WHIGS' LAST STAND Polk led the nation into the Mexican-American War, which ended with the annexation of California and much of the Southwest. The hero of that war, Zachary Taylor, then ran for president as a Whig and won. But the Whigs' second and last elected president, like Harrison before him, died in office. Vice President Millard Fillmore succeeded to the office, but Democrat Franklin Pierce unseated him in 1852. Zachary Taylor won Polk's war, then took his job. [ PREVIOUS | NEXT ]