Transition of Power: The Presidency

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CHRIS WALLACE:
There is

a tradition in this country--

in fact, one of the prides

of this country

is the peaceful transition

of power.

Do you make the same commitment

that you will absolutely accept

the result of this election?

I will tell you at the time.

I'll keep you in suspense.

NARRATOR:
For the first time

in modern presidential history,

a candidate

in a national debate

challenges the peaceful

transfer of power,

a pillar of democracy

that's sustained

for more than 200 years.

So help me God.

-NARRATOR:
Through crisis...

-(gunshot)

MAN (over radio):

The president is dead.

...scandal...

What's the matter

with these clowns?

...peace, and war,

what does it take to hand off

the most powerful office

in the world?

This is the secret history

of the transition of power.

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT:

I do solemnly swear...

JOHN F. KENNEDY:
...that I will

faithfully execute the office

of President

of the United States...

RONALD REAGAN:
...preserve,

protect, and defend...

BILL CLINTON:

So help me God.

(cheers and applause)

The United States created

the very notion

of the peaceful

transition of power.

This is a concept

that was nonexistent

on the planet Earth

before Washington

transferred power to John Adams

in the latter part

of the 18th century.

Before that, the world was

made up, principally,

of monarchies,

where kings and queens

only relinquished power

through death

or more sinister forces.

The idea that someone would

voluntarily relinquish power

and hand it off

to another person was

actually a really radical

experiment in governance.

But here we are

doing it systemically.

There are no daggers

to the hearts,

no tanks in the streets.

It's an incredible thing

even today we take for granted.

(trumpet fanfare)

ANNOUNCER:
The President

of the United States.

NARRATOR:
The American

presidency begins with an oath

to preserve, protect,

and defend the Constitution.

-I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...

-...do solemnly swear...

NARRATOR:

35 words that make you

the most powerful executive

in the world.

...that I will faithfully

execute...

...the office of

President of the United States.

No other job has the danger,

the influence,

the power, the potential

for a terrible tragedy

that the presidency has,

which makes the transition

of power

such a critical process.

NARRATOR:
So critical that

the transition gets underway

long before America chooses

its next leader.

(bell tolling)

(triumphant music playing,

cheers and applause)

I accept your nomination.

...for the presidency

of the United States.

NARRATOR:

The political conventions

signal the opening

of the general election season.

The presidential transition

begins

just as the real battle

for the White House kicks off.

You're not up to doing the job.

She should not

be allowed to run.

NARRATOR:
While the campaign

rhetoric intensifies...

He'd rather have a puppet as

president of the United States.

No puppet.

No puppet.

NARRATOR:
The rival candidates

must each prepare

for what will happen

if they win.

KEITH HUGHES:

One might think that

the presidential transition

teams

and the actual transfer of power

is kind of

being put together

after the election.

It actually occurs as soon as

the nomination conventions

are over.

H.W. BRANDS:

When Lincoln became president,

it was Lincoln

and a couple of secretaries,

and that was it.

Nowadays, transitions involve

thousands of people.

And so it's almost like

the creation

of a government anew.

And it's a huge job.

ALLAN LICHTMAN:
The government

of the United States is

a $4 trillion business.

No private business even

remotely approaches it.

So imagine having

to take over

a $4 trillion business

in just a few months.

NARRATOR:
Each candidate

assembles a transition team

to lay our the plans for their

future administration.

Congress appropriates

a total of $13.3 million

to support this process.

LICHTMAN:
Hundreds of people,

in the middle of the campaign,

are involved in planning

this transition.

In effect, each campaign

is assembling

a shadow government.

MAX STIER:
If you wait

till after the election,

there's no way in the world

that you're going to be ready

to actually run the government

on day one.

What a great job.

(siren blares, stops)

NARRATOR:
A few weeks after

the candidates are chosen,

there is a crucial moment

in the transition--

the first top secret

national security briefing.

MICHAEL CHERTOFF: The nominees

get a certain level

of security briefing.

It's not the crown jewels,

but it's at least

some kind of general overview

of what's going on

in the world.

NARRATOR:
Classified briefings

ensure continuity

in matters of national security

but are not mandated by law.

They're a tradition

linked to a pivotal

wartime transition

and an incoming president

caught completely unprepared.

LICHTMAN:
Harry Truman,

of course, became president

instantly upon the death

of Franklin Roosevelt,

a couple of months into

Franklin Roosevelt's

fourth term.

He hadn't been vice president

during any

of FDR's other three terms,

so he was a brand-new

vice president

who had gotten

no intelligence briefings

in the middle of World War II.

GAGE:
The number of things

that he did not know

in that moment

really are quite astonishing.

He hadn't been privy to most

of the diplomatic negotiations

that were going on,

or even the kind

of war planning

that had been happening

inside the White House.

He had no idea

that the United States

had been developing

an atomic bomb.

LICHTMAN:

Which left Truman

with maybe one of the most

monumental decisions

a president ever had to make--

was he going to use the bomb

to try to force

the Japanese to surrender?

NARRATOR:
Truman's decision

to drop the atomic bomb

comes just four months

into his presidency.

In two strategic attacks,

the most destructive weapon

ever unleashed annihilates

two cities

and kills more than

200,000 people.

DOYLE:

Because Franklin Roosevelt

had neglected to brief him

on the most important issue

facing the presidency

at that time,

Truman had to learn

on the job,

and Truman knew

how dangerous that was,

so going forward he said,

"I'm gonna make darn sure

that all my successors have

"knowledge of what's going on

before they're elected

president."

NARRATOR:
Seven years later,

Truman takes action

to ensure that

future presidents

are more prepared

to take office.

DOYLE:

Truman had the idea:

let's have

the Democratic candidate,

Adlai Stevenson,

and the Republican candidate,

Dwight Eisenhower,

receive intelligence briefings

many weeks ahead

of the election.

Intelligence briefings

are now tradition,

and it's a very good one.

NARRATOR:

Candidates who receive

these classified

intelligence briefings

are required

to keep them private

as a matter

of national security.

But what if a candidate

exploits the nation's secrets

for political gain?

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