How Come James K. Polk Never Gets Mentioned?

Soundgarden

Banned
According to historical rankings, 11th United States President James K. Polk gets ranked very favorably, sometimes in the top 10. The reason being is because he accomplished all the goals he set during his presidency.

When we hear about great presidents, guys like Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt(both of them), Truman, Wilson(despite what this board says) and Jefferson get mentioned, but never Polk. Hell, most people in today's era probably never heard of him. Is there any reason why his accomplished are so underrepresented?

Thanks.
 
I think there is a lot of queasiness about Polk's policy with respect to Mexico, and the Mexican War, which is probably the least morally justifiable war in US history, despite the fact that the US benefited a lot from it.
 
According to historical rankings, 11th United States President James K. Polk gets ranked very favorably, sometimes in the top 10. The reason being is because he accomplished all the goals he set during his presidency.

When we hear about great presidents, guys like Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt(both of them), Truman, Wilson(despite what this board says) and Jefferson get mentioned, but never Polk. Hell, most people in today's era probably never heard of him. Is there any reason why his accomplished are so underrepresented?

Thanks.

Most of what he did is underrated because of a lack of popularity. The Annexation of Texas, Oregon claims, low Tariffs, Independent Treasury, and 1 term Pledge are all either unpopular (as Imperialism) or boring (19th century economics), and aren't as uniformly heroic action as what men like Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt did. Polk has a bad PR firm is what it is.

I personally consider one of the better Presidents, the best one termer at least, and arguably as important as Jackson and Lincoln, as he swept aside the Second Party System, and laid the foundations for the Third.
 
I'd agree that his accomplishments aren't as popular in the modern world as some of the other "great" presidents. It's a combination of that, and just not being well remembered. Because... it was a while ago.

The only pre-1900 presidents that get much love from average people are the founding fathers (plus Jackson in some circles) and Lincoln. Washington and Jefferson (and to a lesser extent: Adams, Madison and Monroe) are more famous for what they did before they were president. They're famous and beloved for creating the nation. Everyone after the founding fathers, until at least the 1900s is largely forgotten by the general populace. Lincoln is the exception of course, and that is due to (1) freeing the slaves and (2) being assassinated. Between Jackson and TR, Lincoln is the only president that the average American ever thinks about.

That is just in regards to the average person who isn't into history. Amongst historians I think Polk gets his due.
 

Soundgarden

Banned
I'd agree that his accomplishments aren't as popular in the modern world as some of the other "great" presidents. It's a combination of that, and just not being well remembered. Because... it was a while ago.

The only pre-1900 presidents that get much love from average people are the founding fathers (plus Jackson in some circles) and Lincoln. Washington and Jefferson (and to a lesser extent: Adams, Madison and Monroe) are more famous for what they did before they were president. They're famous and beloved for creating the nation. Everyone after the founding fathers, until at least the 1900s is largely forgotten by the general populace. Lincoln is the exception of course, and that is due to (1) freeing the slaves and (2) being assassinated. Between Jackson and TR, Lincoln is the only president that the average American ever thinks about.

That is just in regards to the average person who isn't into history. Amongst historians I think Polk gets his due.

I don't know if it had anything to do with the timeframe as much as what impact they had in American Culture. You can also say that during Polk's time, his term was sandwiched between many lousy presidents(Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan come to mind), so he gets lost in the mix.

With the exception of Lincoln, the 19th century post-founding fathers wasn't a properous time for the U.S. Presidency. It picked up with McKinley, but thanks to his assasination, he gets overshadowed by his successor, Teddy Roosevelt, and around that time, thats when the office became what we know it as today.
 
Two things:

1) As posted already, Polk's presidency was controversial at the time, and some aspects of it have made historians queasy ever since. For example, although Polk was the last truly Jacksonian Democrat in the White House, it can be argued that the actions of his administration set the Civil War into motion. It's hard for modern Americans to look at the Mexican War as anything other than a war of expansion, and however beneficial that might have been for our country, American foreign policy for the last 110 years has been about opposing such things. Etc, etc, etc.

2) Polk was a one-term president. As a rule, if you don't get that second term, you are perceived negatively. That was true then, and it's true now. That Polk often ranks so highly on lists and such despite being a one-term president is a testament to the sheer scale of his accomplishments.

And besides, They Might Be Giants wrote a whole song about him. Who says he never gets mentioned :p
 

Soundgarden

Banned
2) Polk was a one-term president. As a rule, if you don't get that second term, you are perceived negatively. That was true then, and it's true now. That Polk often ranks so highly on lists and such despite being a one-term president is a testament to the sheer scale of his accomplishments.

That didn't stop Kennedy from being loved, and due to unfortunate circumstances, he didn't even complete his first term.

Also, I think Polk declined a second term, which is fortunate for him since he did 3 months after leaving office, so can you really call his term a failure if he simply didn't want to run again?
 
The only Presidents between Jackson and Roosevelt that are remembered are Lincoln and Grant, because of the Civil War. Jackson makes people uncomfortable, but is too big to completely ignore. Polk isn't, even though he was the strongest president between Jackson and Lincoln. People are very happy to ignore the Mexican-American War due to the blatant imperialism. I grew up in California, and this is how we learned the history of our state during elementary school: Native American period -> Spanish colonial period -> California Gold Rush -> Japanese-American internment. Mexico and the Mexican American War aren't really covered (IIRC) until junior high and high school, as a part of general US history.

Historians are also queasy about Polk, not only because of his imperialism, but also because while Polk did accomplish his goals, the rapid expansion of the US made a conflict over slavery more likely.
 
I think there is a lot of queasiness about Polk's policy with respect to Mexico, and the Mexican War, which is probably the least morally justifiable war in US history, despite the fact that the US benefited a lot from it.

I'd say the Iraq War, followed by the Spanish War were it. At least with the Mexican War the warhawks can point to the spilling of American blood on disputed territory as casus belli. The whole thing with the Maine just isn't the same.
 
I imagine that his single term is simply lost amongst the unaccomplished short presidencies between Jackson and Lincoln which the general public does not care about.

Also, he is not on any money, not on any mountainsides, and has no famous memorials. Presidents out of living memory need things like that to stay in the popular conscious.
 
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