James K. Polk
James K. Polk by John Seigenthaler
John Seigenthaler, former publisher of The Tennessean and founding editorial editor of USA Today, has written a poignant perspective on the life and presidency of James K. Polk.
According to Seigenthaler, “James Knox Polk surely is history’s most underappreciated president. Few Americans have any awareness that in four years he engineered the annexation of Texas, bluffed the British out of Oregon, waged war with Mexico to take California and New Mexico, enlarged the country’s land mass by a third, and made the United States a continental nation.”
Polk went into the Democratic National Convention in 1844 with three strikes against him. He had not been able to deliver Tennessee for the Democrats in 1840, he had lost two bids to be Tennessee governor, and he had come out in favor of annexation of Texas — a move opposed by both Van Buren, the Democrat’s leading candidate, and Whigs’ candidate, Henry Clay. When public sentiment swelled in favor of annexation, Polk rode it all the way to the nomination and eventually the White House.
Seigenthaler’s work is particularly timely to read in the midst of the 2004 presidential campaigns. We found ourselves continually drawing comparisons — how much has changed in the world of politics but also how much is still the same.
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