Now that the Trump administration has come to an unpleasant and ignominious close, a looming question remains: What will happen to the enmities incurred in what was a famously contentious administration? Many, if not most, former government officials stay in Washington, and they have long memories. Kennedy aide Chuck Daly recently wrote a memoir, Make Peace or Die, nearly 60 years after the end of the Kennedy administration. With post-administration tenures potentially continuing for as many as six decades, outgoing officials need to think about the enemies they made while in office, and what to do about them after the administration ends.

Fortunately, history provides some answers regarding what to do, and what not to do. George H.W. Bush Secretary of State James Baker was a tough opponent in internal fights, but he also had a gift for moving past things. He feuded with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, seeing Kemp as a “High School Harry” who got involved in matters outside his purview. Their disagreement got particularly heated over the issue of Israel, for which Baker was a critic and Kemp had been a staunchly pro-Israel congressman.