Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-07-14
PRESIDENT POLK.
A TALK WITH HIS PRIVATE SEC
RETARY CONCERNING HIM.


ex-senator whitthorne Tells How Polk
Received HI. Nomination, and Some
stor,a. n, mn. r,.,..,,, A,.ont
1ieAt Men-insais' Apnor"N
rspeci., oo,rssronasncel
w,su,xerov r,,,, ON. :, IN. n,s...
..... - .1V -,
aiuo''e VIC Puoue INCA " 'As
United states Is ex-senator Whitthorne' OF
tennessee. Wen educated and bright, ne
has been in public life more than forty years.
and his memory embraces all Of the great
men of several generations Immediately
after his graduation at the East Tennessee
rniyersitv he BEGAN TO stndv law in the ofE,ce
of President Poik. and when a wear or 40
later Polk came t, the White Eouse h. gave
Whitthorne a place in the treasury. and
from that transferred him 10 th. a,acrt;ve
ma,.,on where he used him as rr;v,ta go
retarv Senator Wbittborna is nn,s m ,,aars
~ aes He has white hair and vb;stars h,,t
Law stpdent. and his rnind ;s as c,ss- ss
,prinr water. I chatted with him to-niobt
.bout President POLE Said he.
"President Polk WAS a very rsma-rah,e
man. and the s,orv NJ bis adm;pistration
lfnn0rfAnE
he present century, During II the MEXICAN
war occurred. and wa had the snnexation Of
rexas with ali Of the tmmense territory con-
oected with il During il the Oregon ones
ion was settled. and New Mexico and Cali
Iornia were acouired. Polk was q yerv popu-
lar president. and the history of his admin
lstrstion would make a yery interesting
volnme~
"Why has IL not been vrittengn I asked
.One reason is.n replied Senator Whit
Ehorne ssthat President PoIk died before he
eould smperiutend the work His term
.L,sad vos, knov In March 1870 Duripo
that summer he went to New Orleans. grew
,ick on his tourney home and died at Nash
Vile ON the 18th of June. ls4s. He had pre-
pared the notes for a history of his admins
tration and had engaged his secretary of war.
Mr.. Marcy. of New York. to write il
President Polk was very methodical In
al his ways. He kept all Of his letters and
had them indexed. He kept diary and
noted everything of historic interest. He
never DESTROYED an important paper, and as
n rule kent all of his correspondence. He
bad a large house at Nashville which still
stands. and in which his wife now lives.
One room of this house be had fitted nm for
his bioprephe,,s yorksbon Hehad arranged
the narers IN order and the room was await
Jns the coming NJ Secondary Marcy at the
time po,k aiad II has not baen d;s.nrt,ad
thrrs,gh Al, shasa vea,s and The rar.ars ara
now in that room In Nashville IN the same
condition tba. they wore vhan President
polt nranarea tber, tbirsv-,ina vears aoo
r, w,s a,,,-,.t,d sh,t C,<.orrs Adams of Tha
Wosh;n,ton star uopld tale than, In ba,Ci
.nd ,,,,a,,ara q hiocranhv Ua diaI ,,o soon
houavar an5 sha yuork viii no 20 r., ba o,;xan
10 son,a o,. a,sas
.wba, uara the ela,nents os Pres;dent
PoIk,s snccessys
.sTbev vpra manv " rarl,a3 Sena.oy Whit
thorue "He was in the first nlace man Of
considerable ability He had tha faculty n,
drawing Young men 10 him He started
into poli.ical Hfs at an aarlv aca and rnada
MANY friends and few enemies He had a
good memory. and seldom forgot a face or a
name He married n ,,,od wife and she
heIped him with his correspondence. advised
with him as To his pol,tical act,oos and
nctei in short. as his confidential serretar-,,
She was To him as p,ncb as Mrs LOGAN was
to the general. and while Polk was In the
White House il was said that his wife made
him 1 dop,t tbink this WAS trpe bpt She
undoubtedly belped him a great deal An
other element of Polk,s success was his atten-
tion to his constituents He answered the
most trivial of letters, and he had nothing
of the snob or the aristocrst about him. He
was a good story teller and a good stumper.
He mixed well, and the only time he was
defeated for governor of Tennessee was
when he ran against Jones. Jones defeated
him hscanse he was a hetter story toller ana
more of a iemacogue than Polk.
.James C. Jones was governor of Tennes.
900 from 1ss, 70 ,sas and a senator earIv in
the fifties He wss a remarkable stumr,er
and verv onick To turn evervtbing to
his own adyantantape He and PoJk had
Joint discussions throughout the state during
the canvass and as an instance of his p,atb.
ods NAV he told the folloving. AT ona time
polk v.s ouotjns from a report of the secra-
tary of the treasury. and was bringing forth
some firures which were decidedly de.r;nantaI
~ the csnsa of Jones When he b,'5 bnrlad
his thunderholt Jones arose and intarr,,nte5
him and asked. And what Mr poIk did
von saw was the title Of that bookr
"a That ia the renort of the secretarv of
the treasury, replied Polk. with yieor and
smnhasis
a.And where is IL printedr said Jones
aPolk tnrned 10 the title neae and said n
was printed at The Globe Office. Jones said
nothing. but merely made an expressive
shrup Of his shoulders which gave the audi-
snce To understand that nothing true conld
come ont of that printing Office and that II
,nnst be and was q Democrat;e lie The re-
mill of this camnairn was the defeat Of Poll
and the election of Jones
allow was Polk dominated for the presi-
dencyr
cit was done at the Baltimore convention
of 1874, and PoIks nomination was a surprise
10 all Van Buren, was the leading candidate.
but had written q letter against the anpex-
alton of Texas, and it was soon seen that it
was impossible 70 get him the two-thirds
mn -