Introduction

The Republican Party has now nominated, including their most recent candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, twenty-eight men to represent their party’s national views. Of these twenty-eight men, eighteen were elected to serve and represent our country. Two of these men were elected, but with controversy and cynicism following them to the White House—Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and George W. Bush in 2000. The unique nature of these men can be matched to their counterparts in the opposite party, the Democratic nominees—thirty-three men in all. However, in the past twenty-five years, the Republican Party has followed a path of presidential nominations that has contradicted the rhetoric and voting behavior of a conservative House and Senate. The Reagan era ended in 1989 presumably to continue with the election of his vice president George H. W. Bush. However, the conservative hopes for four more years were dashed by the moderation and compromise witnessed in the Bush presidency.