VOA · America's Presidents
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed2:252017-04-27public domain
America's Presidents profiles each U.S. president in order — their lives, decisions, and legacies. Consistent structure across episodes means your ear gets steadily faster at the recurring political and historical vocabulary.
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01VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.
02James Knox Polk moved into the White House as the 11th President of the United States in 1845.
03Few had predicted that Polk would become president.
04Even he was surprised.
05Polk had come to his party's presidential nominating convention nearly a year earlier with low expectations.
06But the top politicians, including former President Martin Van Buren, failed to win a majority of votes.
07Convention delegates tried again and again to agree on a candidate.
08Eventually, Polk was nominated.
09A small number of delegates supported him.
10Then the delegates voted again.
11This time, Polk received all 266 votes.
12He became the first dark horse candidate in U.S.
13history to be nominated by a major party.
14In other words, he was someone no one thought would win.
15But he did.
16Music Polk was born in the southeastern state of North Carolina.
17When he was a child, his family moved west, to Tennessee.
18At the time, Tennessee had few white settlers.
19Some considered it the wilderness.
20Polk's family did well there.
21His father became wealthy, buying land and enslaved people.
22His mother, Jane, who followed strict Christian religious teachings, gave her ten children a good education.
23James was the oldest.
24He went to college, then studied law.
25When he was 25, he married an intelligent and wealthy.
26He married an intelligent and wealthy.
27He married an intelligent and wealthy.
28He married an intelligent and wealthy.!
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