POLK, JAMES K

Additional reading Milo Milton Quaife (ed.), The Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency, 1845 to 1849, 4 vol. (1910, reprinted 1970), is a reliable, almost complete printing of the manuscript and a revelation of a president's mind. A useful compressed version is Allan Nevins (ed.), The Diary of a President, 18451849 (1952). James D. Richardson (compiler), A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 17891897, vol. 4 (1897), includes a noteworthy biographical sketch in its Polk section. Biographers came late to Polk, but their work is substantial: Eugene Irving McCormac, James K. Polk: A Political Biography (1922, reissued in 2 vol., 1995); Charles Allan McCoy, Polk and the Presidency (1960, reprinted 1973); Charles Sellers, James K. Polk, 2 vol. (195766, reprinted 1987); and Paul H. Bergeron, The Presidency of James K. Polk (1987). William R. Polk, Polk's Folly: An American Family History (2000), details the Polk family's long involvement in public service. George Clarence Robinson The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica