William Walker

William Walker.

I'd hesitate to say he was a great person. However, I'm always surprised that more people haven't heard of William Walker.

As is very well known, 43 individuals have held the post of President of the United States of America. From George Washington to Barack Obama, the stories of these men are well documented. Even astonishing underachievers such as Millard Fillmore, 'Silent' Calvin Coolidge and William Henry Harrison (who died a month into his first term) have had huge volumes dedicated to them.

But then there's another man, a less well known fellow by the name of William Walker. Surgeon, journalist, lawyer - the Tennessee native wore any number of hats during his relatively short life. Of the titles he held, one in particular stands out - 1st President of the Republic of Nicaragua.

Nicknamed 'The Grey-Eyed Man Of Destiny', Walker had long held ambitions of seizing power in Central America. Indeed, had circumstances been different he might have set up shop in Baja California. Kicked out of Mexico, Walker - whose popularity in the mid-1800s was such that he received far more press coverage than then President Franklin Pierce - gathered up a small army of mercenaries and, with the backing of transport magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, set forth for Nicaragua.

Walker's conquest of the country is a feat by equal turns remarkable and despicable. With a disease and drink-ridden fighting force and little in the way of supplies, Walker - a charismatic man widely believed to be invulnerable to gun fire - ought to have been heading home to Nashville within a week of his arrival. That he could galvanize those around him says much for his leadership. Meanwhile, the fact he later reintroduced slavery to Nicaragua points to the lack of humanity that underpinned his operation.

Of course, the concept of Manifest Destiny - in short, a notion that America had a divine right to control the western hemisphere in its entirety - meant Walker felt his actions were completely justified. Fortunately for Latin America, others weren't as keen and the former University Of Edinburgh student was sent packing within a year of his arrival. Walker would later to return to the area with an eye to taking Honduras hostage, only to fall into enemy hands and be put to death by firing squad on May 8 1860. He was 36-years-old.

William Walker - More dangerous than he looks.

A major figure of his time - it's been surmised that, had Time been around in 1856, he'd have been the magazine's Man Of The Year - Walker's now little known outside his native Nashville, where a plaque outside his birthplace identifies him as the only American ever to have become president of a foreign power. For those who want to know more about this reprehensible but utterly fascinating individual, we urge you to watch Alex Cox's Walker Starring Oscar nominee Ed Harris (The Right Stuff, The Rock, Pollock) as the man of the hour, it's anything but your standard biopic with Walker's filibustering being used by Cox to comment on the Reagan administration and its illegal efforts to destabilise Nicaragua's democratically elected leader Daniel Ortega. With great performances from Harris, Sy Richardson, Peter Boyle and The West Wing's Marlee Matlin, an ace Joe Strummer score and a script by the incomparable Rudy Wurlitzer (Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid), once encountered, Walker's never forgotten. Rather like the man himself...