James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849)  Polk 
was the 11th president of the United States, serving from
1845 to 1849.

On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly voted in favor
of President James K. Polk’s request to declare war on Mexico in
a dispute over Texas.

Under the threat of war, the United States had refrained from
annexing Texas after the latter won independence from Mexico
in 1836. But in 1844, President John Tyler restarted negotiations
with the Republic of Texas, culminating with a Annexation Treaty.

The treaty was defeated by a wide margin in the Senate because it
would upset the slave state/free state balance between North and
South and risked war with Mexico, which had broken off relations
with the United States. But shortly before leaving office and with
the support of President-elect Polk, Tyler managed to get the joint resolution passed on March 1, 1845. Texas was admitted to the
Union on December 29.

(February 22–23, 1847)

On this day in history, May 8, 1945, President Harry Truman
announced to the American people that Nazi Germany’s
forces had surrendered in World War II — and that "the
flags of freedom fly all over Europe."

The day has been known as Victory in Europe Day or V-E
Day, with celebrations erupting all around the globe to
mark the end of World War II in Europe.

The war had been raging for nearly five years when U.S.
and Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy,
France, on June 6, 1944, as defense.gov notes.

Twenty-five-year-old Norman Mailer’s first novel, The Naked and
the Dead, was published on May 4, 1948. The book is critically
acclaimed and widely considered one of the best novels to
come out of World War II.

Norman Kingsley Mailer (1923 – 20007)

Muhammad Ali, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, entered the combative ring of politics and culture by refusing to
serve in the United States military at the height of the Vietnam
War on this day in 1967.

"I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong," Ali famously said the
year before, the exact quote the source of some dispute, in a
battle that made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. 

He later wrote, "I refuse to be inducted into the Armed Forces
of the United States because I claim to be exempt as a minister
of the religion of Islam."

The fledgling United States Marine Corps proved its dauntless
courage with a "miracle" victory in the Battle of Derna on the
shores of Tripoli in North Africa on this day in history, April 27,
1805.

The successful attack against overwhelming numbers on the
port city in present-day Libya, a stronghold of pirates who
Spent years attacking United States ships at sea, was the
climactic battle of the First Barbary War (1801-05).

The victory is immortalized in a patriotic American anthem.

"From the Halls of Montezuma/To the Shores of Tripoli/
We fight our country’s battles/In the air, on land and sea,"
proclaims the rousing opening lyrics of "The Marines’ Hymn".