I’m curious about the dealings of an outgoing president post-election/pre-inaguration. So what’s the biggest decision a president has had to make near the end that would affect the incoming president? Did they get the new guy involved?
South Carolina succeeded in December 1860, and other states quickly followed and officially formed the Confederacy in February 1861. Buchanan’s term didn’t end until March 1861, and he basically just sat on his hands and did nothing.
It’s going to be hard to beat the events of early 1861, but I’d give an honorable mention to July-August 1974, when Nixon lost his appeal to the Supreme Court, released the “smoking gun” tape, and resigned, dumping everything into Gerald Ford’s lap.
Here are a few other minor things:
January 1961: Eisenhower breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
Early 1921: A period of extreme deflation and a huge spike in unemployment.
January 2009: The Labor Department reports 2 million jobs disappeared in the last four months of 2008.
AFAIK none of the incoming Presidents were consulted.
Since their is no one clear-cut answer to this, moved to IMHO from GQ.
samclem, moderator
Which is pretty much what he had done all through his term. One of the reasons he’s commonly listed as one of the worst us Presidents ever.
Buchanan pushed for the Dred Scott decision and the Lecompton Constitution. So considering the serious harm he did when he was active, his usual pattern of inactivity was probably for the best.
Not at the tail end of Eisenhower’s administration after the 1960 election, but in the last year anyway – the U-2 incident of May 1960, which largely trashed the diplomatic progress Eisenhower was trying to make with the Soviet Union.
Not a crisis but John Tyler became the first President to have Congress override a presidential veto on his last day in office.
Hardly of the same magnitude as the crisis his predecessor experienced on his last day in office!
Also the only bachelor president. One of the reasons he’s commonly listed as one of the smartest US Presidents ever.
He technically wasn’t president at the time, but Rajiv Gandhi was bombed to death when he was in the process of trying to win back his office.
He spent it arguing with his doctors that they should be treating him with more opium and fewer leeches.
And nobody got hurt.
Then his successor came in, and we got the bloodiest war in our history.
(It’s “seceded.” “Succeeded” is a completely different word.)
To GWB’s credit, he made a strong effort to transfer the reins of power smoothly. He even began transition planning before the November election. I’ve previously excerpted a description of a White House meeting on the economic crisis called by McCain.
Yeah, when I saw the thread title on the forum page, my first thought was:
Lincoln: got shot.
Garfield: got shot.
McKinley: got shot.
Kennedy: got shot.
William Henry Harrison: died of pneumonia.
Zachary Taylor: died of gastroenteritis.
Warren Harding: died of heart attack.
FDR: died of cerebral hemorrhage.
And on a more serious note, while there weren’t exactly crises happening in Lincoln’s or FDR’s last days in office, the wars that they presided over weren’t finished yet, and the nature of the peace to come was still to be defined.
Richard Nixon’s last days comes to mind.
However, these don’t fit the actual situation indicated in the OP: post-election, pre-inauguration. It’s clear the OP is asking about transitions other than those caused by death or resignation.
No white people, you mean?
There was also the Iran hostage crisis at the end of Carter’s term.