Joseph Biden's Effective Presidential Transition: 'Started Early, Went Big'

The 2021 transition will be remembered as the most tumultuous in over a century. President Trump sought to delegitimize the presidential election as flawed and refused to concede his loss, and several of his departments and agencies slow‐walked their cooperation with the incoming team. Further, the insurrection on the Capitol and the Trump impeachment trial brought more turmoil. The question this article will consider is how, in such an environment, did Joseph R. Biden manage to complete the basic transition preparations needed to get off to the fast and effective start his administration had? A presidential transition has two dominant threads that come together to pave the path to a productive beginning. In 2020, early transition planning by the Biden team and existing laws detailing what resources the federal government will provide, when, and under what conditions were two important elements in his successful transition. Additionally, an effective transition depends on people leading it who have experience in both management and government service. The 2020–2021 transition had both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Presidential Studies Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)