# What's the most damaging thing a lame duck president has ever done? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-damaging-thing-a-lame-duck-president-has-ever-done/920475 "2020-09-13T04:11:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 10
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-damaging-thing-a-lame-duck-president-has-ever-done/920475/10 "2020-09-15T04:31:00Z")
Doing a little research, it seems that most acts by lame duck presidents just involve political machinations. > [@](#): > > Examples include last-minute [midnight regulations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_regulations) issued by executive agencies of outgoing US presidential administrations and [executive orders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order_(United_States)) issued by outgoing [presidents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States).[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lame_duck_(politics)#cite_note-4) Such actions date back to the [Judiciary Act of 1801](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Judges_Act) (“Midnight Judges Act”), in which [Federalist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Party) President [John Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams) and the outgoing [6th Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_United_States_Congress) amended the Judiciary Act to create more [federal judge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_judge) seats for Adams to appoint and the [Senate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate) to confirm before the [Democratic-Republican](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic-Republican_Party) [Thomas Jefferson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson) was [inaugurated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_inauguration) and the Democratic-Republican majority [7th Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_United_States_Congress) convened. There is an example of when an _incoming_ president did do something that harmed the country and the lame duck president. But he didn’t do it to specifically harm the country. That was a byproduct of his decision and he went on to be one of the most respected presidents. > [@](#): > > One example was the 146 day–long [presidential transition period (November 8, 1932 to March 4, 1933)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_transition#Hoover%E2%80%93Roosevelt) at the end of [Herbert Hoover’s presidency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Herbert_Hoover), prior to the start of the [Franklin D. Roosevelt administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Franklin_D._Roosevelt). After the election, Roosevelt refused Hoover’s requests for a meeting to come up with a joint program to stop the crisis and calm investors, claiming it would limit his options, and as this “guaranteed that Roosevelt took the oath of office amid such an atmosphere of crisis that Hoover had become the most hated man in America”.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lame_duck_(politics)#cite_note-time_2008-2) During this time, the U.S. economy suffered as thousands of banks failed.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lame_duck_(politics)#cite_note-3) [[Lame duck (politics) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lame_duck_(politics))] We’ve had some bad presidents in these 256 years but I don’t believe that any of them were ever as hateful, spiteful and vain to believe that they should intentionally harm the country because they lost. Trump will be exceptional in that regard should he lose. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-damaging-thing-a-lame-duck-president-has-ever-done/920475)._