Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America | 
 enlarge | Author: Walter R. Borneman
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 2256
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 1400065607
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.61092
EAN: 9781400065608
ASIN: 1400065607
Publication Date: April 8, 2008
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Product Description
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 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.
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 Polk: The Man Who Transformed The Presidency June 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Polk
The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
By Walter R. Borneman
If asked to name those who have served as President of the United States, few average Americans would be able to offer more than a handful of names. Among those least likely to be named is that of James Knox Polk our eleventh president. Yet, in a 1948 poll of leading historians conducted by the late Arthur Schlesinger, Polk ranked tenth in a list of twenty-nine. Why, one wonders, would a former president rank so highly among historians, while remaining comparatively unknown to the average American? In his new biography of Polk, historian Walter R. Borneman (1812 The War That Forged A Nation and The French and Indian War) takes a fresh look at Polk, the man and his presidency.
The period between the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln has sometimes been seen as something of a drought, lacking a forceful, dynamic president. Yet as Borneman skillfully points out, Polk proved, by far, to be the strongest of the pre-Civil War presidents, greatly expanding the executive powers of the office and acquiring a huge chunk of territory for the U.S. Interestingly enough he accomplished all of this as a one-term president, having vowed at the outset not to run for reelection.
The author's captivating style illuminates Polk's life and his not inconsiderable accomplishments as president. It was Polk who, in 1844, finally settled the long disputed Oregon question that brought the present states of Oregon and Washington into the Union and in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War it was Polk's political adroitness (through the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo) that also added California and virtually all of the Southwest. Thus, with the exception of a small strip of extreme southern Arizona and New Mexico (added five years later in 1853 with the Gadsden Purchase), Polk completed the formation of the contiguous United States. No president since Thomas Jefferson added as much territory to the U.S. as Polk: more than a million square miles of territory. Polk also played an active role in bringing Texas into the Union.
Polk The Man Who Transformed the Presidency is an insightful and beautifully written biography that will doubtless move Polk from the shadows of history into the forefront of those chief executives who have had a dramatic impact on the development of the United States.
An Underrated President June 17, 2008
This biography recounts the life of James K. Polk, our eleventh president and the strongest president in the quarter-century between the presidencies of Jackson and Lincoln.
Polk was Andrew Jackson's protege, and the book traces Polk's path through the House of Representatives to the Tennessee governorship. In the cliffhanger election of 1844, Polk became the youngest elected president to that point in American history. Polk served as chief executive during a time when railroads and the telegraph were rapidly changing America, when there was lively debate over westward expansion, when the conflict over slavery was slowly heating up, and when settlers were heading west on the Oregon Trail.
The book demonstrates how American politics of the 1840s had many similarities to the politics of today. Then as now, politicians jockeyed for their party's presidential nomination years in advance, there were third-party spoilers, and there were even campaign biographies of the candidates published in the presidential election year. Polk's experience also shows that the presidency had already become a taxing, all-consuming job even by middle of the nineteenth century.
The book outlines the border disputes and negotiations with Britain and Mexico concerning Oregon and the Southwest--had some of the negotiations turned out differently, our country's total land area could have been much larger or much smaller than it is today. Polk also wanted to purchase Cuba from Spain.
A brief history of the Mexican War is included, and the book relates how during this period the power to declare war migrated from Congress (where it had been during the War of 1812) to the presidency.
Polk's legacy is marred by his position on slavery, but his territorial acquisitions make him one of the most consequential presidents of the nineteenth century.
High recommendations for Polk June 12, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have read many of Walter Borneman's books and have come to anticipate a well-researched, interesting, and entertaining reading experience, This new addition is no exception and delivered what I have come to expect from this author. History buffs will find this to be an enjoyable trip back into the formative years of our country.
Perfect account June 11, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I didn't know squat about James Polk and now I do. Isn't that the point.
The period between Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln is by far the least studied period of my "historical hobby." I picked this book up on a business trip in Canada and read it in a week.
First, it is an easy read. It goes into just enough detail to keep you interested but not too much detail to cause you to lose interest. Second, the book is not long for no reason. I've read a lot of biographers and many times I think authors want to write a 900+ page account of someone just because they think people will think it is better or more complete if it is 900+ pages instead of 300+.
I couldn't disagree more. This book was the perfect length. Polk was a one-term President who didn't serve in congress during critical legislation. The big thing about Polk was American expansionism and the author treats that in very fine fashion.
I really enjoyed this book completely and would recommend it to anyone wanting a solid account of Polk the man and Polk the President. If you are a "Polk" lover than maybe you should read something more detailed but for a guy like me it was perfect.
Polk by Walter borneman June 8, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Well written, with facinating historical insights based on papers, and diaries. Incudes curious problems of the 1840's and a sense of how people of ability rose to the occasion to aid our democracy.
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