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Medal Name: Eleventh President of the United States of America
Struck for: President James Knox Polk
OBVERSE
JAMES K (Knox) POLK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 1845.
Bust of President Polk, facing the left.
REVERSE
PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP.
Two hands clasped in token of amity; on the cuff of the left wrist three stripes, and buttons with the American eagle on them; the other wrist bare;
above the hands, a calumet and tomahawk crossed - Indian emblems of peace and war.
BACKGROUND
James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, November 2, 1795. He was graduated at the University of North Carolina, 1818; was admitted to the bar in Nashville, Tennessee, 1820; member of the State Legislature, 1823-1825; member of Congress, 1825-1839; speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, 1835-1839; governor of Tennessee, 1839-1841; President of the United States, 1845-1849. He died in Nashville, June 15, 1849.
Source: The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 by J. F. Loubat, LL.D. (1878)