“Joy and passion” are necessary attributes for setting a defining tone for a new administration. The participants also discussed the matter of temperament, an important quality for any president, according to Alter. “In a sense, more can go wrong in the hundred days than can go right.” Waldman emphasized the importance of picking qualified, experienced political advisers to help shape a new administration, much as Reagan did. “Mistakes are there, and they last past the first 100 days,” he said. Waldman warned against the trap defined by Roosevelt’s shadow, as the media may overfocus on that time.
During this time, everyone “plays together nicely,” he said. “ strike while the iron is hot, while that mandate, if you have one, is fresh,” he said. Since then, most presidents have resented the precedent he set.Īlter stressed the necessity of employing the first 100 days to its fullest potential. “There was no blueprint.” Instead, Roosevelt used his executive powers to make 15 major changes. “It was very much a seat-of-the-pants operation,” Alter said of FDR’s experience. Kennedy, and a handful of other previous presidents, the three panelists discussed the possibilities, lessons learned, and advice for starting a new presidency. By looking through the lens of FDR’s experience as well as those of Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, John F. Edwards, a CAPAF Senior Fellow, joined Newsweek editor Jonathan Alter and Clinton administration adviser Michael Waldman to discuss the tradition of the first 100 days, both historically and for the upcoming administration.Īlter recently published The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, about the successes of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Hundred Days and which of his characteristics made it possible. “Is it about policy or is it about theater?” Elizabeth Edwards asked about the first 100 days of a new presidency at a Center for American Progress Action Fund event Friday. Visit the event page for more information.
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