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White House Workshop
The Presidential Transition and the Clinton Administration
America has once more undergone the lengthy, often torturous choice for President and Vice-President. The American electoral process is the oldest such process in the world. In this nation of 250 million people of diverse races, cultures and convictions, this election has brought the United States of America its 42nd President in its 216 years of independence. President-Elect Clinton is faced with a critical array of domestic problems and an increasing number of international concerns. The new Administration will be allowed little time for an extended and traditional honeymoon.
There are three critical factors to be addressed. First, there is the matter of the new Clinton Administration and who will staff it. There are approximately 4,000 new political appointments to be made at the beginning of an Administration. The second component of transition planning is internal organization and process-the relationship between political appointees and civil servants, the discretion and marching orders which a new President gives is Cabinet Secretaries and agency heads, the structure of the White House, and the policymaking mechanisms that are established. The third critical factor is policy itself and moving from the promises of the campaign to the realities of governing.
Understanding the nature of these problems and decisions which the Clinton transition staff will have to make is essential. How their actions will likely affect governance is of particular relevance to senior executive. This workshop will discuss these important policy-related decisions in the transition to power and will examine closely the prospects, policies, and challenges ahead.
Transition Speakers and Topics
Transition to Power: Problems and Prospects Facing the Clinton Administration
Stephen Wayne, Program Moderator; Professor of Government, Georgetown University
A History of Presidential Transitions
Michael Beschloss, Historian, Author of Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliancae
Transition and the Career Service: A Perspective for Agencies
Don Wortman, Vice-President, National Academy of Public Administration
Transition in Foreign Policy: The Clinton Administration and the Changing World Order
Robert Hunter, Vice-President for Regional Programs and Director of European Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Clinton Pentagon: Continuity or Change?
Lawrence J. Korb, Director, Center for Public Policy Education, Brookings Institution
Advice to a New Chief of Staff
Kenneth Duberstein, Former Chief of Staff under President Reagan; Chairman and CEO, The Duberstein Group
The Clinton Transition: The Shape of the New Administration
James Pfiffner, Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University
Leadership and the Balance of Power: The New Administration and the 103rd Congress
Steven Roberts, Senior Writer, U.S. News and World Report; Former White House Correspondent
