On January 24, 1914, New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel appointed him corporation counsel, which he remained until his appointment on September 16, 1915, as counselor for the US Department of State at Washington, DC,[5] confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1915.

[6] On April 17, 1914, Polk was wounded by gunfire when a former city employee attempted to assassinate Mitchel.

[8] He also managed the 1924 Democratic presidential convention campaign of John W. Davis, another name partner of his law firm.

[10] The Polks lived at 6 East Sixty-eighth Street in New York City, had a home in Syosset on Long Island and in Boca Grande, Florida.

Rutherfurd was married to Janet Jennings Auchincloss, the half-sister of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, from 1966 until her death in 1985.