This memo shares guidance and deadlines on transition planning to the President’s Management Council from the White House and OMB officials, including Alyssa Mastromonaco, Jeff Zients, Chris Lu and Nancy Hogan from August 2012. It includes guidance regarding naming a career agency lead for transition preparations, reviewing lines of succession, preparing agency briefing materials.
Letter ascertaining the winner of the 2020 presidential election from GSA Administrator Emily Murphy to President-elect Joe Biden on Nov. 23, 2020, which triggers to resources and support from the General Services Administration in support of the presidential transition.
The Bush-Obama transition is widely seen as the gold standard of smooth transitions, one that took place during two wars and a financial crisis. Not every handoff has been smooth. This exchange of letters between President Truman and Republican presidential candidate Eisenhower show a more heated transfer of power.
August 16, 1952
Dear Ike:- I am sorry if I caused you embarrassment. What I’ve always had in mind was and is a continuing foreign policy. You know that it is a fact, because you had a part in outlining it.
Partisan politics should stop at the boundaries of the United States. I am extremely sorry that you have allowed a bunch of screwballs to come between us. You have made a bad mistake and I’m hoping it won’t injure this great Republic. There has never been one like it and I want to see it continue regardless of the man who occupies the most important position in the history of the world.
May God guide you and give you light.
From a man who has always been your friend and who always wanted to be!
Sincerely,
Harry Truman
Truman, Harry S. “Message to Dwight D. Eisenhower regarding President Truman’s invitation to a luncheon and briefing at the White House,” Aug. 16, 1952. Retrieved from The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, President’s Secretary’s Files, General File, Eisenhower, Dwight D. (2 of 2: 1950 – 1953), Box 101.
Aug 19. 1952
Dear Mr. President,
My sincere thanks for the courtesy of your note of the 16th. I assure you that your invitation caused me no personal embarrassment.
My feeling merely was that, having entered this political campaign, I would have become involved in the necessity of making laborious explanations to the public, if I had met with the President and Cabinet. Since there was no hint of national emergency conveyed by the telegram of invitation, and since I belong, no longer, to any of the public services, I thought it wiser to decline.
I repeat my gratefulness for the invitation and for the offer to send me weekly CIA Reports. Through these I shall keep familiar with the foreign situation. Further, I assure you of my support of real bi-partisanship in foreign problems.
With renewed assurances of my respect and esteem.
Sincerely
Dwight Eisenhower
Eisenhower, Dwight D. “Response to President Truman’s invitation to a luncheon and briefing at the White House,” Aug. 19, 1952. Retrieved from The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, President’s Secretary’s Files, General File, Eisenhower, Dwight D. (2 of 2: 1950 – 1953), Box 101
Memo from Acting OMB Deputy Director for Management Michael Rigas and GSA Federal Transition Coordinator Mary Gibert to agency heads with guidance on presidential transition preparations dated Sept. 4, 2020.
The 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Joe Biden transition team and the General Services Administration establishing the support and services the transition team will receive as described in the Presidential Transition Act. This document was signed by the Elizabeth Cain from GSA and a representative from the eligible candidate.
The report that the General Services Administration submitted to Congress on the presidential transition three months ahead of the election, as required by law. This document covers the meetings of the White House Coordinating Council and career Agency Transition Directors Council and activities of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Justice and FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service, Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the GSA.
Data on President Barack Obama’s Cabinet nominations from the Senate. This includes nominees’ names and dates of their nomination announcement, hearing, received in the Senate and confirmation.
The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) transition guide is a comprehensive resource to help potential political appointees, nominees and their support networks successfully navigate the financial disclosure, conflicts of interest and other ethical requirements of nominees.
The report that the General Services Administration submitted to Congress on the presidential transition six months ahead of the election, as required by law. This document covers the establishment of the White House Coordinating Council and career Agency Transition Directors Council, other activities of the GSA, funding and resources provided to the eligible candidate(s) and the role of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Justice, FBI, Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Memo from Acting Office of Management and Budget Director, Russell Vought, to agency heads with guidance on presidential transition preparations and implementing the Presidential Transition Act dated April 4, 2020. This memo includes guidance on the timetable of agency actions, including which agencies will participate in the Agency Transition Directors Council (ATDC) and other agencies who will name a transition point of contact.