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 his administration of the vietnam war. Similarities there. James k. Polk was president when, and tell us the four things he promised to do. Well, he was president from 1844. A oneyear president by his choice. He said i will not run for reelection, and he would not accept any suggestion and Many Democrats pushed him to run again. About the week of his inaugural he told his friend George Bancroft he was supposed to be secretary of navy, great historian, by the way. He said bancroft, there are four things i want to do with great measures. On;s u s lower the tariff, a controversial issue. Two, we will create an independent treasury. Well take all the governments money out of these corrupt private banks which pay us no interest, and well put those funds in private vaults to pay the bills and meet the payroll. Three, we will take california and well take oregon. That will make us from sea to shining sea. And he said he would do it, and he did it. What right did we have to take either texas or california or oregon . Well, the territory which was washington and oregon belonged to us jointly with great britain. And he considered it part of the natural right of the american nation to take that contig ws territory, and he threatened to go to war with the british over it. He bluffed them and said he was prepared to go to war over it. And at the last moment the british capitulated. California he had hoped he would be able to purchase. Both henry clay when he was secretary of state under John Quincy Adams and john tyler, both had tried to buy california. The mexicans were insulted by both offers and rejected blandishment by2zrpolk to give them territory for mun. So he went to war with them and took it. Theres similarities to today. The house of representatives 108 to 107 with 24 independents. When was that . Was that when she was speaker or president . Thats when he was speaker. He presided over the closest house at that time in history. And he had a terrible time as speaker. Hes the only speaker who became president of the United States. Nobody else has been able to make that springboard. As we skip richard is trying, who went all the way, but polk did it. He presided over a hostile house. Members of that house constantly were trying to bait him into duals, and henry wise from virginia called it dead shot from a man named patden from tennessee. Both insulted him on the floor. At one point they met him at the door and wise said you were very insulting to me today on the floor, and i mean uit. He was against dueling. He would not accept the duals. He would not challenge and return for an insult. And jackson, the great dueler wouldnt take any insult. He was jacksons protege, and everyone said that jackson would be critical of him because he took those insults. But on the contrary jackson said he admired his attitude and courage in accepting leadership and not responding as many did in that day. If he were here today where would he fit . Well, he was well we would call him today a yellow dog democrat. He was i think perhaps the most partisan president in history. Harry truman, another very partisan president once listed his eight great president s. And polk was one of those. He lists them in albphabetical order, jackson and jefferson, lincoln and polk. He rates them but clearly polks one of the top 8. I think truman admired him. Truman said he knew exactly what he was going to do, he was he was going to do it and he did it. And that made great hay with truman. He was also very critical of his generals as truman was with douglas mcarthur, so theres that similarity, too. But part of polk polk would have been at home right in todays hasidic washington environment. I think he would have been up to the needles in the digs and knives thatng are wielded. And i think he would have waded right into that environment and been right at home. He was a man for his team. Theres very little you can say that he left. His administration was sandwiched between the only two wig administrations in our history. And both of those administrations, the Harris Administration and the taylor administration, were of course interrupted by the deaths of those two president s. And so those two wig administrations did very little, and his administration is sandwiched between those, and he did a great deal. So its surprising to me that only historians recognize him. Every ten years theres a poll and he always winds up somewhere between 7th or 8th or 12th. Youve never seen polk lower than the 12 great president s. I kept writing down words you used to describe him. Perfectionist, workaholic, a brooder, humorless, angry, arrogant, unforgiving, called himself the hardest workingman in the country, straitlaced, a little prig from tennessee. A little prig from tennessee. The truth of that is, brian, when i got thru with this i was not in love with him. I admired him for what he did. He was a toughminded president , and, you know, he gave us a continental nation and a dozen states exist because he took us westward. I think you and i would have enjoyed having lunch with and certainly not dinner with. You want wont to go around the world with a bike with him. Nonetheless i did come away with Great Respect for him. And while not affection,b admiration because he did great things. His effort to finish the bank war that jackson had started jackson his role model, his hero, his mentor, the man who really made him president. He really trying to model himself after jackson and yet there were attributes to jacksons character that turned him off. So i didnt come away really in love with him. I would have to say that i dont like him very much. I dont thinkko he was a very likable man. And among other reasons he just was duplicitous. Two or three times a week theyd open up the white house, and to everybody. His worst enemies would come down from the hill. He and sarah, this lovely congenial woman would welcome them. His worst enemies. Hed make them feel like they were king for a day. And that night hed go up stairs and geniality and congeniality went out the window, and he would sit down with his diary and rip them to shreds. And obviously it hooked me. It was the bait that led me to do this biography. Its fascinating reading. How much did you read . I read all of it. Its four volumes. After i read nevens brief paper back i then got the four volumes and poured over them and read them all. How big are the four volumes . Well, each one is around 400 pages. Its a long8rec read. But its conversational, and he was a good writer. He knew how to write a simple declarative sentence, and thats and his that line you quoted i know im the hardest workingman in america, i mean that sort of reflects the evil maniacal instinct that emerged. He said ive learned i can learn every department of the government without their help. And then he said im the hardest workingman in america. Truth is he probably was. He was a workaholic, around the clock, Early Morning late at night. And very, very sickly during much of his administration. You graphically described when he was 17 years old the operation he had. Now, where did you get that . Has been somewhat in question. Some of the earlier historians said that it was for gold stones. I ran across an important piece in the 1980s by a medical doctor. He wrote this piece and he points out we didnt have a operation 15 years in this country after polk had his, and he concluded it was for urinary stones. And there were documents that were left from mcdowel, the danville, kentucky, specialists, one of the great surgeons in the history of this. Xn country. He left papers and those papers relied onto demonstrate this was really a urinary stone operation, and it was a brutal operation. He is a 17yearold young man ill with lower abdomen pains. Finally his father whos wealthy decides the best man in the country is dr. Philips in philadelphia. And they put him in a covered wagon with a bed. And this ambulance, horse drawn, heads north to pennsylvania. Gets up around the green river in kentucky, and he has Violent Attacks and they rush him to danville where this other surgeon operates. The operation as i said was brutal, no antiseptic, and they only could give him brandy. They didnt have any antisepsis to stop the poison. They held him down. His uncle was with him. They put him up on their shoulders. It sounds, a[l and they went through the scrotum and anus, right through the prostate. How he ever survived is remarkable, but he did. How much of that went on back then . Did you check . 8c,cwell, yeah, there are Historical Records and medical records are somewhat sketchy. But with regard to james hick polk theyre there, and think after he became the speaker of the house he corresponded with the doctor. There were just a couple of physicians who were capable of doing this. Made a search before he decided he wanted him to do this, and mcdowel had been on his agenda i think was just fortunate. I think mcdowel was close to him as he was when they got him there. Theres no doubt in my mind, and this is why i think the operation was important. Theres no doubtxw÷e in my mindt he was childless as a result of this operation. I take my conclusion on that one step beyond where bob left it, although i know he agrees with that. And i created a panel of about nine doctors who names are acknowledged in the book. Some specialists, some general practitioners all thought it was q6q that not much doubt he either left sterile or impotent or both, so it was sick and he was how long out of office after only one term that he died . He died 90 days after he left the presidency. He went home to die. He left the presidency worn and sickly. Probably contracted cholera even on the way home or after he arrived. It was a long trip. He went all the way south to new orleans and came up the river, up the mississippi and then down the cumberland, across the ohio and down the cumberland river. Arrived home and was welcomed by tennesseeans, his old friend from congress aaron brown was now governor and they welcomed him home. And he had 90 days of bad health and died. 53 years old. 53 years old. He at the time was the youngest president in history. And died younger than any president in history. This series, you mention Arthur Schlesinger and times books. Are they doing all 42 as of now, there are 22 i think listed. I hope they do them all. I know that i had some conversations with my editor robin dennis who is a terrific editor and during the course of the writing and the research, iz got into the issues involving his secretary of state James Buchanan who became president , of course. And in discussing it with the editor, she said, well, i probably let had better let the author of the book know where youre going with this because well see where he comes down and i never felt followed up on that so i just dont i just dont know where that is going to go or how that is going to come out. When did you start it . Two years. It took two years to do. And what lengths did you go to make sure you had the right stuff. Where did you go . I went everywhere i could to possibly find sources. The best stuff is in the diary. And in his papers. At the university of tennessee, there is a historian, dr. Wayne cutler who is the curator of the pope papers. And he has by the time hes through, it will be 14. 15 volumes, but he spent decades just developing these pdp reall huge volumes of polks correspondence. Between the diary and the correspondence you get a real sense of who the man is. There were three excellent biographies. One by john jenkins which was done maybe 40, 50 years after his death and another by Eugene Mccormick which came in the 30s and then charles sellers had a two volume biography but stopped before he got to the presidency. Im sorry he didnt do the third volume. Sellers . Sellers. Because i relied on it very x a heavily. At times, came to different conclusions than all three, but i found that in the research, it was a chance to know a lot about people i never had looked at people who made our country what it is. And it was necessary to read biographies of tyler and van buren and buchanan and others ix order to fill in the foundation on which the biography had to stand. I mean, you couldnt very well write a biography about polk who had almost routine conflicts with his secretary of state without finding out something about that secretary of state. The same was true James Buchanan. James buchanan. What was your reaction when you saw how much they fought . Could you do that today . I could not for the life of me imagine why polk put up with it except that as he said to his friend k. Johnson, shortly after he won the election, i intend myself to be president. Ctu you know, i talked to wayne cutler about this conflict. Cutler, who has been looking at james k. Polk for all of these years now, and i said, i cannot for the life of me figure out why polk kept buchanan as secretary of state. They were constantly at war. And cutler said he was the secretary of state himself. And he could control buchanan. He could control him but couldnt keep him from popping off or telling him he was wrong or even lecturing him. What did they fight about . They fought about foreign policy. They fought about a good example, hes getting ready to the british and the french are constantly meddling in u. S. Affairs. Theyve got interests in the middle of this country, and then there is mexico that is having this this ongoing conflict with texas, with the republic of texas. And so there was a good deal there to formulate policy on. And when it comes time for war with mexico, buchanon said in a cabinet meeting, you know, i really need to let the french and british know that in this war with mexico we dont have aims on california. Of course polk had aims on california. It was contrary to everything his administration was going to be about. And he says, do not do that. I dont want to i do not want you to tell them. He said, well, if you dont do that, you may have war with both wn said ill go to war with them and fight until the last man before ill say that we have no designs on california. And so he was silent. Buchanan was silent on the subject, but buchanan was not very consistent as a secretary of state. For example, when it came time to take oregon territory away from the british, buchanan, the issue was at what parallel would we get the territory if we got it. And if we went to war, we would get the 54th, the crying congress. The Tyler Administration left him with a proposal to the british to draw the line at the 49th parallel. And the british turned that flatly down and it infuriated him and he said you go back and tell them we want it all. Im paraphrasing. But thats just what he said. Would the all be up to the Canadian Border . All the way up. When you go beyond washington, up to the 54th. So buchanan says, you know, this will mean war. And he said, i dont care. You tell them. The offer is off the table. We want the 54th parallel and as much as we could get. And he said as always, buchanan had a fallback position. He said, mr. President , you know, were about to have trouble with mexico, why dont we put this off . No, tell them now. And he says, but we you know, weve got were very close to a war with two countries here. He said, well do our duty by mexico and great britain. We must look john bull in the eye, he says. And reluctantly, buchanan goes over and delivers the message and comes back the next meeting and says i did it. It was the wrong thing, but i did it. Right in the president s face, you did the wrong thing making me say that. Believe it or not, pouk salk sa did the right thing. And leaves it at that. It was a constant fight, a constntd war. I question why in my own mind even after talking to cutler, even after knowing that he was controlling him, why he didnt dump him. And then you run across this effort by buchanan to confront the president and say, do you really want me . And there is a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court and buchanan goes over and said, you know, i would like that. Polk has a chance to get rid of him then. And he doesnt take it. I mean, he almost he almost cajoles him back in to the office. . 3j and then buchanan says, there was is young lawyer up there, johnny reed, was for you, for me, he would be a wonderful justice of the Supreme Court, and he leaves there thinking hes made the case for his friend reed, and polk, without saying anything to him im sure buchanan went out and told all his friends in congress, told reed probably, hes going to be the next Supreme Court justice. Polk give it to a state justice, and buchanan comes there almost weeping, saying you cut me to the heart. Its none of your business. I dont have to ask my cabinet for permission. And then he said, you know, i found out that this man was a federalist for 12 years. And i have never found this is how partisan he was, i have never found a federalist older than 30 who ever changed his mind on his politics. Now, thats pretty partisan, you know. And he used federalist and whig interchangeably. If you were a whig, you were a federalist. And buchanan went away licking but was there at the very end. At the very end, there is another terrible dispute right at the end. There is a new president elect Zachary Taylor and said shouldnt this cabinet go over and say hello to the new president and welcome him and o polk said i would consider it a betrayal if you did that. He needs to come call on me. Then you may do what you seek to do. You point out in your book that there were 2. 5 million votes in the 1844 election, all white men. All white men. No women. No women. No blacks. No blacks. And you point out that the nv difference in the vote was between henry clay and James Buchanan, 1. 4 . 1. 4 . 38,000 votes. And now the electoral college, 36 votes in new york really gave it to polk. Had new york gone for clay, clay would have been the president. And interestingly, you say there are echos from this time to our time. James k. Polk failed to carry his own state of tennessee which reminds us in 2000 if al gore carried his own state of tennessee he would have been the president. Everything that goes around comes around, i guess, brian. Quick question on the diaries. Where do they keep them now, the actual diaries . The actual diaries are in the library of congress. The copies that cutler has and all of those documents in cutlers domain are copies. Both the correspondence and the diaries. Can you read the diaries online . You can read the diaries online. And that made my work much, much easier. You read the diaries online and you can i say read them online. You can get a cd and that is what i did. And got it from the university of tennessee. And to be able to do that, to sit at home and just sit in front of computer and make notes, split the screen and make notes beside it as you go through, excerpt what you want, made writing for me a new experience. How much of a tennesseean are you . Born and bred. Where . All of my life. I was born in nashville, tennessee, and my whole life has been spent there. But it says something about our education that i have not found a tennesseean who knows ive written this book who knows very much about james k. Polk. If you ask what president nobody knows hes 11th president and he served one term and nobody knows he expands the country from just west of the Mississippi River to the pacific ocean. We know he fought a war. And thats about thats pretty much it. I was really i was really excited as i went through it because i learned so much my own state. About the leaders in the early days who established that state. And i had read all of robert reminis books on jackson and before that parts on jackson which is the early classic work. But putting jackson in context while writing about polk really gave me new insight to Andrew Jackson, about whom i knew a great deal. Greatest problem during his presidency i think had to do with his inability to get along with the Vice President john c. Calvin and the calhounites that were part of his cabinet. And the marriage of john eaton, remember the cabinet, hes a good friend, to Margaret Oneill was a major scandal. And ultimately jackson wipes out the whole cabinet. And polk is over there in Congress Looking at that. Over this marriage. Over this . ÷a over this marriage. I mean, calhoun will not have anything to do with margaret oneal, the wife of thed0 n vic president. And other cabinet officers follow her along. Van buren, not married, is very gi and wtj what was he then . Resident. As he then . No, he was secretary of state. And jackson wraps him arm around van buren and named his Vice President , really ordained him to the vice presidency in the second term because he was nice to eaton and mrs. Eaton. Well, so the whole cabinet is wiped out. Eaton resigns and others are forced to resign. Polk comes into office and i think one of the reasons that he didnt dump buchanan is because he didnt want that same sort of image that had haunted jackson. He didnt want anybody to leave the cabinet over a controversy. He left George Bancroft, his secretary of the navy, to become minister of great britain, but he kept that cabinet as much in tact as he could, even though he was constantly at war with buchanan in the cabinet meetings. You have all of the names in your book back in those years. Martin van buren goes on after president to run again. He runs. You know, polks election was more than remarkable. It is astounding. Its richard nixon. James k. Polk served as speaker of the house and while hes in speaker of the house jacksons support at home of tennessee begins to wain. The year hes speaker. He became speaker in in 1833 and served three terms. He ran in 1833 and last to his fellow tennesseean john bell. He beat bell the following year and then was reelected. As speaker. So hes reelected for two terms. Now hes watching from the hill. While hes in congress and this debacle occurs over this scandal in the jackson cabinet. Cs and i think he looks at that and said, the country was almost paralyzed, the government was not functional during that period, and president jackson was old and couldnt function. He really loved Andrew Jackson. Admired Andrew Jackson. But he didnt make the same mistakes that jackson had made. For example, when he becomes president , jackson has two requests of him. Keep Francis Blair as the editor of our party newspaper. And called . What was it called . The paper. nnb the paper was the union. Keep Francis Blair in and he fires him. Jackson says keep my old friend who was actually a resident at the white hous was there. Keep him in the treasury department. It was almost a sinecure that jackson had given to his old friend from the white house whose name at the moment has fled but will be back. Btpb but he said to polk, keep him. The man had never been kind to polk. He had been rude to polk. And polk dumped him. Jackson had kept him there during the van buren administration, even in the whig administration of tyler. Let me just highlight a poinj you made about the union. Right. What business was it of the president of either Andrew Jackson or james polk to name the editor of a union . In those days a newspaper was an arm of the party, an arm of the wing of the party. I mean, the madison was a newspaper that was created not for a party but for a cause. Really designed to to promote an economic policy. And Francis Blair headed the party paper. And when polk dumped him, he brought in Thomas Richie from richmond, another editor, and put richie in, in charge of the party newspaper. When i was reading it again i was thinking about today where the democrats are trying to start this network, this right. Rush limbaugh. To challenge the conservative talk show host. How long were you with the National Tennessean . Off and on for 40 years and i joined the Kennedy Administration for a couple of years but i was there for 43 years and editor and publisher for 30. And you were editorial director of the newspaper for how long . Director of usa today for 10 years. How long did you work for Bobby Kennedy . Two years. Reading back in those days an just think being today the number of people in politics now in the media, is there any real change after all these years . Yeah. What is the change . The ability of the party to control the news media simply doesnt exist. And i think that there are some people who watch television today and see echoes of one party or another and some of the formats and there is some niche marketing in Television News i think. Particularly in the cable area. I think most people identify fox in that way as sort of an echo of the presidency. But i look at it and the independence is there. The idea that the administration could control fox or cnbc or cnn i think is out of the question. You youve got our own Television Star in your family. I do have. What is your relationship to John Seigenthaler of nbc . I am father of John Seigenthaler. I say i used to be John Seigenthaler. And im very proud of him. Who is the Jack Seigenthaler . The Jack Seigenthaler is his is his son. 6yearold Jack Seigenthaler is a John Seigenthaler. But you dedicate your book to him. I dedicate my book to Jack Seigenthaler. In the midst of the writing, one day i was writing in the midst of a deadline, and he said, could i use the computer, and i said, jack, im really working for the next half hour on the polk book. And i turned back to the computer and on my desk behind me now were the 12 volumes of polks correspondence and the four volumes of his diary and the four biographies that i l l mentioned, by jenkins, mccormick and seller and i hear him read polk, this is polk, thats polk. Gran, do we really need another book on polk. What did you say . I said i hope so, jack. Well find out. Does he know the books is dedicated to him . He does. And hes proud of it and took a copy of it to school with him. And so hes its interesting to me that 6yearold children, one, are interested in removing their grandparents from the computer so they could get at it and beyond that are able to read and comprehend. The last time i was there i read a little polk to him before he went to bed and he asked a awful lot of questions because there are words there that are beyond obviously a 6yearold. Go back to the war. The mexican war started when . The mexican war started in 1846. He sends Zachary Taylor down a ] to the conflict was started over the mexican border. Eight years eight years earlier we had the alamo in goliad, and then sam houston, tennesseean, friend of polk, then sam houston defeated santa ana and they get santa ana to agree that the line between the two countries, between the independent republic of texas y and mexico, he agrees that that will be the line. The rio will be the line. The Mexican Parliament doesnt accept that but, of course, texans do. And so that land between new ages river and the rio, about 150 miles, represents what texas considers a new border and what polk considers the new border. And there comes a time when mexico declares war on the United States. Because it is going to annex texas, and polk is coming into office, and polk really wants congress to get annexation of texas started before he takes over. And he works with congress to get that done. Then the mexicans react angrily and there comes a time when the cabinet suggests that he send Zachary Taylor, general Zachary Taylor, who became a next whig president and he send Zachary Taylor down and he said if they come across, if they come across and attack, consider it an attack on the country. And go in to mexico and take as much as you can. And so that is what happens. 2 it is a small party of mexicans ambushed, a small party of u. S. Soldiers and taylor goes in and takes palo alto, takes risaca depalma and captures them and the war is on. Just a second. In context of today, you have Winfield Scott, who is down there as a general working for james polk, the president , Zachary Taylor is down there. Zachary taylor goes on to be president , what, in 48 . Yeah. Zachary becomes president in 1848 and Winfield Scott two terms later is the republican nominee. What year is it that Abraham Lincoln stands up on the floor of the house and said im against this . In 1848 as polk is about to go out. Had a great conversation with doris kearns goodwin, who is doing a similar book on lincoln about this. And the question is whether lincoln lost he was a freshman congressman. And he stood up on the floor and virtually called james k. Polk a liar. And he said he considers and the whigs considered that land between the new aches and the rio as disputed land. And lincoln wants to be sure where the first drop of blood was spilled and demands, literally issued an interrogatory for the president to respond to, which he doesnt. He makes the case that rio was our line and we were attacked on the american side, the u. S. Side of the rio and that and that it is really sort of it echoes a little bit of today, president bushs concept of preemptive defense. Theyre at war with us. And if they if they attack us, were going in. Now, so taylor is down there. At the same time, polk is having a terrible time with Winfield Scott. Scott doesnt want to go to mexico. Zachary taylor is on his way. Scott said ill go down in september, which was three or four months off. And polk calls in the secretary of war, secretary marcy, and says get him out of here and get him on the way. And scott writes a letter in which he said i dont want to be shot at at the front by the mexicans and in the rear in washington. And polk at that point grounds him. Takes his command away from him. Finally scott gets it back by proposing a plan in which we attack mexico across the gulf and scotts attack comes across the gulf and he goes through mexico city while Zachary Taylor is going north. And at same time general kearny is going to california to take california, so it was really a threepronged attack. Polk despised Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. They did nothing but win battles against great odds. And every night in the diary, he would get news of another great victory and say theyre both incompetent, theyre both unqualified for command, and it was purely partisan. You mentioned william marcy. He was secretary of war. And you say his famous saying that still lives today. To the victim goes the but it seems like in this little book all this stuff youve got james polk at the center, Abraham Lincoln on the floor, he becomes president. Winfield scott is the candidate for the whigs in 62. John c. Free mont, the path finder, goes out to california and gets involved in a big dispute. He chooses the wrong way. His fatherinlaw is back in washington the powerful friend of polk. The senator not the artist. And fremont thinks im going to get into this thing on stocktons side. And my fatherinlaw will take care of me but it doesnt happen. Fremont is courtmartialed and polk hes charged with mutiny and disobedience. Polk dismissed the mutiny charge but upholds the second. By the way, it story about thomas and the shooting of Andrew Jackson how did that happen . That goes way back to the time jackson was in tennessee and Thomas Hart Benton and his brother jesse were in tennessee at that time, before the bentons went to missouri. And jesse benton, there was a duel, and jesse benton really offended jackson by sort of serving as a second in that duel. Day in a building on the streets of nashville and they run him through, shoot him and almost kill him. And the bentons shortly thereafter left for missouri, where Thomas Benton became a senator. Goes to washington and then the friends of Andrew Jackson, they become close friends. Jesse benten never, never made it up with jackson, but benton was a friend of jack sin washington and became a friend of polk. You have another story about sam houston and a congressman and when there was a caning outside the house. Thats right. At that time houston was living with the indians. And houston was accused by this member of congress of using it for financial gain. And houston tried to attack him on the floor. Hes a former member of congress, but then waits for him with what else, a hickory cane and canes him, almost killed him. And he is tried before the house. James k. Polk defends houston and they give him a tap on the wrist. Anybody in history intersects with the life of james k. Polk. Let me do this quickly because we are running out of time go back to north carolina. Do you go to macklenburg county . I did not. Just go quickly through james k. Polks life up to the time that he became president so we can get it on the record. He was born in macklenburg county. Near charlotte. Little sugar creek. He had a very agrarian upbringing. He went to sort of seasonal schools. ]2 when hes 8, his grandfather has moved to middle tennessee and has found really a paradise. So sam, his father and his mother go over the mountains and settle in middle tennessee. And there he grows up. gain, very sickly child and 2n so sickly that hes not able to do all the work in the fields that other children are expected to do. One point, his father wants to make him a merchant. Puts him in the store, it doesnt work. What he really wants is an education. And after the operation his father finally sends him to a formal education. First little Seminary School a near where they lived in tennessee, then to murphysboro, and then finally, university of north carolina, where he entered as a sophomore and finished, graduated first in his class. Spoke at the graduation. And spoke at the graduation. And he was political from the outset. W x he was fortunate that he fell into the arms of the great tennessee bvflawyer, feels gr later attorney general of the United States, United States senator, and grundy mentored him at large. In those days lawyers trained in the chambers of distinguished lawyers. How many times was he elected to office, to any office . Well, he was elected once to the tennessee legislator, seven times to congress, once as noq governor, and once as president. Before we run out of time, you did the show like this for how many years . 32 years now. Are you still doing it . Ive had you on that show and its been great to have you there and its great to be here. Are you still doing that . Im still doing that. Where are you doing it . It appears in National Sunday morning, and i do an interview with authors. How many shows a year . During the annual southern book festival i do 15 which is a week long show, and i do about 40 shows a year. Why do you do it . I do it because i love books and i love to read and i love people who write. How many books have you written . Well, i ive had published a couple of books or columns or articles that i wrote, and ive had chapters in books but id have to say this is my first real experience as an author. What do you think of now that youre on the other side . Im now in the process of writing another book. Im going to write a book on a woman named alice paul whos an unknown heroine of the suffragist movement. Everything she did for the suffragists, civil rights demonstrators, went through 1915 to 1950s, so 35 years later. On that little note before we really just run out of time he was a slave holder, james k. Polk. How many slaves did he own and what happened at the end . He owned more than 40, and he owned them on his mississippi plantation and his property in tennessee. In his will he left all his slaves to his wife for her lifetime and then they would be free. She lived until she was 80 years old and lincoln had freed the slaves long before sarah died, but polk, he said it was a common evil. You would think as a oneterm president , he was not planning to run for reelection, he might have taken some steps late in life to provide some leadership. You understand why he didnt during a Political Campaign because you couldnt take that position. Were out of time. Do you go to the Office Every Day . I go to the Office Every Day. First amendment center. Vanderbilt university. Our author has been john seagertholler, and the title of the book is james k. Polk. The times book series on president s. Thank you very much. Heres what ahead on cspan3s American History tv. Next, more from our first ladies series. With a look at sarah polk, margaret taylor, and abigail fillmore. In roughly an hour and 40 minutes, its first ladies jane pearce and harriet lane. In about three hours and ten minutes, a look at influential women in western history. Every saturday night, American History tv takes you to College Classrooms around the country for lectures in history. Why do you all know who Lizzie Borden is and raise your hand if you had ever heard of this murder, the gene harris murder trial, before this class. The deepest cause where well find the true meaning4e of the revolution was in this transformation that took place in the minds of the american people. Were going to talk about both of these sides of the story here. Right . The tools, the techniques of slave owner power, and well also talk about the tools and techniques of power that were practices by enslaved people. Discussions with their students on ky4n topics ranging from the American Revolution to september 11th. Lectures in history on cspan3, every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern eastern on American History tv. And lectures in history is available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to