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The Lost Art of Political Retirement
Why don’t politicians ride off into the sunset anymore?
James K. Polk thought four years was plenty.
In 1849, wrote in his diary that
[My presidency has] been four years of incessant labour and anxiety and of great responsibility. I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign. As a private citizen I will have no one but myself to serve, and will exercise a part of the sovereign power of my country. I am sure I will be happier in this condition than in the exalted station I now hold.
Polk wasn’t old — he was only 53 at the end of his term, the youngest president ever elected up to that point. He wasn’t term-limited either, nor was he beset by scandal and likely to lose re-election. It was just that he didn’t want more than four years in the White House.
Perhaps it had something to do with his unlikely path to the presidency. After serving in Congress for a couple of terms, Polk had become the governor of Tennessee, which at the time was a relatively powerless office. He lost re-election bids in 1841 and 1843, and it looked like his political career might be over. He decided to take one last shot — a quiet campaign to secure the nomination as Martin Van Buren’s running…
