James K Polk Dollar
2009 James K Polk Presidential DollarJames K. Polk, America’s eleventh president, was trained as a lawyer, he served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, including four years as Speaker of the House. After leaving the House, he served as Tennessee governor.
Despite his many years of national service, he was relatively unknown when he was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for president. He was the first “dark-horse” candidate to be nominated by a major political party and won the presidency by a slim margin over Henry Clay. A hard worker who rarely delegated even minor tasks, he hardly took a day of vacation while president. Having pledged to serve just one term, he left office exhausted from the strains of the presidency.
