When you think of James Polk, if you ever do, you probably picture his presidential portrait with the haunted eyes and a face like a blunt-beaked hawk. But don't think right now about that Polk, who had the misfortune to live long enough to be photographed.
That Polk, who we see in 1849 at age 53 and the end of his single term as president, was finished.
Chris Stirewalt is a contributing writer for The Dispatch, the politics editor for The Hill and NewsNation, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, co-host of the Ink Stained Wretches podcast, and author of Broken News, a book on media and politics.
