Dangers in Presidential Transitions

Report Outline
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Introduction

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Overview

At noon on Jan. 20, 1989, less than 11 weeks after his election, the 41st president of the United States will take the oath of office and stride into history. It will take but an instant for the office's immense authority to be lifted from the broad shoulders of his aged predecessor and placed upon his own. But the transition from the Reagan administration to the Dukakis or Bush administration really will have begun much earlier. And it will not be over until the new administration finally defines and establishes itself, which may be weeks or even months after Inauguration Day. All new administrations hope “to hit the ground running,” but none ever fully succeeds and some stumble badly. This transition, like previous ones, will be a time of opportunity and hope—but also, perhaps, a time of missed opportunities and even danger.

Before the election, the candidate and his advisers are too preoccupied with winning to spend much time thinking about governance. After the election, the president-elect and his associates are elated and exhausted. But they are suddenly faced with the urgent need to begin forming a new administration and, in just a few short months, governing the nation. Campaign promises and aspirations—at least some of them—must now be translated into reality. Hundreds of officials must be chosen, and the search for them is often frantic and chaotic.