Harding began his transition with roughly a month of traveling, which he wrapped with a two-day trip to Washington, D.C.

There he met with officials and delivered his farewell address as a member of the United States Senate.

A presidential transition was guaranteed to occur in 1920, as incumbent president Woodrow Wilson was not nominated for reelection by the Democratic Party.

At the time that Harding's occurred, the term "presidential transition" had yet to be widely applied to the period between an individual's election as president of the United States and their assumption of the office.

[4] Other key members of Harding's staff included George B. Christian Jr., Charles E. Sawyer, and Judson Welliver.

[6] Harding, after his election victory, left his home in Marion, Ohio, and took a train trip down to Port Isabel, Texas in the company of key members of his staff, such as George B. Christian Jr., Harry M. Daugherty, Charles E. Sawyer, and Judson Welliver.

In Port Isabel, Harding spend several days relaxing, with activities including golfing, fishing, and hunting.

[8] On November 17, Harding departed from Brownsville to head to New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving the next day.

His ship briefly stopped in Kingston, Jamaica on November 30,[8][10] and arrived at Newport News, Virginia on December 4.

[15][16] The reason that Harding continued to hold his seat until January was that it would not be until then that James M. Cox (incidentally his Democratic opponent in the presidential election) would leave office as governor of Ohio, and be succeeded by Republican Harry L. Davis.

If Harding resigned before the change in governors, Cox would be able to name a Democrat to fill his Senate seat.

[16] Harding followed his farewell speech with a press conference, where he confirmed that he would call a special session of Congress following his inauguration.

[5] There were also regularly press briefings about what happened at the meetings held for the transition, and information was also frequently leaked.

[22] Additionally, there were visits from lesser political figures, including local and state Republican leaders.

[22][23] While Harding had, by leaving Washington, D.C. for Marion, strongly signaled his intent to not play an active leadership role in the lame duck congressional session, he did receive occasional visits to Marion from Congressional Republican leaders seeking to discuss matters that were pending in the Congress.

[25] Harding lacked firm positions on a number of policy issues, and had expressed his willingness to act as an instrument of the Republican Party.

[5] He also was, in the words of Laurin L. Henry, "committed to the role of the accommodating and conciliating leader", and, therefore, sought the approval of party elders on all matters.

[5] Therefore, the process of formulating policy during the transition has been characterized by Laurin L. Henry as "a exercise in group thinking".

[26] Harding gave some signs that he might allow the United States to enter the League of Nations, even requesting that Charles Evans Hughes revise the Treaty of Versailles in order to "secure its ratification in the Senate.

[26] By late December, with many Cabinet selections appearing to have been in place, news editorials speculated that Harding would soon make an early announcement of some of his Cabinet selections, in order help enable for designees to be able to both familiarize themselves with their pending jobs and work with Republican leaders of the lame duck Congress.

[29] By December 24, it was being reported that Harding desired to make Harry M. Daugherty his administration's attorney general.

[37] When rumors of this selection broke, it faced strong backlash from the meat packing industry, which had great sway in the Republican Party.

[37][45] In his 1960 book Presidential Transitions, Laurin L. Henry wrote that secretary of labor appears to have been the only cabinet position that Harding had not decided upon at least a preliminary favorite for by the end of December.

[46] On January 17, Harding offered Frank Orren Lowden a choice between secretary of the navy or being a diplomat in charge of an embassy.

[48] Harding had decided on Edwin Denby for the position by late December, and this choice was seen as an utter surprise.

[42] It was known that Harding desired not to give the post of secretary of the treasury to an individual who would be a tool of Wall Street.

[55] By late December, Harding was giving serious consideration to selecting Leonard Wood for secretary of war.

In early January, significant Republican figures such as Henry L. Stimson were strongly lobbying on behalf of Wood for Harding to give him the position.

One area of criticism was the appropriateness of appointing an individual directly from service as an active duty general to the civilian role of secretary of war.

[56] John W. Weeks, originally Harding's selection for secretary of the navy,[31] was reassigned to this position after discussions with him in mid-January.