Experts in the News

Topic
Former presidents

Elections

Transition tradition: Presidential history lessons

All U.S. presidents, whether reaching the two-term limit (set by George Washington’s precedent and then by constitutional amendment) or defeated for reelection, have left office peaceably and often with an offer to assist the incoming president in the smooth transference of power.
UVA Lifetime Learning
MC Presents

'The World: A Brief Introduction'

In this conversation, Richard Haass, veteran diplomat and the current president of the Council on Foreign Relations, talks with Todd Sechser of the Democracy Initiative's Statecraft Lab about his new book The World: A Brief Introduction, which aims to navigate a time in which many of our biggest challenges come from the world beyond our borders.
Todd Sechser
The Independent

Biden’s transition team picks tell us how he plans to govern

Chris Lu, who served as executive director of the Obama-Biden 2008 transition, called a well-planned transition “essential to the early success of a new administration.” He noted that Trump didn’t get a well-planned transition himself because he threw out all the prep work. “When Trump’s transition chair was fired after Election Day 2016 and all the briefing materials thrown away, that was a pretty clear sign of the chaos and turmoil that would characterize Trump’s presidency,” he said.
Chris Lu
UVA Today

How the 1968 presidential transition compares to today's

Presidential transitions are among the most sacred, yet precarious moments in the American political lifecycle. The peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another has been a core principle of American democracy for well over 200 years. But transitions are also moments of inherent instability, with one set of officials heading for the exits and another one hitting the on-ramps. While outgoing and incoming administrations have long endeavored to effect smooth handovers, any number of developments, from the personal to the political to the geopolitical, can make it a perilous process.
Marc Selverstone