Getting Ready for Day One: Taking Advantage of the Opportunities and Minimizing the Hazards of a Presidential Transition

Abstract

Presidential transitions make a difference to the quality of the start a chief executive has coming into office. With formal presidential transitions a reality since 1952, we have sufficient experience to identify some of the elements of an effective transition. This article focuses on how a president‐elect can minimize the hazards and take advantage of the opportunities transitions offer. Opportunities and hazards can be found in the actions and commitments candidates take during their presidential campaigns, the information they gather on past transitions and on the actions of the incumbent president, the coordination they do with those in the Washington community, and their capacity to identify and take advantage of the early goodwill that exists when a new president comes into office.

Trends in the Study of Public Administration: Empirical and Qualitative Observations from Public Administration Review, 2000–2009

“…In addition to these emergent concerns, notable attention went to political and economic matters, such as election administration (Moynihan 2004; Wise 2001), presidential transitions (Johnson 2008; Kumar 2008; Wellford 2008), and financial crises. PAR ran a special symposium on election administration prior to the November 2008 presidential election (September/October) and another on the financial crisis in 2009 (July/August).…”

President Trump as Manager: Reflections on the First Year

“…Existing transition materials provide insights for new administrations on how to staff the White House and how to succeed in the appointments process (see, e.g., Johnson ; Kumar ). They include details about how past administrations have managed their relations with the bureaucracy, developed a legislative strategy, and dealt with the immediate need to adjust the budget prepared by the last administration.…”

Reducing the Adversarial Burden on Presidential Appointees: Feasible Strategies for Fixing the Presidential Appointments Process

“…72, the appointment of a new administration occupies the core of how to achieve everything that a president wants and the core of everything on which the electorate has made its choice. 4 In a recent issue of Public Administration Review, three articles focused on the yet‐to‐occur 2009 presidential transition, and each underscored meeting the challenge of the appointments process as critical to a successful start (Johnson 2008b; Kumar 2008; Wellford 2008).…”

“…No president‐elect's staff, however successful in fielding a national campaign, presents a useful mechanism for surmounting the difficulties of these appointment responsibilities. For that reason alone, the president‐elect must quickly learn to adapt that staff into something more useful and more complex: a staff attuned to governing realities (Kumar 2008). In addition to this general mismatch, once in office, the White House Office of Presidential Personnel has a small staff for the job of locating, vetting, and supporting nominees.…”