The Pollard family lived in Baltimore, Maryland, early in his childhood, before moving to Richmond's Church Hill neighborhood.

He later entered Columbian College, now George Washington University where Pollard studied law, as well as worked at the Smithsonian Institution to support himself before receiving his degree in 1893.

His successful conclusion of the lawsuit against West Virginia relating to pre-Civil War debt and recovery of Martha Washington's will from J.P. Morgan's estate also brought Pollard public acclaim.

Disappointed and fearful that his political campaign had ruined his law practice, but unable to secure a federal appointment, Pollard volunteered with the Young Men's Christian Association and moved to Europe in 1918.

[9] Returning to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1919, Pollard secured a nomination from Woodrow Wilson as a short-term member of the Federal Trade Commission.

[10] In 1921, Pollard moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he became the first Dean of the Marshall Wythe School of Citizenship and Government, at The College of William and Mary as well as professor of constitutional law and history.

[11] After Senator Martin's death, Pollard made peace with the local Democratic organization, supporting E. Lee Trinkle for governor in 1921 and Claude A. Swanson for U.S.

Governor Trinkle appointed Pollard to the Commission on Simplicity in Government, where he signed a report critical of the state's tax structure.

When Harry F. Byrd was elected Governor in 1925, Pollard helped pass some controversial constitutional amendments which otherwise had little support in the Commonwealth's eastern section.

He won 76% of the Democratic primary vote, defeating Prohibitionist G. Walter Mapp (who had lost to Byrd in 1925, and whose close association with Cannon became a liability when the bishop's financial dealings became a scandal) and Rosewell Page of Hanover County.

He won 62.78% of the vote, defeating anti-Byrd Democrat turned Republican William Moseley Brown (a psychology professor at Washington and Lee University) as well as Socialist John J. Kafka, and Independent W.A.

Virginia Labor Commissioner John Hopkins Hall initially claimed the state's diversified industry had mitigated the depression's effects.

[17] Pollard petitioned President Hoover for continuation in federal road advances (requesting $5 million to be repaid in 10 to 15 years), in order to avoid a dole.

[19] The state treasury's $4 million surplus had become a deficit, industrial output had fallen 17%, tobacco and wool prices fell 60% and corn 26%.

However, the Byrd organization satisfied those demanding tax relief by allowing the state to take over and maintain county feeder roads.

As the depression continued, unemployment in Virginia peaked at 145,000 in July 1932 (19% of the work force), and state revenues had decreased 32% from the 1929 level.

However, Senator Carter Glass refused the position of Secretary of the Treasury that he had held under President Woodrow Wilson almost two decades earlier, citing ill health.

Initially, the state's federal delegation supported FDR's Hundred Days reforms, including creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Agricultural Adjustment Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC).

[23] Governor Pollard quickly filled the state's initial CCC quota of 5,000 young men to do conservation work, and set up Camp Roosevelt in the George Washington National Forest near Luray.

When Byrd sent his lieutenant, state Senator William M. Tuck of Halifax, to the Governor to call a special legislative session to legalize beer and make it taxable (a penny per bottle), Governor Pollard (despite his long advocacy of prohibition) called the special legislative session and resulting constitutional convention, which promptly ratified the 21st Amendment.

[26] The state legislature also passed measures implementing the National Recovery Administration, despite the criticism by Senator Carter Glass and 4th district Congressman Patrick Henry Drewry, but its operation proved rocky, and few Virginians mourned its demise at the pen of the U.S. Supreme Court in May 1935, well after Pollard's term ended.

He raised $100,000 to match the challenge of philanthropist John Barton Payne, then became president of the board of directors and continued his involvement the rest of his life.