Who Is James K. Polk?: The Presidential Election of 1844

"The question Americans asked in 1844 was, "Who the hell is James K. Polk?" Polk, of course, was not unknown, but he was a highly unlikely presidential candidate given the availability of better-known options. Among the Democrats, this included Martin Van Buren, John C. Calhoun, and James Buchanan. Among the Whigs, Daniel Webster was a possibility before they settled on Henry Clay. Complicating the election were three other candidates, including President John Tyler, a man without a party after the Whigs expelled him, and Joseph Smith, the self-described prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who became the first assassinated presidential candidate. On top of this remarkable cast of characters, the stakes of the election were high, as the United States was undergoing a political transition. Mark Cheathem, project director of the Papers of Martin Van Buren, has written the definitive account of this important election, another entry in the esteemed American Presidential Elections series"--