A Quick History of Cabinet Turnover

Yesterday, President Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper via Tweet. I started to get some questions online about how many times presidents had fired secretaries, especially in the lame-duck period. I wrote a thread, full of fun pictures, which you can read here.

I thought I’d also share it here, since Twitter tends to move quickly:

Lots of good questions about lame-duck firings, late turnover, etc. Moral of the story: lame-duck firings haven't happened before (regardless of whether they occur on Twitter or in person). A mini thread with a few answers, facts, and precedents:

1.    I went back through all the cabinets from President Trump to George Washington and found only three cabinets with post-election turnover: on Oct. 4, 1976, Sec. of Agriculture Earl Butz resigned after TIME magazine reported that he made inappropriate racial remarks.

2.    On November 4, two days after the 1976 election, John Knebel took office as the new Sec. of Agriculture.

3.    The second instance occurred in December 1880, when Secretary of the Navy Richard W. Thompson resigned to take a cushy gig with the Panama Company. Hayes, who had pledged to only serve one term, appointed Nathan Goff Jr. as the new Secretary of the Navy.

4.    Buchanan had the 3rd cabinet with post-election turnover, and there was lots of it. Sec. of State Lewis Cass resigned in protest of Buchanan's handling of southern secession. Sec. of Treasury Howell Cobb resigned to help found the Confederacy. Talk about a conflicted cabinet!

5.    A few other stories worth telling: A. Johnson fired Edwin Stanton twice (the 2nd time just a few months before the election). After the Senate acquitted Johnson on impeachment charges, Stanton resigned. John Schofield took office as the new Sec. War on June 1, 1868.

6.    In March 1868, Attorney General Henry Stanbery (R) resigned to defend A. Johnson against impeachment charges. Johnson tried to reinstate Stanbery as AG later that summer, but the Senate rejected him. Johnson then nominated William Evarts (L), who took office on July 17, 1868.

7.    In May 1800, John Adams fired a secretary for the first time (a few months before the election). Washington's secretaries had retired or resigned, but were never forcefully removed. Accordingly, Adams gave Sec. of State Timothy Pickering the opportunity to resign...

8.    Pickering refused, gambling that Adams wouldn't dare to fire him. Pickering was wrong. Adams appointed John Marshall as the new Sec. of State and then eventually the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

9.    All presidents have turnover. Two-term presidents almost always replace some of their secretaries around the time of their second inauguration. Most presidents often have another run of retirements about a year before their presidency ends. People get tired!

10.  Presidents work to make this process as uneventful & smooth as possible. Usually, they allow secretaries to announce their retirement (whether it was optional or not). Presidents then announce the replacement, so that the personnel change doesn't distract from policy.

This statement may be common sense, but presidents try and avoid cabinet scandal. It tarnishes their reputation and undermines their ability to govern. /fin