Brutally destroyed revolt, seeing off Republican former President (5,9)

I believe the answer is:

teddy roosevelt

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'brutally destroyed revolt seeing' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'republican former president' is the wordplay.
'republican' becomes 'teddy' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'former president' becomes 'roosevelt' (I've seen this before).
'teddy'+'roosevelt'='TEDDY ROOSEVELT'

'off' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.