Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He is the co-editor of Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s and is completing a book on the history of national-security politics since World War II, to be published by Basic Books.

Obama’s mid-year train wreck puts him in the inglorious company of previous Democratic presidents. How the heat derailed Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, too.

Did "Clintonism" go down with Terry McAuliffe in Virginia? David Greenberg and Julian Zelizer say that, if you look at the Obama administration, you’ll find the philosophy alive and well.

As he figures out how to react to the swine flu, President Obama should look toward Gerald Ford, who had his own harrowing battle with the flu in 1976. It didn’t go so well.

The president is receiving high praise for the rescue. Historian Julian Zelizer says that a thrilling episode from Gerald Ford’s presidency proves the good feelings may not last long.