Harry S. Truman's grandson: The messy, impolite history of presidential transitions
Clifton Truman Daniel, Opinion contributor
My grandfather, Harry S. Truman, initiated the protocols for the peaceful transfer of presidential power as we know them today. He invited President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower to send over his Cabinet and staff so they could kick the tires, as it were — be briefed by their predecessors, attend meetings, try out the office chairs.
"New cabinet members often have trouble taking over," Grandpa wrote. "But being briefed as they were, and being allowed to sit with the members of my Cabinet and seeing what their functions were, Eisenhower's people didn't have any trouble. It was the first time in the history of the country that these things had ever been done, and it was the most orderly turnover in the history of the White House."
Grandpa wanted Ike to be able to hit the ground running, without suffering a fate similar to his own. Because Franklin Roosevelt compartmentalized, when he died on April 12, 1945, Grandpa ascended to the presidency knowing virtually nothing about how the White House had been running things.
Petty, vindictive, impolite transitions
Presidential transitions have not always been smooth or polite. John and Abigail Adams sneaked out of the White House in the dead of night, Grandpa wrote, "so he wouldn't have to make a turnover to Thomas Jefferson, because he didn't like Jefferson and was jealous of him, as well."
Adams' son, John Quincy Adams, waged such a vicious campaign against Grandpa's favorite president, Andrew Jackson, in 1828 that Rachel Jackson, a sensitive woman who hated politics, died as a result. Adams' campaign was so ugly, said Massee McKinley, that when Jackson won, thousands of his supporters stormed Washington to "make sure the Adamses kept their hair on straight."
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