geeky
James Polk had a slight build and was about 5'7" tall. He was not a big man and often he would enter a room at a public function unnoticed. The Polks had no children, likely because of an operation that Polk had when he was 17 to remove painful stones in his urinary tract. With no brood to tend to, First Lady Sarah Polk was able to do more than just the traditional ceremonial duties typically taken on by the President's wife. She is said to have become Polk's closest confidant and political advisor, and his unofficial Chief of Staff at a time before such a position ever existed.
According to Thomas Price, curator of the James K. Polk Home and Museum in Columbia, Tennessee, "Polk was not an over-the-top character; he wasn't larger than life. Sarah Polk mentioned that on occasion he would enter crowded rooms unnoticed." To overcome this deficit, Sarah Childress Polk had the Marine Band play "Hail to the Chief" so people would notice when her husband entered the room.
Polk had not been a military hero like some of his predecessors, including his mentor Andrew Jackson. He was considered a "dark horse" candidate when nominated for the presidency in 1844, someone who went to the Democratic Party's nominating convention hoping to emerge as the candidate for Vice-President. His nomination as the candidate for President, though contemplated as a possibility, was a long shot at best. Rveryone was surprised when the man who had twice been defeated in the race for Governor of his state was picked as the party's standard bearer, chosen to go head to head with the Whig Party's well known candidate Henry Clay. Polk's narrow victory in the 1844 contest is often attributed to the abolitionist third-party the Liberty Party siphoning off votes in New York from the Whigs, to give the state and the election to Polk. But even with such a victory, the first lady recognized the potential problem for her husband in getting the notice she felt he deserved.
An old adage claims that "behind every great man there is a great woman" (some would add "rolling her eyes"). Sarah Polk certainly played a role in her husband's success. Though he was only a one term president, he has often ranked among the top 10 presidents in historians' tallies.
But the Polk administration was not the first to use the song. It is said to date back to around 1812 when songwriter James Sanderson used the music along with the words of a poem by Sir Walter Scott, "Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!"The music's association with the President first occurred in 1815, when it was played to honor both George Washington and the end of the War of 1812. It bore a different title, "Wreaths for the Chieftain".
On July 4, 1828, the U.S. Marine Band performed the song at a ceremony for the formal opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which was attended by President John Quincy Adams. Then, Polk's mentor Andrew Jackson was the first sitting President to have the song used to honor his position in 1829, and it was also played at Martin Van Buren's inauguration in 1837. Julia Tyler, second wife of John Tyler, also requested its use to announce the arrival of the President. But it wasn't until the term of Harry Truman that the Department of Defense made it the official tribute to the President.
Not every President cared much for the tune. Chester A. Arthur did not like the song and asked John Philip Sousa to compose a new song, which was entitled "Presidential Polonaise". After Arthur left office, the Marine Band resumed playing "Hail to the Chief" for public appearances by the President.
The song does have lyrics, written sometime in the 1900s by Albert Gamse, but they rarely get sung. Here's how they go:
Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation,
Hail to the Chief! We salute him, one and all.
Hail to the Chief, as we pledge cooperation
In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call.
Yours is the aim to make this grand country grander,
This you will do, that's our strong, firm belief.
Hail to the one we selected as commander,
Hail to the President! Hail to the Chief!
The song is lampooned in the 1996 film "My Fellow Americans" in which James Garner and Jack Lemon play two ex-presidents of opposite political stripes. In one scene in the movie, the two begin to bond over the fact that, as president, each had composed his own lyrics to the song. Lemon's character, Russell Kramer, gives his as "Hail to the chief, he's the chief and he needs hailing. He is the chief, so everybody hail like crazy. Hail to... that's more or less how it..."