Historians. Mr. Poke ranked 14th in cspans story of president ial leadership. John seeingigenthaler, autho james k. Polk. How did they talk you into doing a biography of this president . He called me and said youre a tennessean, james polk was a tennessean. Why dont you write a biography for the series on the president s. I said, arthur, i dont have time. Im retired. He said i want you to do one thing. He said allen evans has done a paper back that excerpts his diary, his president ial diary. Just take the weekend to read it and tell me no. I read the excerpts from the diary and i couldnt say no. I was fascinated by the man. Did you know much about him before you started this . I knew he was a tennessean, im a tennessean. I knew that his grave is behind the capitol. There is no marker in nashville except a plaque on the side of a dirty motel wall. His old home place in columbia is preserved, and ive been there many times and have been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him