It is clear to me that many of my readers have not been sitting around asking themselves, "I wonder when the next biography of James K. Polk is coming out?" I get it, I really do. James K. Polk is would probably not be on the top of my list either except for a couple of things. First, I am an Andrew Jackson fan, and just finished a good (but not great) biography by Jon Meacham (editor of Newsweek) by the title of American Lion - a book, I am ashamed to say, I have failed to review in this blog. So my interest is Jacksonian America is reason #1 - and Polk was, perhaps the last of the Jacksonian Presidents. Second, it got a very good review in the New York Times Sunday Book Review ( by the way, The Sunday Book Review is edited by a college colleague and much better writer than I, by the name of Sam Tanenhaus). Third, as the history major, I have always been intrigued by the the people and events that shaped America. And James K. Polk certainly helped shape America. Polk was an unapologetic expansionist and under his watch, the United States expanded by one-third adding Texas, the Oregon Territory, and New Mexico and California. It is in that vein that I recommend reading A Country of Vast Designs.
Merry, the President and Editor-in-Chief of Congressional Quarterly, Inc did a a very good job keeping my interest and wove the key themes of Polk's presidency (slavery, manifest destiny, diplomacy with Britain, and war) together with skill. Merry has a perspective on Polk and history that I found interesting. With regard to Polk, he shows how indomitable will (and political maneuvering) can and does trump morality and how by holding fast to an overarching strategy (or vision) Polk overcame all the deficiencies of personal relations that he created for himself.
Polk's presidency was preceeded by Jackson, then Van Buren and Tyler (Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died of pneumonia a month after giving a 3 hour inaugural speech in the bitter cold) and preceeded Zachary Taylor (who won his fame in Polk's war with Mexico), Millard Fillmore (who succeeded upon Taylor's death in office after only 16 months), Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan (who was Polk's irascible and irritating - if not downright disloyal - Secretary of State). Abraham Lincoln was elected President follwing Buchanan. Polk sat right in the middle of the creation of the USA we know today - land acquistion by conquest and diplomacy, the beginnings of the politics of succession and the Civil War, and the death of the Whigs and creation of the Republican Party (under Abraham Lincoln among others).
In many way Polk evoked some of the same feelings as Truman did and for many of the same reasons. They saw the world in straighforward fashion, had a vision of success, and used all the tools at their disposal to ensure that success happened. In Polk's case, a war with Mexico brought Texas (and one could argue California, New Mexico, and Arizona) into the United States -- and Polk has been vilified since for engineering a war for profit. Truman lost no sleep in ordering the use of nuclear bombs to bring an end to the war with Japan. Simple ends accomplished by using all the tools at their disposal.
While not purple prose, Merry is an engaging writer and I found the subject matter - and the politics - of great interest. As a side note, one of the intriguing aspects of Polk's time was that the Whigs (later the Republicans) were the advocates against slavery while the Democrats agitated against the use of tax funds for public improvement projects like roads (because it was unconstitutional).
Everything in a circle, yes? Thus, Polk's extraordinary success in a time of politics every bit as bitter and partisan as today's actually gives me hope that we can yet accomplish something important and meaningful.
As a post-script, American Lion by Jon Meacham is a very worthwhile read as well. Meacham spends even more time than Merry going through the minutia of the brutal political environment of the time - as Jackson generated even more partisan politics than Polk. Anyone who thinks it is only recently that dysfunction, deceit, and distortion have risen to the top of the political scene need to read both these books. As in, when it comes to politics -- whether discussing Cicero, Jackson, or Obama -- there really ain't much new under the sun.
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