Ever since 1797, the power of the American presidency has transferred from one person to another 44 times.

Despite the trials of war, depression, and social upheaval, each transfer of power occurred peacefully,

even when power was turned over from one political party to another.

Whenever that transition occurred, the national discourse usually focused on the legacy of the outgoing president

and the agenda of the one coming in. That debate is rarely about whether the transfer will occur,

whether the outgoing president will stay on, refuse to leave, or reject the will of the

people. It is almost never about whether someone in the military or some political faction will

try to disrupt the transition and take power for themselves. We rarely notice it, but that transition

is one of the most remarkable things in all of history. It's become so

routine that we never worry about it or even question it. And yet, when we look at history,

even recent history, we find just how remarkable this record of continuity is. In just the last

75 years since the end of World War II, there have been over 550 coup attempts

in countries around the world, with about 225 of them, or 40 percent, succeeding. That's about

seven coup attempts every year. Some countries have had multiple coup attempts during that time.

Thailand has had 12.

If you go all the way back to 1825, Bolivia has had a total of 150 coup attempts.

And coup attempts are not limited to just the third world.

France had an attempted coup as recently as 1961, Greece in 1974, and Spain in 1981.

For many countries, coups seem to be a part of life.

Some of them, like Turkey, actually have built-in provisions in the Constitution

that allow the military to take over under certain circumstances.

But somehow, the United States has managed to avoid all of this, going back to its founding.

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