Conservatism in America, as one early-twentieth-century politician said, is as old as the Republic itself. But what exactly are its foundational principles, and how did they form the modern conservative movement?

Author Garland S. Tucker III tells the story in this lively look at fourteen champions of conservative thought - some well-known, others hardly remembered at all. Taking readers on an exciting tour from the American Founding to the modern era, Tucker traces the development of five basic tenets of conservatism and shows how these leaders put principle into action (some more successfully that others).

Conservative Heroes offers brief but penetrating profiles of:

• Thomas Jefferson and James Madison: These Founders agreed that the primary purposes of government are to ensure order and to preserve liberty - but often differed on how best to achieve the balance between the two
• John Randolph and Nathaniel Macon: In the early nineteenth century these congressional leaders fought to preserve the founding vision of a limited national government
• John C. Calhoun: Remembered primarily for his defense of slavery, this statesman nonetheless made considerable contributions to America constitutional history
• Grover Cleveland: The last Democratic president to advance conservative principles
• Calvin Coolidge and Andrew Mellon: In the 1920s the president and his treasury secretary reduced taxes and the size and scope of the national government - and sparked an economic boom
• Josiah W. Bailey and John W. Davis: Forgotten today, these Democrats spearheaded the conservative challenge to FDR's New Deal
• Robert A. Taft: Mr. Republican led the revival of the GOP as the conservative party
• William F. Buckley Jr., Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan: The driving forces behind the ascent of modern conservatism