A history question. Teddy Roosevelt, a good president?
This might seem random, but the topic came up a few times in random conversation and short of reading a whole book on the matter - I figured I would just pose the question here. Teddy Roosevelt is considered to be one of the greatest US presidents of our time and I just cannot figure out why. Not only was he extremely aggressive in terms of nation building, but he was a big proponent of government expansion. Because he is a Republican, a lot of folks on the right take much pride in Teddy's ranking as one of the greatest, but...why? I am specifically interested in two things. 1) He is well known for being the initiator and conceptual creator of trust-busting. Although Taft accomplished more actual trust busting, Teddy gets credit for the idea. BUT, what were the effects of trust-busting? Who actually won? Did the consumer win? TR gave birth to the ICC and that eventually destroyed and nationalized the railroads. How did the consumer win? If anyone knows, I am all ears.