Greenwood Publishing Group : Manifest Ambition

Description

Pinheiro explores the power and perseverance of James K. Polk, who overcame the political intrigues of both members of his own Democratic party and the Whigs in Washington, D.C., as well as the challenges posed by many of his own commanding officers in the field, to lead the nation to victory during the Mexican War while establishing important precedents for future presidents seeking more expansive war powers.

Reviews:

-Rather than offering a narrative history of the Mexican War, this book analyzes key issues relating to its conduct at the federal level....John C. Pinheiro takes on a daunting task in his analysis of the Mexican War's complex politics. He has drawn on a wide array of primary and secondary sources and has asked important questions about the role of the president as an individual in wartime, the process by which executive power steadily expands, and the impact of partisan politics and the political ambitions of individuals on the conduct of war. These issues he raises are as timely as they are significant in understanding the American side of the war with Mexico. —Journal of American History

-Pinheiro considers the civil-military clashes during the Mexican War in terms of Jacksonian politics and doctrines, American beliefs about how to preserve liberty, and the American citizen-soldier tradition. He examines the roles of James K. Polk, Henry Clay, Gideon J. Pillow, Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, and John C. Fremont. He argues that Jacksonian attitudes, partisan politics, Americans' traditional aversion to professional armies, atrocities committed against Mexicans, and the requirements of conquest and occupation posed a significant risk to US military victory and the administration's objectives. He presents an overview of the 1820s-1840s and events of the war, and discusses the following themes: war preparations, the political and military effect of Jacksonian doctrines, discontent in the military, governments in areas of occupation, Polk's leadership style and personality, and the war in the context of American civil-military relations since the War of 1812. —Reference & Research Book News

About the Author

John C. Pinheiro is Assistant Professor of History at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Co-editor of Volume 12 of the Presidential Series of the Papers of George Washington, his articles on the Mexican War have appeared in the Journal of the Early Republic, the Journal of Popular Culture, and in the anthology, Nineteenth-Century America (2005).

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ISBN	Title	Price
0-275-98409-5 978-0-275-98409-0	Manifest Ambition	$49.95
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