Us Presidential Transitions

A presidential transition has a major impact on the life of an institution. Hundreds of presidential transitions take place annually, and when they are not amicable and carefully orchestrated, they can scar both the institution and the president. Sanaghan, Goldstein, and Gaval estimate that more than one-third of the presidential transitions in higher education are involuntary and have a negative effect on the institution. This book is designed to provide assistance to presidents, trustees, faculty, and other important stakeholder groups and help them avoid the pitfalls of poorly managed transitions. The authors discuss how, with proper planning, care, and execution, this presidential passage can be an opportunity for a transitioning president, and those who surround him or her, to write a positive chapter in the campus history. Readers will discover that appropriately addressing the anxiety that accompanies major transitions_for both those joining the institution and those already present_is essential. Dozens of presidents, chancellors, board members, and other senior executives were interviewed for this book. Each major chapter includes selected personal observations, from these interviews, which illustrate the critical issues addressed in the book.

Ronald Reagan called the peaceful transfer of power from one U.S. president to the next a miracle, and it is. It is also the most delicate and hazardous period in the entire political cycle. Americans learned the stakes in 2020, when President Donald Trump’s refusal to trigger the formal start of the transition process to President-Elect Joe Biden created perhaps the worst crisis for American democracy since the Civil War. Even at the best of times, an incoming administration faces a gargantuan task, as every new president must make more than four thousand political appointments in a short period of time. Yet the day-to-day process of presidential transitions remains poorly understood, even by government specialists. This is why the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition created Transition Lab, a one-year podcast series that ran through January 2021. The Peaceful Transfer of Power now puts those distinct interviews with scholars, journalists, public servants, and—most important—participants in every transition from Ford–Carter to Trump–Biden into a narrative format that illuminates the long history, complexity, and current best practices associated with this most vital of democratic institutions. Presidential transitions stand at a critical juncture here and abroad. Highly readable and deeply informative, this book offers every citizen invested in safeguarding our democracy accessible and concentrated insights that will help future transitions run better, faster, and more smoothly. The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is building a better government and a stronger democracy.

John P. Burke provides a detailed and comprehensive account of the four US presidential transitions from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton, exploring how each president-elect prepared to take office and links those preparations to the performance and effectiveness of the new administration.

The Partnership for Public Service's comprehensive guide to the activities required during the transition. The guide features detailed outlines of the transition practices, archival materials from past transitions, and recommendations for a successful presidential transition.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Agency Rulemaking: ¿Midnight Rulemaking¿; (3) Executive Clemency; (4) Executive Orders; (5) Government Records; (6) 2008-2009 Pres. Transition: National Security Options: Considerations Unique to Each Phase of the Pres. Transition Period: Phases 1 and 2: Campaigning by Pres. Candidates to the Day of Election; Phase 3: Election Day; Phase 4: Selection of a Pres.-Elect to Inauguration Day; Phase 5: Presidential Inauguration to the Establishment of a New National Security Team and Policies; (7) Personnel -- Political to Career Conversions; (8) Political Appointments into the Next Presidency; (9) Submission of the President¿s Budget in Transition Years. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand publication.

"Having watched from a front row seat as many incumbent and electoral campaign presidential teams managed administration transitions, Martha Kumar was struck by how productively the Bush and Obama teams worked together to effect a smooth transition of power in 2008. She has reflected upon what made the transition so effective, and wonders if it could be a model for future incoming and outgoing administrations. This book focuses on the preparations made by President Bush's transition team as well as those by Senators Obama and McCain as one administration exited and the other entered the White House. Using this recent transition as a lens through which to examine the presidential transition process, Kumar simultaneously outlines the congressional legislation that paved the way for this distinctive transition and interweaves comparative examples from previous administrative transitions going back to Truman-to-Eisenhower. She evaluates the early and continuing actions by the General Services Administration to plan and set up transition offices; the work on financial disclosure issues handled by the Office of Government Ethics; and the Office of Management and Budget's preparatory work. In this fascinating historical and contemporary vivisection of presidential transitions, Kumar maps out, in the words of former NSA advisor General James L. Jones, the characteristics of a smooth "glide path" for presidential campaign staffs and their administrations"--

Reviews the evolution of the transition process through the four party overturns in the Presidency that have occurred in the 20th century.

The importance of effective and well-planned presidential transitions has long been understood. The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 provided a formal recognition of this principle by providing the President-elect funding and other resources "To promote the orderly transfer of the executive power in connection with the expiration of the term of office of a President and the Inauguration of a new President." The Act received minor amendments in the following decades, but until 2010 all support providedwas entirely post-election. The Pre-Election Presidential Act of 2010 changed this by providing pre-election support to nominees of both parties. Its passing reinforced the belief that early transition planning is prudent, not presumptuous. The Romney Readiness Project was the first transition effort to operate with this enhanced pre-election focus. While Obama's re-election prevented a Romney transition from occurring, it is hoped that the content of this book can provide a valuable insight to future transition teams of both parties.

New presidents have no honeymoon when it comes to foreign policy. Less than three months into his presidency, for example, John F. Kennedy authorized the disastrous effort to overthrow Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs. More recently, George W. Bush had been in office for less than eight months when he was faced with the attacks of September 11. How should an incoming president prepare for the foreign policy challenges that lie immediately ahead? That's the question Kurt Campbell and James Steinberg tackle in this compelling book. Drawing on their decades of government service—in the corridors of Capitol Hill, the intimate confines of the White House, the State Department, and the bare-knuckles Pentagon bureaucracy—Campbell and Steinberg identify the major foreign policy pitfalls that face a new presidential administration. They explain clearly and concisely what it takes to get foreign policy right from the start. The authors set the scene with a historical overview of presidential transitions and foreign policy including case studies of such prominent episodes as the "Black Hawk Down" tragedy in Somalia that shook the Clinton administration in its first year and the Bush administration's handling of the collision between a U.S. reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter jet in the spring of 2001. They pinpoint the leading causes of foreign policy fiascos, including the tendency to write off the policies of the outgoing administration and the failure to appreciate the differences between campaign promises and policy realities. Most important, they provide a road map to help the new administration steer clear of the land mines ahead. America's next president will confront critical foreign policy decisions from day one. Dif ficult Transitions provides essential guidance for getting those choices right.