Teddy Roosevelt- Was he progressive?

Roosevelt was a progressive in the form of being a member of the Progressive Party. The Progressive Party was a conservative, pro-business party and was disbanded in 1916 with most of it's members then joining the current Republican Party.

That aside, Randolph Hearst ran several papers - one being the New Your Journal. In 1901 the Gov. of Kentucky was assinated and one of Heart's editorialists wrote in the Journal "The bullet that pierced Goebel's breast/ Can not be found in all the West;/ Good reason, it is speeding here/ To stretch McKinley on his bier." and then, a short time afterwards wrote ""if bad institutions and bad men can be got rid of only by killing, then the killing must be done. "

Later that year an anarchist by the name of Czolgosz assassinated President McKinley and supposedly was carrying a copy of the Journal when he was captured.

Hearst was one of those considered muckrakers - those who had a penchant to printing sensationalized stories that had little, if anything, to do with the actual truth and his relationship with Roosevelt was always very confrontational.