Former President Joe Biden wrote a short letter to his successor, President Donald Trump, in which he told the 47th president that people look to the White House for “steadiness in the inevitable storms of history.”
The letter was shared with Fox News.
“As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years,” Biden told Trump. “The American people – and people around the world – look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that … the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.”
“May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding,” he added.
Before releasing it to Fox News, Trump called the letter “inspirational” and “very nice.”
Trump was asked by Fox News on Monday during a press availability in the Oval Office as he signed executive orders if he had received the letter. Trump noted that it’s usually left in a drawer of the Resolute Desk, finding it as he opened one of the drawers.
“He may have. Don’t they leave it in the desk? I don’t know,” Trump told Peter Doocy of Fox News on Monday night. “Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this thing.”
“It was a very nice letter,” Trump later told the press. “It was a little bit of an inspirational-type letter. Enjoy it, do a good job. Important, very important. How important the job is.”
“It was a positive, for him, in writing it,” he added. “I appreciated the letter.”
The tradition of presidents leaving a letter to their successors began in 1989 when President Ronald Reagan handed over the reins to his own Vice President George H.W. Bush.
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 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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Biden is the first president to hand over the presidency to the same person he took it over from.
Trump is now the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms in the White House since Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd and 24th president towards the end of the 19th century.
