James Polk Biography

I have just finished reading the recent biography of our 11th President, James Polk. The book by Robert Merry is a good book that goes into proper detail about this fairly forgotten President. Polk , a disciple of the more well known Andrew Jackson, took office after becoming the Democrats compromise candidate in 1844. This was after losing not one but two elections to be Governor of his home state of Tennessee. Imagine a politician today suffering two defeats such as that only to be reborn. Short of Richard Nixon in 1960 and !962 I cannot.

Polk promised to serve only one term and despite efforts to get him to reconsider he would not. He was a flawed man but it cannot be underestimated what he accomplished in just four years in terms of increasing the geographic size of the United States. If ever Manifest Destiny had a partisan working for it night and day it was James K Polk. There is a reason this little known President consistently ranks in historians views as one of our 10 greatest chief executives.

What the subject and thus the book miss most is an author of better powers to enlighten the reader. I enjoyed the book but I also consider myself that rare individual who enjoys any historical context. An author such as McCullough, Meacham, Goodwin or Caro proves everytime they write how both easy and difficult it is to write this sort of subject matter in an absorbing way. That said this is a book well worth reading and in being about a lesser known figure gives one a chance to learn much he will never learn elsewhere.