Presidential transition of Ronald Reagan

Plans for a potential presidential transition by Reagan began before the Republican National Convention.[2]

By September of 1980, Reagan associates have formed a Presidential Transition Trust to collect contributions to finance a transition effort that would search for candidates to fill key positions in a Reagan administration.[3] Lawyers of the Federal Election Commission, in September, drafted an advisory opinion that stated that, so long as the transition trust was "completely separate" from Reagan's campaign committee and funds raised by the trust did not go towards assisting in Reagan's election, such an trust would be allowed to operate outside of campaign finance laws that limited individual contributions to $1,000 (and Political Action Committee contributions to $5,0000).[3][4] The trust opted to voluntarily limit contributions to a maximum of $5,000 per individual.[3]

Reagan's transition was headed by Edwin Meese.[2][5] The role of the administration of outgoing president Jimmy Carter in the transition was overseen by his White House Chief of Staff Jack Watson, who had overseen Carter's own transition four years prior.[1][5] In contrast to Watson's approach during Carter's own transition, James kept a generally low public profile during Reagan's transition.[2]

William Timmons oversaw the Reagan transition team's assessment of existing programs and policies.[6] Verne Orr was in charge of administrative and budgetary matters.[4] Another key member of the transition was William French Smith.[7] A number of key staffers of the transition, had previously worked on the presidential transition of Richard Nixon. One was Pendleton James, a personnel recruiter in the Reagan transition, who had previously been the manager of Nixon's transition.[2] Other alumni of the Nixon transition working on Reagan's transition included Reagan transition's policy chiefs Martin Anderson and Richard Allen.[2]

Reagan's transition was particularly large.[1] The transition involved more than 1,000 people, including both volunteers and paid staff.[4][2][8] The transition involved a hundred individual transition teams for federal agencies, which, for organizational purposes, were divided into five clusters. The five clusters were economic affairs, national security, human services, resources and development, and legal-administrative.[1]

The transition team worked in close partnership with conservative think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and Hoover Institution.[2] Among the plans given to them by such organizations was the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership, a 1,000-page plan for restructuring the executive branch.[2] The Heriage Foundation also ran a job bank providing the transition team with lists of personnel aligned with conservative ideology, and also ran a number of orientation sessions for top appointees of the incoming administration.[2]

The transition was headquartered in Washington, D.C.[9] In the early weeks of the transition, Reagan remained on the West Coast, meeting with a "kitchen cabinet" of advisors.[1] However, within weeks of his election, Reagan moved into a row house in Washington, D.C., which would serve temporary quarters for him until he was sworn-in as president.[10]

On November 20, President Carter hosted President-elect Reagan at the White House.[11]

Reagan began announcing key appointments to his administration two week after his election victory.[12] By the seventh week of the transition, most appointements had been announced.[7] He had finished announcing key appointees by the tenth week of his transition.[12]

Reagan had originally favored choosing Meese for his White House Chief of Staff, but some of his advisors convinced him to instead pick James Baker.[2]

The first Cabinet nominees Reagan designated were largely uncontroversial, and even received praise from both the business community and the moderate wing of the Republican Party.[6] However, several later choices he named, such as Alexander Haig for Secretary of State and James G. Watt for Secretary of the Interior, promised to be controversial.[6]

The transition saw Mark Anderson and David Stockman, Reagan's choice for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shape the incoming administration's economic policy agenda.[2]

Reagan pledged not to speak publicly on policy matters until his inauguration. However, many of his advisers spoke publicly about issues, often creating problems where the transition's press secretary James Brady would have to disavow their statements.[6] There were unofficial statements and news leaks made by members of Reagan's administration that attracted criticism from the Carter administration's State Department.[6]

While many aspects of the transition period operated smoothly, there were hiccups.[6] There was controversy surrounding involvement of Jackie Presser in the transition.[6] The Carter administration alleged that some staffers of the transition had possible conflicts of interest.[6] There was also public speculation over the degree to which Reagan was involved in his own transition.[6] Many scholars have, retrospectively, considered the Reagan transition as to have been a successfully managed presidential transition.[2]

• Reagan Adminstration Transition Interviews –National Archives and Records Administration