James K. Polk: The American Presidents Series

Rating:
Summary: Tribute to Native Son of Tennessee
Review: From the NashvilleCityPaperBookClub
Saralee says

What makes a truly great president of the United States? Is it character, an agenda, the ability to lead, or governing during a war? If you believe it is a combination of all of these things, James K. Polk should be listed among our greatest of presidents.

Times Books has begun publishing a series that will include a book about each of the U.S. presidents. The books are written for the busy person and are usually under 200 pages. Nashvillian John Seigenthaler, who served as the publisher and CEO of the Tennessean and founded the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, was asked to recount the life of our 11th president in James K. Polk: 1845-1849.

The author is at his best when describing the political climate of Tennessee during the time of Polk's climb to power. Former President Andrew Jackson was a mentor to Polk in both positive and negative ways. Just like today, there were many in Tennessee who shaped national policy and like today, they were of different political parties and had different goals. How do you think Polk handled the different factions?

Both Polk and Jackson were big believers in "manifest destiny" or in the right of the United States to expand its territory. Polk was in favor of making Texas a state and had a vision to expand the United States to the Pacific Ocean by acquiring the land that later became the states of Oregon, Washington and California. Do you think the Polk administration went about the acquisition in the right way? What about the continuation of slavery? Polk was on record about how horrible slavery was but he continued to own slaves, as did his widow. Could he have made a difference and tried to end slavery sooner?

Polk also entered office saying he would only serve one term. Do you think he was able to accomplish most of his agenda because he only served one term? Why isn't Polk as popular with Tennessee historians as Jackson?

Larry's language

Do events about the presidential election of 1844 sound very familiar today? There were arguments about tariffs in international trade, the state of the Treasury and the issue of war predominated. A Tennessean was elected president, but the margin of victory in Tennessee was only 113 votes and he failed to carry his home state.

Nashvillian John Seigenthaler is uniquely qualified to evaluate how those issues affected America in his book James K. Polk: 1845-1849. Seigenthaler has lived, witnessed, participated in, and enjoyed presidential politics for more than 50 years having been friend, mentor and advisor to several of our modern presidents and national leaders. From his vantage point as one of the nation's leading journalists and editors, Seigenthaler has gained great knowledge and insight about the public policies and politics that make America great.

At the time of his election, President James K. Polk was the youngest man ever elected to our highest office. Clearly he got to the White House because of the mentoring, friendship and guidance of President Andrew Jackson, although Polk's determination and steadiness were also major assets. Polk also benefited from his rivals, Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren, taking the wrong side of the argument about whether the United States should annex the Republic of Texas. When Polk won the election, he led the movement of "manifest destiny" to gain Texas, the southwest and California, and Polk negotiated successfully with Great Britain to resolve our claims to the Oregon territory.

Polk lived a difficult but successful life. Born to a slave owning family, he underwent kidney stone surgery without anesthesia on an emergency basis as a teenager. He was very successful in school, work, and politics as he was elected to Congress, became speaker of the House of Representatives, and governor of Tennessee before twice losing in an attempt to be reelected governor. Polk was a surprise nominee for the Democrats when he won the presidency in 1844. The patriotic feelings that arose from winning Texas, plus the discovery of gold in the newly acquired California, combined with the reduction of tariffs, helped to guarantee the positive evaluations that reserve Polk's place as a "near great" president.

Join us for our next bookclub discussion that will feature Bad Men: A Thriller by John Connolly.

Saralee Terry Woods is president of BookMan/BookWoman Books, and Larry D. Woods is an attorney. Send your comments and requests for future City Paper
Book Club discussions to [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: The Most Accomplished President You Never Heard of
Review: James K. Polk promised to do four things as president: Lower tariffs; reinstitute an independent treasury; acquire Oregon from the British; acquire California from Mexico. He did all four. He also promised -- and again delivered on that promise - to serve only one term as president. Shortly after retiring from the presidency, Polk died. The knowledge of his deeds seems to have barely outlived him.

Why has Polk's record been so little studied when compared to the recognition given other accomplished presidents? John Seigenthaler believes that it is in part due to the man's character. He was cold and distant from everyone but his wife; he had no hero-worshippers or sycophants who could burnish his reputation after his death; he left no distinct image of himself that captured the public's imagination. He simply did what he said he was going to do and then he left the stage.

Polk's rise to the presidency was fortuitous. A sickly boy, who at seventeen had life-threatening surgery that probably left him sterile, Polk was a good university student who went into the law and then into politics. From the beginning of his political career, he was a Democrat with strong ties to Andrew Jackson, ties which would serve him well when his political career later took a turn for the worse.

Seigenthaler, a native Tennessean, is at his best when describing the relationship between the two Tennesseans, Polk and Jackson. At first, Polk was no one's choice for the Presidency in 1948. He had failed in his last two elections. But through his connection to Jackson, careful maneuvering, and the careless errors of the frontrunners, Polk emerged as the winner. Surprisingly, once elected, he acted as if he was his own man, taking little consideration of the views of men (including Jackson) who helped elect him.

I knew of Polk's reputation and some of his accomplishments before this book, but I had never read a biography of the man. This is a good introduction - it's well-written and long enough to hit on all the highlights of Polk's life without committing yourself to a full biography.

Rating:
Summary: An Admirable Portrait Of A Neglected President
Review: When the Democratic party nominated the nation's first dark horse presidential candidate in 1844, the opposition Whig party responded with the cry, "Who is James Polk?" Today, many people unfamiliar with this era of the nation's history might ask the same question. Veteran journalist John Seigenthaler provides the answer in this compact, well-organized biography, the latest entry in the "American Presidents" series.

Of course, the Whigs, and the rest of the country, knew who Polk was, but they were surprised to see him contending for the highest office in the land. As a young man, Polk had risen rapidly from the Tennessee legislature to the US House of Representatives, where he was a powerful and effective speaker. He returned home to run for governor of the state, seeing that position as his eventual springboard to the presidency. He served a single two-year term in the statehouse, but lost the next two elections. Most in the political arena thought Polk's fortunes were in eclipse before his surprising emergence as
the Democratic nominee and subsequent victory over Henry Clay in the general election.

Polk promised to serve only one term in the presidency, a pledge that he kept. He also laid out four principal goals for his administration--a lower tariff, restoration of an independent national treasury, and securing Oregon and California for the United States. He accomplished all of these, the most challenging being the acquisition of California, which came at the price of an unpopular war with Mexico.

Historians have consistently rated Polk as among the presidential greats or near-greats. But he has little historical resonance with the public in comparison with outsized figures such as Washington, Jackson, Lincoln and the Roosevelts. Seigenthaler explains this as being a product of Polk's colorless, humorless, driven personality. He quotes extensively from Polk's presidential diary to illustrate the rivalries and jealousies that often seemed to control his thoughts and actions. While he may have been a small man in some ways, Polk accomplished great things, Seigenthaler concludes...and that's why his life and career are worthy of greater acknowledgment today.--William C. Hall