What the President Does on the Last Day in Office

What the President Does on the Last Day in Office The peaceful transition of power from one United States president and his administration to another is one of the hallmarks of American democracy. And much of the publics and medias attention on January 20th every four years rightly focuses on the incoming president taking the Oath of Office and the challenges that lie ahead. But what does the outgoing president do on his last day in office? Heres a look at five things almost every president does just before leaving the White House. 1. Issues a Pardon or Two   Some presidents show up at the White House bright and early for a ceremonial last walk through the historic building and to wish their staff well. Others show up and get to work issuing pardons. President Bill Clinton used his last day in office, for example, to pardon 141 people including Marc Rich, a billionaire who had been indicted on charges of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service, mail fraud, tax evasion, racketeering, defrauding the U.S. Treasury and trading with the enemy. President George W. Bush also issued a couple  of pardons in the last hours of his presidency. They  erased the prison sentences of two border patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug suspect. 2. Welcomes the Incoming President Recent presidents have hosted their eventual successors on the last day in office. On Jan. 20, 2009, President Bush and  First Lady Laura Bush hosted President-Elect Barack Obama and his wife, as well as Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, for coffee in the Blue Room of the White House  before  the noon  inauguration. The president and his successor then traveled together to the Capitol in a limousine for the inauguration. 3. Leaves a Note for the New President Its become a ritual for the outgoing president to leave a note for the incoming president. In January 2009, for example, outgoing President George W. Bush wished incoming President Barack Obama well on the fabulous new chapter he was about to begin in his life, Bush aides told The Associated Press at the time. The note was tucked into a drawer of Obamas Oval Office desk. 4. Attends the Inauguration of the Incoming President The outgoing president and vice president attend the swearing-in and inauguration of the new president and then are escorted from the Capitol by their successors. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies describes the outgoing presidents department as being relatively anti-climatic and unceremonious. The 1889 Handbook of Official and Social Etiquette and Public Ceremonies at Washington described the event this way:   His departure from the Capital is attended with no ceremony, other than the presence of the members of his late Cabinet and a few officials and personal friends. The President leaves the Capital as soon as practicable after the inauguration of his successor. 5. Takes a Helicopter Ride Out of Washington Its been customary since 1977, when Gerald Ford was leaving office,  for the president to be flown from the Capitol grounds via Marine One to Andrews Air Force Base for a flight back to his hometown. One of the most memorable anecdotes about such a trip came from Ronald Reagans ceremonial flight around Washington on Jan. 20, 1989, after he left office. Ken Duberstein, Reagans chief of staff, told a newspaper reporter years later: As we hovered for a second over the White House, Reagan looked down through the window, patted Nancy on her knee and said, Look, dear, theres our little bungalow.  Everybody broke down in tears, sobbing.