Many of you here consier Reagan to be one of our Greatest Presidents don't you?
"Emerging from a particularly credulous Southern California culture, Nancy and Ronald Reagan relied on an astrologer in private and public matters--unknown to the voting public. Some portion of the decision-making that influences the future of our civilization is plainly in the hands of charlatans."
--Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World
"Mrs. Reagan's dependence on the occult went back at least as far as her husband's governorship, when she had depended on the advice of the famous Jeane Dixon. Subsequently she had lost confidence in Dixon's powers. But the First Lady seemed to have absolute faith in the clairvoyant talents of a woman in San Francisco."
--Donald Regan (Reagan's former chief of staff), For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington
"Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise."
--Donald Regan (Reagan's former chief of staff), For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington
It wasn't widely circulated until the publication of Donald Regan's memoir, For the Record in 1988, that President Reagan and his influential wife sought the advice of an astrologer. Time magazine would later identify Ron and Nancy's chart reader as being San Francisco astrologist Joan Quigley.
Quigley was not the first astrologer the Reagans had consulted. Ronald and Nancy Reagan had a long history of involvement with astrologers and psychics. During the 1950's and 1960's, Ron and Nancy enlisted the services of Hollywood astrologer Carroll Righter, and later Jeane Dixon. In his 1965 autobiography, Where's the Rest of Me, Reagan said that he and Righter were friends, and that he and Nancy read Righter's column "regularly." (It was on Righter's advice that Reagan postponed his inauguration as governor of California for 9 minutes, until the auspicious moment of 12:10 a.m.)
For fundamentalist preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell--who proclaimed Reagan a standard-bearer of Christian righteousness--the astrology matter should have been of particular concern. Astrology is a branch of the occult and is inimical to Christianity. However, if the fundamentalist leaders were concerned or embarrassed by the astrology revelations, they didn't show it. (They also ignored the fact that Reagan rarely attended church.)
For those who had already sized up Ronald Reagan for the flake that he was, the disclosure of astrology in the White House came as no big surprise. It was consistent with the goofy statements and eccentric policy decisions that Reagan had made throughout his presidency.
For the record: Joan Quigley became Nancy Reagan's astrologer after the two met on "The Merv Griffin Show" in the 1970's. She reportedly provided astrological advice during Reagan's bid for the Republican nomination in 1976. After reaching the White House, the Reagans sought Quigley's horoscope readings even more. Nancy had special private phone lines installed in the White House, and at Camp David, expressly for talking to Quigley.
Shortly after President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Merv Griffin informed Nancy that he had spoken to Quigley. Quigley told Griffin that if Nancy had only called her on the day of the assassination attempt, she could have warned Nancy that the President's charts foretold a bad day.
Chief of Staff Donald Regan elaborated on what it was like having to make adjustments to the President's schedule based on the zodiac.
"Mrs. Reagan passed along her prognostications to me after conferring with [Quigley] on the telephone--she had become such a factor in my work, and in the highest affairs of the nation, that at one point I kept a color-coded calendar on my desk (numerals highlighted in green ink for "good" days, red for "bad" days, yellow for "iffy" days) as an aid to remembering when it was propitious to move the President of the United States from one place to another, or schedule him to speak in public, or commence negotiations with a foreign power."
--Donald Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington
"According to a list provided by Mrs. Reagan to [scheduling aide] Bill Henkel, [Quigley] had made the following prohibitions based on her reading of the President's horoscope:
Late Dec thru March bad
Jan 16 - 23 very bad
Jan 20 nothing outside WH--possible attempt
Feb 20 - 26 be careful
March 7 - 14 bad period
March 10 - 14 no outside activity!
March 16 very bad
March 21 no
March 27 no
March 12 - 19 no trips exposure
March 19 - 25 no public exposure
April 3 careful
April 11 careful
April 17 careful
April 21 - 28 stay home
Obviously this list of dangerous or forbidden dates left very little latitude for scheduling."
--Donald Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington
"The frustration of dealing with a situation in which the schedule of the President of the United States was determined by occult prognostications was very great--far greater than any other I had known in nearly forty-five years of working life."
--Donald Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington "Quigley fixed the times for the public signing of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty, and Reagan's debates with Walter Mondale. She set the time of the nomination of Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court, instructing the White House staff to use a stopwatch to make the moment perfect."
--Wikipedia
horoscopes
