James K. Polk

In the summer of 1844, as the Democratic National Convention approached, James K. Polk hopes for the vice presidential nomination were dashed by the presidential front-runner, former president Martin Van Buren. But Polk perceived a wave of public sentiment in favor of bringing Texas into the union, and he rode that wave all the way to the White House. Fellow Tennessean Seigenthaler traces the life and legacy of the president who, as Harry Truman noted, "said what he intended to do and did it."