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Search - Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America

Polk The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
Author: Walter R. Borneman

In Polk, Walter R. Borneman gives us the first complete and authoritative biography of a president often overshadowed in image but seldom outdone in accomplishment. — James K. Polk occupied the White House for only four years, from 1845 to 1849, but he is rightly recognized as the last strong pre-Civil War president. His pledge to serve a ... more »single term, which many thought would immediately consign him to lame-duck status, enabled Polk to rise above electoral politics and to outflank his adversaries.

Thus Polk plotted and attained a formidable agenda: He fought for and won tariff reductions, reestablished an independent Treasury, and most notably, brought Texas into the Union, bluffed Great Britain out of the lion’s share of Oregon, and wrested California and much of the Southwest from Mexico. On reflection, these successes seem even more impressive, given the contentious political environment of the time.

In tracing Polk’s life and career–his early childhood in a prominent frontier family, his meteoric rise in public office and storied turn in the House of Representatives, the dramatic plunge of his career fortunes early in the post-Jacksonian period, and his political rebirth prior to the 1844 campaign season–Borneman dispels conventional views of Polk as a dark horse or an accidental president. Instead, we see Polk as he was–a decisive, if not partisan, statesman whose near doubling of America’s boundaries and expansive broadening of executive powers redefined the country at large, as well as the nature of its highest office.

Along with Polk, this is also the story of Andrew Jackson, Polk’s longtime political patron; Henry Clay, Polk’s ambitious rival; ex-president Martin Van Buren, who lusted to return to the White House; Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, who shared Polk’s commitment to territorial expansion but came to quarrel with him over the means; Polk’s fellow Tennessee politicos Davy Crockett and Sam Houston; and a principled young Whig from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln, who goaded Polk about misleading the nation into war with Mexico.

Proving the eternal truth of the adage “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” especially in terms of presidential politics, Borneman also provides engrossing blow-by-blow tales of punishing campaigns, audacious third-party spoilers, and the often comical lengths political fixers will go to reach a highly fickle electorate.

In this unprecedented, long-overdue warts-and-all biography, we are reminded anew of the true meaning of presidential accomplishment and resolve.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

ISBN-13: 9781400065608
ISBN-10: 1400065607
Publication Date: 4/8/2008
Pages: 448
Rating:

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.

3.3 stars, based on 4 ratings

Publisher: Random House
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

John O. (buzzby) - , reviewed Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America on 2/12/2009 + 6062 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

I lasted only 100 pages or so, found it breathtakingly dull, I'm not sure if it was because of the author's style or because Polk really didn't do anything early in his career more exciting than move to pre-Elvis Nashville. The author doesn't develop any of the characters very well, didn't seem to follow a strict chronological narrative, and if it was "warts and all", didn't seem to find many malignant ones on Polk.

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Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> Historical >> United States
Biographies & Memoirs >> Leaders & Notable People >> Presidents & Heads of State
History >> Americas >> United States >> 19th Century >> Antebellum

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