FDR's Handling of Turbulent Transition Could Guide Next President

"The importance of a seamless transition from one administration to the next has rarely been higher," he said. "We simply as a country can't afford to have the baton dropped. This tells me real continuity is going to be extremely important."

That would be a dramatic departure from the Hoover-to-Roosevelt handoff. In his book "The Defining Moment," Jonathan Alter describes the chaotic standoff between Hoover and Roosevelt. Hoover was consumed with the issue of foreign debt repayment and tried to draw Roosevelt into dealing with it. Roosevelt balked, believing domestic recovery should be the priority. In today's context, Roosevelt saw Hoover's focus as the equivalent of bailing out Wall Street and bankers, rather than helping homeowners facing foreclosure or workers who have lost their jobs.

The two met at the White House in late November and found little agreement. Later meetings produced little. At one point, Roosevelt declared, "It's not my baby." By Alter's account, Roosevelt's standoffish posture was calculated. "His political instincts told him that if he were enlisted by Hoover in November, he would not be able to break sharply from the past the following March," Alter writes.

No one can safely predict that a similar posture will work for the next president-elect. Both McCain and Obama have embraced the $700 billion rescue package and the more stunning announcement that the government would take an equity stake in major banks. Are they now obliged to cooperate with all further steps? Obama might look to the Democratic-controlled Congress, in a lame-duck session, to push a new stimulus package, but would he risk putting a partisan stamp on his administration by doing so?

"It's a challenging moment for the president-elect," said House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). "I hope the next president reaches out to the current president to say, 'What can we do to work together so that on January 20th, I've got as big a head start on solving the problems as we can possibly achieve?' "

Whoever wins may be forced to take his lead from Roosevelt's willingness to embrace what worked and jettison what didn't. In the spring of 1932, Roosevelt put that philosophy of governing in positive terms. "The country needs, and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation," he said. "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

Hoover derided FDR as "a chameleon on plaid." But Roosevelt is now remembered as one of the nation's greatest presidents. Historian Dallek said that the Roosevelt model is imperfect but that there may be valuable lessons for Obama or McCain. "You can't reach back and parrot what the FDR presidency was about, or the New Deal," he said. "But you do have to think in terms of that larger arc, of needing to inspire hope and restore confidence."