“[Thomas] Dewey saw the New Deal Democratic Party as…the way of the future. He thought the Reupblicans would not be able to win the White House back if they had a…traditionalist, pro-business agenda….[Robert] Taft thought that this was going to be political suicide,” says Michael Bowen, author of The Roots of Modern Conservatism: Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party.