That your parents drove you to the college here in fall of 1957 . Yes, they did. What did you discover here . It was a big day for me. For the whole community. I came from something. I didnt just show up. I came being supported by the whole community. They prayed for me at church. They gave me a little a few pennies here and there. As i said, we didnt have a lot of money. And i had a little scholarship. I had taken the sats there, and so i had done well enough to have been granted a little scholarship money, and i was going to work a little bit. But there was always that, let me give you a few pennies. So, i came, being borne up by the good wishes of the community. And off we came to Bennett College. Id never been to Bennett College before. Id never been to greensboro before. And i arrived here to have ourselves, you know, just sort of swallowed up, my parents and me, and all of us, by a lot of parents and a lot of students, all being deposited by parents. And it was a lonely feeling w
President . Arthur called me on the phone and said youre in tennessee and james k. Polk is a tennesseen. And 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 a weekend and read it and tell me no. And i read the excerpts from the diary and i could say no. I was fascinated about the man. Did you know much about him before this . I knew his grave was 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 ive been there since. But i knew virtually nothing about him and almost nothing that was good. Result of what was done to him during his presidency over the mexicanamerican war left him a bad reputation. A reputation as a warmonger, and the attacks on him in congress in the latter days of his administration reminded me a great deal of the attacks on Linden Johnson at the end of
Podcasts. Sarah polk was very up on diplomacy and her strong suit happened to be intelligent political discussion. She made no bones about the fact she really took an interest in politics. And that she was her she grew up in a political household in tennessee. Her father was a local politician, so she grew up loving politics. She married james after he won a seat in the legislature because she would not have married him if he had been content to be a clerk. Unfortunately for james k. Polk, he died just three months after leaving the white house, and sarah began a 42year widowhood. Polk place became somewhat of a shrine to her husband, and she would invite anyone who wanted to to come for a visit to see the objects they had collected through their long and illustrious political career. She lived there for many years on her own, and during the civil war, generals on both sides would come and visit her to pay their respects to her. A very interesting commentary on what a beloved status sh
Her father was a local politician, so she grew up loving politics. She married james after he won a seat in the legislature because she would not have married him if he had been content to be a clerk. Unfortunately for james k. Polk, he died just three months after leaving the white house, and sarah began a 42year widowhood. Polk place became something of a shrine to her husband, and she would invite anyone who wanted to to come for a visit to see the objects they had collected through their long and illustrious political career. She lived there for many years on her own, and during the civil war, generals on both sides would come and visit her to pay their respects to her. Thats a very interesting commentary on what a beloved status she still held. She was, you know, earnest about her husbands work. She went to every post she could go to with him. He went through that arduous journey. The hardships were terrible. They really were. She was very well liked in the diplomatic community. T
She was not happy that her husband had been elected president. She was not looking forward to being the first lady. The problem was of course, that he died only one month into his presidency, and she never made it to washington. In 1836, when john tyler resigned from the United States senate, he and his wife laetitia and her family moved to williamsburg. It is right here that laetitia tyler suffered her stroke in 1839 and john tyler learned that he was elected as Vice President William Henri harrison, and it is also here in the spring of 1841 where he was informed that he became tenth president of the United States, and that laetitia tyler learned that she became the first lady. She has another terrible stroke and guys. Her husband goes into great morning and then he meets Julia Gardiner who is another young love in her twenties. Julia is the madonna of the first ladies. She loved publicity. She actually posed as a model which was frowned upon. She was bewitching. They had a total of a