Are transitions cordial?
A strained civility usually prevails, but not always. John Adams sabotaged his successor and former friend, Thomas Jefferson, by appointing several loyalists as federal judges in the waning hours of his presidency. Then he skipped Jefferson’s inauguration. In 1928, Calvin Coolidge refused to meet with his successor, Herbert Hoover, though they were both Republicans. “That man has offered me unsolicited advice for six years,” Coolidge explained, “all of it bad.” Winners can be just as rude. After Clinton’s election in 1992, President George H.W. Bush’s spokesman Marlin Fitzwater invited Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos to his office to talk about the job. Stephanopoulos strolled in, put his feet up on Fitzwater’s desk, and announced that he could spare five minutes. How can transitions go wrong? Most unsuccessful transitions fall victim to self-inflicted wounds. Jimmy Carter started planning his transition in the spring of 1976, appointing an old friend, Jack Watson, to head up the te
