(This is a companion piece to the Nov. 22 3-Minute Civics column on presidential transitions by Adam Krauss.)
When I teach my U.S. History students about American elections that changed the political landscape forever, I teach the election of 1800, when Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams, as the one that saved democracy.
Against George Washington’s advice, political parties had solidified and the 1800 election was particularly nasty, far more than even by today’s standards, even to the point of planting the seed that grew into the duel that would, three years later, kill Alexander Hamilton. What makes this election so important, though, is that after all of the venom and vinegar, power peacefully transferred from one party to another for the first time in American history, setting the standard we follow today.
In 1800, though, without the benefit of our hindsight, many people were understandably nervous.
For starters, the past decade had seen the French frequently using the guillotine to punish the losing side as their political parties battled for control. Add to this the love for the French held by Jefferson and the rest of the winning Democratic-Republicans, and many people wondered if Adams and his followers would soon be 10 inches shorter and no longer need hats.
Jefferson, though, quickly put to rest any notion of revenge, stating in his inaugural address, “Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things.” And so, the precedent for peaceful transition between parties was begun.
Logistically, presidential transitions are incredibly complicated.
Adam Krauss (Sunday Monitor Forum, Nov. 22) spoke of the cost and coordination needed to begin the process. Once that process has begun, the president-elect usually begins by naming a chief of staff, who does not need Senate confirmation, so he can begin immediately hiring the White House staff that will run the West Wing.
Next, the incoming president will start floating possible names for appointees, some of whom will need approval from the Senate, a process complicated this year by the uncertainty of whether that Senate will be under Republican or Democratic control as a result of the Georgia runoff elections in early January.
There is a saying in nominating department heads that “People are policy,” meaning that who an incoming president picks says a lot about what programs they will promote when they take office. A Republican-controlled Senate may force Biden to keep his picks in the more moderate lane, possibly alienating the more progressive wing of the party.
Biden started these selections with his national security team, a sign that he wants to be caught up to speed early in this area. He obviously wants to avoid the predicament Harry Truman found himself in when he was sworn as president in April 1945.
The Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bombs, was so secretive that even Truman, as vice president, was kept in the dark. Upon Franklin Roosevelt’s death, Truman was suddenly made aware that he was in charge of the most destructive device in history up to that time.
Biden, though, should be able to start the job with a full understanding of what threats and challenges we face from our enemies and what we have at our disposal to protect the nation. Biden has selected a number of people who had worked in national security during the Obama administration, demonstrating that he values experience as well as repairing relationships with our allies.
Biden followed up his national security picks by addressing two areas that he campaigned on strongly: health and economics. Biden’s COVID Crisis Team will be receiving briefings on such major issues as the vaccination roll out and the national supply of PPE. Biden’s economic team will be working on pandemic relief negotiations with Congress, once again showing he wants to get started right away in gathering information from the outgoing players in these areas.
Like most incoming presidents, Biden may wait until after the new year to fill out many of his cabinet nominees. Sometimes names are leaked to the press to gauge how Congress or the public feel about a certain pick, or how they might be received in their Senate confirmation. Sometimes there are negotiations with some candidates behind the scenes, usually centered around whether the candidate can support and promote the president-elect’s policies.
Sometimes a possible candidate doesn’t want to exchange private life for the grind of a job in an administration. Other times, a nominee might tip the balance in Congress.
For example, choosing Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders would leave a Senate seat open from a state with a Republican governor who would name their temporary replacement, making it highly unlikely Biden would select them for a position in his administration. All together, every name brought forward during the transition represents an impressive amount of negotiations behind the scenes.
There is no doubt that the size and scope of our government today makes the transition far more complicated than in the days of Thomas Jefferson.
Once you add in ambassadors, agency heads, and others, there are roughly 1,300 positions that need Senate confirmation. Some presidents, including and especially Donald Trump, never filled some positions, choosing to either keep them unstaffed or name someone as a temporary “acting’ but not official office holder, though this practice has been declared unconstitutional by the courts.
Some presidents fill these positions, usually diplomatic positions, with big money donors or campaign workers. President Obama’s naming of big donor Noah Mamet to be ambassador of Argentina, a country that Mamet had never even visited, comes to mind, as does Trump’s naming mega-donor Gordon Sondland as ambassador to the EU.
Other presidents go with career bureaucrats or just keep the current occupant, as when Obama kept George W. Bush’s defense secretary and his knowledge of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Whichever path Biden chooses, each pick will be scrutinized, because as we know, people are policy.
(Aaron Blais teaches Social Studies at Exeter High School.)