President Joe Biden has adhered to the tradition started by Ronald Reagan and left his successor, Donald Trump, a letter as he hands over power.
Biden confirmed that he wrote Trump a letter, but he didn’t say what he wrote to the 47th president, choosing to let that remain between the two leaders, according to ABC News.
Reagan started the tradition in 1989 when he left a letter for his successor, his own Vice President George H.W. Bush. Since Bush, each handover has been from a member of one party to the other.
Reagan wrote to H.W. Bush, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down,” including a drawing of turkeys climbing on an elephant.
“I treasure the memories we share and I wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers. God bless you & Barbara. I’ll miss our Thursday lunches,” Reagan added, according to ABC News.
When it was time for George H.W. Bush to hand over to Bill Clinton following the 1992 election, H.W. Bush wrote, “Don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.”
“You will be our President when you read this note,” he added. “I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. Good Luck.”
In 2018, Clinton told ABC News: “I love that letter.”
“I thought it was vintage George Bush,” he added. “I thought he meant it, but I also thought he was trying to be a citizen in the highest sense of the word. It was profoundly moving to me personally."
When Clinton handed off to H.W. Bush’s son, George W. Bush, he wrote, “Today you embark on the greatest venture, with the greatest honor, that can come to an American citizen.”
“Like me, you are especially fortunate to lead our country in a time of profound and largely positive change, when old questions, not just about the role of government, but about the very nature of our nation, must be answered anew,” Clinton added at the time. “You lead a proud, decent, good people. And from this day you are President of all of us. I salute you and wish you success and much happiness.”
“The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible,” he continued. “My prayers are with you and your family. Godspeed.”
W. Bush kept the tradition going with a letter to Barack Obama, writing “You have just begun a fantastic chapter in your life.”
“Very few have had the honor of knowing the responsibility you now feel. Very few know the excitement of the moment and the challenges you will face,” W. Bush told the 44th president. “There will be trying moments. The critics will rage. Your ‘friends’ will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me. No matter what comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead. God bless you.”
In Obama’s letter to Trump, he congratulated him on a “remarkable run.”
“Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure,” he added.
“We’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune,” said Obama, according to CNN. "Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.”
“We are just temporary occupants of this office,” Obama told Trump. “That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions -- like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties -- that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.”
He ended his letter with the words, “Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.”
Trump later said Obama’s letter was “long” but also said it was “beautiful” and “so well-written, so thoughtful.”
“I called him and thanked him for the thought that was put into that letter,” Trump told ABC News in 2017.
Trump also adhered to the tradition, leaving Biden a letter even after his claims that the 2020 election was stolen and the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
While the letter hasn’t been made public, Biden called the letter “very generous,” according to Politico.
