1948: Gov. Thomas Dewey (soon to be President Dewey!) is the current and future of the Republican Party! He’s the nation’s best governor. He nearly beat the unbeatable FDR for the presidency in 1944, and now he’s going to cruise to victory over Truman and recapture the White House. Nothing can stop him in November! In the years ahead, the GOP will be modeled on Dewey: A straitlaced, Eastern Establishment, tough-on-crime, internationalist, good-government party! We are Tom Dewey’s party!
1953: Sen. Joe McCarthy is the conscience and energy of the Republican Party! He has the backbone to call out the evils of Communism and fight its infiltration of the federal government. He’s the most influential leader in America. For too long, the GOP has been too soft. Joe McCarthy is the fighter we need. He makes the right people squirm. He’s unstoppable. From now on this is the party of Joe McCarthy!
1957: President Dwight Eisenhower is the Republican Party! Democrats controlled the White House for 20 consecutive years until Ike. He won two landslide elections! His approval rating has been consistently above 70 percent! The GOP is now the likable, sober-minded, trustworthy party. Ike has shown us how to bring about peace and prosperity and—most importantly!—how to win with moderation in temperament and policy. Nothing could ever cause us to change course. We are forever the party of Eisenhower!
1964: Sen. Barry Goldwater is the heart, soul, and future of the Republican Party! He is going to put the weak-kneed moderation of the past behind us. The GOP is now all about liberty, personal responsibility, and a drastically scaled back federal government. There’s a tidal wave coming in November! If you want to understand the future of the Republican Party, look no farther than Barry Goldwater!
1973: President Richard Nixon shows what it means to be a Republican today and tomorrow! He defeated the forces of the radical left in 1968, and he just won a landslide reelection! His approval rating is nearly 70 percent! He kicked the libertarian right out the door and reoriented this party! The GOP is now tough on crime, and we use government power wisely—for instance, to create the EPA and freeze prices and wages. Nixon will forever be remembered first and foremost for ending the war in Vietnam. His reputation is secure! We are the party of Nixon!
1985: President Ronald Reagan will forever be the model of a modern Republican! He just won his second landslide election. His approval rating his near 70 percent! He restored the economy and American pride. From this point forward the GOP will be the optimistic, anti-Soviet, small-government, tax-cutting party. We are the party of Reagan!
1991: President George H.W. Bush has shown that the Republican Party is unstoppable! Even after two terms of Reagan, Bush’s approval rating is now 90 percent! He calmly presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism. He assembled an international coalition that won the Iraq war. His 1988 convention speech epitomizes modern conservatism and the GOP. We will forever be the party of prudence, domestic moderation, and statesmanship! The Republican Party will never stray from George H.W. Bush!
1995: Newt Gingrich is the Republican Party! Because of him, the GOP picked up 54 seats in the House and now controls that body for the first time in more than 40 years. Gingrich then showed that the GOP can govern by passing all components of the Contract with America, becoming the most important and most effective Speaker in half a century. He has made the GOP the party of balanced budgets, crime-fighting, Welfare reform, federalism, and term limits. He and his followers will lead us for a generation! Newt Gingrich is the future of the Republican Party!
2005: George W. Bush is the Republican Party! He just handily won a second term as president. He has successfully fought the war on terror, cut taxes, expanded Medicare, and passed the No Child Left Behind Act. And now he’s going to reform Social Security and spread democracy across the globe. He’s made the GOP into the party of compassionate conservatism and principled international intervention. This is the future of the Republican Party!
2015: Thanks to the groundbreaking Republican landslides of 2010 and 2014, the GOP is America’s dominant party! Republicans have strong majorities in the US House and Senate—the largest GOP majorities since 1929! The GOP also controls 31 governorships! The Republican Party is about reduced spending, federalism, and localism. With leaders like Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, and Nikki Haley, nothing can stop today’s young, energetic, pro-business Republican Party!
2024: The GOP is forever the party of Donald Trump…