For as long as the United States has been at the centerstage of world power, other nations watch, some with anxiety and others with optimism, as one president steps down and the new elected president steps up to the role.

The peaceful transfer of power is the ultimate expression of the rule of law. Over 220 years ago, one of the most significant moments in U.S. history took place when George Washington voluntarily gave up the role of president. Washington’s act was symbolic because it clearly set apart the U.S. from the British monarchy. Monarchies had regencies, but now with a new president, the U.S. had become the first constitutional federal republic, in the era of Westphalia nation-states, to introduce the concept of transferring power from one living head of state to another.

The presidential inauguration is a ceremonial induction into office which symbolically brings together all three branches of the U.S. government. The ceremony includes swearing-in the new president as well as the presidential address to the nation. Most importantly, a presidential inauguration ceremony hosts a number of past commanders-in-chief­­, including the most recent to have held the presidential office. Ultimately, the main goal is to pass down the torch to a new administration.

Prior to 2021, history recorded five instances when an outgoing president did not attend the incoming president’s inaugural ceremony. First, in 1801 this was observed during the transition between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. This was the first time the government transitioned to a new political party. The story tells that Jefferson did not invite Adams and he left the White House the day of the event at around 4 a.m. The next case was in 1829 when John Quincy Adam did not invite president-elect Andrew Jackson to the White House and his successor did not invite him to the swearing-in ceremony. Then in 1841, Martin Van Buren did not attend William Henry Harrison’s inauguration. In 1869, Andrew Johnson did not participate in Ulysses S. Grant’s inaugural ceremony.  Then in 1974, Richard Nixon become the first president to resign; he vacated the premises before Gerald Ford was sworn in. These instances are isolated moments where the outgoing president does not traditionally pass down the imaginary torch to the newly elected president.  Accordingly, history supports that the 2021 presidential transition of power broke away from tradition when the outgoing president was not present in some form at the inaugural ceremony.

The U.S. Constitution does not require an outgoing president to attend an incoming president’s inauguration. However, the presence of the outgoing president has come to be seen as important because of what it represents. Most notably, the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Section 4 and Article II, Section 1 demands for elections that enable the peaceful transition of power between factions.

The unjustified absence of an outgoing president in the newly elected president’s inaugural ceremony sends a message, domestically and abroad, that the outgoing president does not deem the incoming president as legitimate. This divisive and poisonous message tears away at our social fabric and weakens our appearance of unity and democracy before the eyes of other nations.  Accordingly, the absence of the outgoing president in the 2021 inaugural ceremony deviated from a long-standing tradition of peacefully passing down the torch of power, disregarded a hallmark of U.S. democracy, and undermined the rule of law. But despite these harrowing moments, when the commitment to peacefully transition into a new administration appeared to waver, our constitutional system continued to endure nonetheless.