Episode 53 — Zachary Taylor: Old Rough & Ready, New Republic’s Crisis

pplpod Episode 53 follows Zachary Taylor from frontier posts and Seminole swamps to Mexican–American War fame and an outsider’s ride into the White House. We trace “Old Rough & Ready” at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterrey, and Buena Vista—battles that made a reluctant Whig hero—and the soldier’s code he carried into politics. In office, Taylor faced the aftershocks of expansion: California statehood, New Mexico’s boundaries, and a Congress on the brink. We unpack his surprising stands—defying secession threats, resisting a giant omnibus compromise—and the sudden 1850 death that handed the moment to Millard Fillmore. Reputation vs. reality, battlefield clarity vs. Capitol chaos: how a career soldier tried to steady a country racing toward rupture.