Inauguration 2025: The tradition of presidents leaving letters for their successors

As President Joe Biden prepared to pass the baton to President-elect Donald Trump, he followed the tradition of leaving his successor a note.

While Biden confirmed he wrote a letter to Trump, he did not reveal what his message said.

President Ronald Reagan started the ritual in 1989, according to The Washington Post, when he left a note for his former running mate, President George HW Bush.

He used light-hearted stationery that read, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down,” with a drawing of turkeys climbing atop an elephant. Reagan wrote, “I cherish the memories we share and I wish you all the best. You will be in my prayers. God bless you & Barbara. I’m going to miss our Thursday lunches.”

Every president since has taken part in the tradition. But since Reagan’s letter to Bush, every handover has been from a Democrat to a Republican or vice versa.

Bush, who lost the 1992 election to Bill Clinton, told the country’s new leader: “Don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.”

“You will be our president when you read this note,” he wrote. “I wish you well. I wish your family the best of luck. Your success now is the success of our country. I’m rooting for you hard. Good luck.”

“I love that letter,” Clinton told ABC News in 2018. “I thought it was vintage George Bush. 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 deeply moving for me personally.”

Clinton followed his predecessor’s tradition in 2001 when, in a letter to President George W. Bush, he said: “Today you embark on the greatest undertaking, with the greatest honor, that can befall an American citizen.”

“Like me, you are particularly fortunate to lead our country at a time of profound and overwhelmingly positive change, when old questions, not only about the role of government, but about the very nature of our nation, must be answered anew,” Clinton said. “You lead a proud, decent, good people. And from this day you are the president of us all. I salute you and wish you success and much happiness.”

“The burdens you now carry are great, but often excessive. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is indescribable,” he wrote. “My prayers are with you and your family. Goodness.”

In 2009, George W. Bush wrote to President Barack Obama: “Congratulations on becoming our president. You have just begun a great 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,” he said. “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 that loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me. Whatever comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead, God bless you.”

When Obama handed over to Trump in 2017, he wrote to his successor: “Congratulations 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.”

“We’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great luck,” Obama said. according to CNN. “Not everyone is that lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders to success for every child and family willing to work hard.”

Obama later noted in the letter, “We are merely temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of the democratic institutions and traditions—like the rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection, and civil liberties—for which our forefathers fought and regardless of the push of day-to-day politics and features, it is up to us to leave these instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.”

He concluded by saying, “Michelle and I wish you and Melania all the best as you embark on this great adventure and know that we stand ready to help in any way we can.”

Trump described Obama’s letter as “long,” “beautiful” and “so well written, so thoughtful.”

“I called him and thanked him for the thought put into that letter,” Trump told ABC News “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir in 2017.

Then, in 2021, despite the contentious handover from Trump to Biden, when Trump refused to admit he lost the 2020 election, Trump followed tradition and left Biden a slip.

Biden described it as a “very generous letter,” according to Politico. The letter has never been released.

ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez contributed to this report.