The Truth about Theodore Roosevelt’s Legacy.](http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307237224)

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).