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Published 14:28 IST, January 20th 2025

Biden to Leave Letter for Trump, Continuing 35-Year Tradition

Reports suggest that Biden's letter to Trump will follow in the footsteps of a similar gesture made by Trump in 2020.

Reported by: Digital Desk
Edited by: Isha Bhandari
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Biden to Leave Letter for Trump, Continuing 35-Year Tradition
Biden to Leave Letter for Trump, Continuing 35-Year Tradition | Image: AP, Republic

New Delhi, India: Outgoing President Joe Biden will write a letter to his successor, Donald Trump , on Monday, continuing a 35-year-old tradition among US presidents that began with Ronald Reagan. 

It will be the first time a sitting president has penned a note to the same person who had written one for them four years prior.

Reports suggest that Biden's letter to Trump will follow in the footsteps of a similar gesture made by Trump in 2020, when he left a handwritten letter for Biden after losing the 2020 election. 

Although the contents of Trump's letter to Biden remain a mystery, the President-elect had previously described it as a "very generous" note, despite the tense and often adversarial relationship between the two during the election cycle. 

Trump had reflected on his own letter-writing experience, calling the note to Biden a "nice letter" and stressing that he "took a lot of time in thinking about it." 

The Beginning of Letter-writing Tradition 

The letter-writing tradition began with President Ronald Reagan in 1989, who wrote a farewell letter to his successor, George H.W. Bush. Reagan, who had a close friendship with Bush dating back to their years in politics, notably expressed sentiments of goodwill, including a heartfelt wish for Bush’s success and a personal note that read, “I’ll miss our Thursday lunches.” 

Since then, each outgoing president has continued the tradition, with Bush writing a letter to Bill Clinton, Clinton leaving one for George W. Bush, and Bush’s son penning a letter for Barack Obama. Obama, in turn, followed suit with a note for Donald Trump.

Updated 14:34 IST, January 20th 2025