James K. Polk expanded the U.S. more than any other president. Now his portrait hangs in the Oval Office, a signal that President Trump’s ambition to take over Canada, Greenland and other ...

Despite serving as speaker of the House of Representatives and governor of Tennessee, James Polk was considered a “dark horse” candidate when he won the election of 1844. When the new ...

President James K. Polk. “Young Hickory,” as he was known after he defeated a political adversary of Andrew Jackson in a Tennessee congressional race, lacked the charisma or eloquence of other ...