Is Donald Trump the Next James K. Polk?

During his first term, Donald Trump chose a portrait of Andrew Jackson to hang in the Oval Office. Given his stated interest in annexing Canada, taking back the Panama Canal, and buying Greenland, perhaps this time around he should go with a portrait of a Jackson acolyte, 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 giants of the 19th century. Yet he added more than 1 million square miles to U.S. territory and extended the country all the way to the Pacific, making him the most successful president not celebrated as part of the American pantheon.

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Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

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During his first term, Donald Trump chose a portrait of Andrew Jackson to hang in the Oval Office. Given his stated interest in annexing Canada, taking back the Panama Canal, and buying Greenland, perhaps this time around he should go with a portrait of a Jackson acolyte, 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 giants of the 19th century. Yet he added more than 1 million square miles to U.S. territory and extended the country all the way to the Pacific, making him the most successful president not celebrated as part of the American pantheon.