Planet Neptune and the Modern Us Presidents: Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama

By Suzanne Angioli

While studying the astrological birth charts of all the US presidents, I discovered that those of the thirteen modern US presidents, from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama, all had the natal Sun (the planet most associated with ones basic identity) making an aspect (certain designated degrees between two planets) to their natal Neptune. This was surprising since I would have thought that politicians, particularly those aspiring to the presidency, would have an overwhelming emphasis on the Sun-Mars aspect, but not on the Sun-Neptune aspect.

What I discovered in my research was that good politicians are not warriors (Sun-Mars) per se who use the techniques of warfare to muscle their way through adversity. Rather, they are good actors (Sun-Neptune) who are essentially chameleons (Sun-Neptune) operating in the foggy (Neptune) realm of subtlety (Neptune) and seduction, using their sensitivity (Neptune) and charm (Neptune) to serve their intuitive (Neptune) sides to try to achieve their goals. It became apparent that a good politician is excellent at assuming different roles in order to fit a given political situation and move his agenda forward.

The Sun in aspect to Neptune is not unusual, but there is no aggregate population that has 100 percent of its members with this aspect like the modern presidents. I was intrigued with this occurrence and thus set out to research their individual biographies to see just how this aspect played out in their lives. After all, it seemed to be almost a prerequisite for being elected to the modern Oval Office.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Apr 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504351829

Suzanne Angioli

Suzanne Angioli graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in sociology. She has studied astrology since 1986 and combines her interest in American and Italian political figures with her interest in astrology. She has published articles in both American and Italian astrological magazines and research journals.

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Copyright © 2016 Suzanne Angioli.

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Balboa Press rev. date: 03/31/2016

Table of Contents

Introduction

Neptune Keywords Associated with the Modern Presidents

Sun-Neptune Aspect Themes and the Modern Presidents

Aspect and Orb of All Sun-Neptune Presidents

Other Planetary Aspects and the Modern Presidents

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Harry S. Truman

Dwight David Eisenhower

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Lyndon Baines Johnson

Richard Milhous Nixon

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.

James Earl Jimmy Carter, Jr.

Ronald Wilson Reagan

George Herbert Walker Bush

William Jefferson Bill Clinton

George Walker Bush, Jr.

Barack Obama, Jr.

United States Natal Chart

Franklin Roosevelt Natal Chart

Harry Truman Natal Chart

Dwight Eisenhower Natal Chart

John Kennedy Natal Chart

Lyndon Johnson Natal Chart

Richard Nixon Natal Chart

Gerald Ford Natal Chart

Jimmy Carter Natal Chart

Ronald Reagan Natal Chart

George H.W. Bush Natal Chart

William Clinton Natal Chart

George W. Bush Natal Chart

Barack Obama Natal Chart

About the Author

Introduction

I got into astrology almost by accident. Like a majority of people, what I originally knew about astrology came from sun sign columns in the newspaper, and, like most people, I didn't give them much credence. I was introduced to the art in 1986 by Eloise Helm, a psychic and an astrologer. At first, I only valued her psychic insights and wanted her to skim through the preliminary astrology in order to get to her psychic predictions. But, I soon found myself totally engrossed in astrology for what it seemed to be able to describe about a person's psychological makeup, about their wants and needs. After Eloise's initiation, I was off and running. I remain quite intrigued by the insights astrology can provide as it relates to the fields of psychology and history, as well as the astrological correlations found in individual biographies.

Many years and teachers later, my approach is both archetypal and psychological. I have been very much influenced by the work of Richard Tarnas, founding director of the graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, author of The Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos and Psyche. Some years ago, I audited a number of his classes, in particular a two-semester course entitled Archetypes, Art, and Culture. This course emphasized an experiential approach to archetypal astrology. In addition to his lectures, he made the planetary archetypes come alive through the arts---film, music, and literature. The course allowed me to gain a much deeper understanding of the meanings of the planetary archetypes.

While studying the birth charts of all the US Presidents, I noticed that those of the thirteen modern US Presidents, from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama, each had the natal Sun making an aspect (certain designated degrees between two planets) to natal Neptune. This was surprising since I would have thought that politicians, particularly those aspiring to the Presidency, would have had an overwhelming emphasis on the Sun-Mars aspect, not on Sun-Neptune. Indeed, nine out of the thirteen do have a Sun-Mars aspect.

Politics does seem to be in many ways a warrior's (Sun-Mars) pursuit and is best undertaken by someone with lots of energy, energy that is usually the hallmark of those with a Sun-Mars aspect. A Sun-Mars aspect can put one in good stead to handle the challenges of political office. But, I found it fascinating that the only aspect all modern Presidents share is the Sun-Neptune aspect. This was interesting because the Sun-Neptune aspect can sometimes be seen as somewhat of a weak placement, not an aspect one might initially associate with those in the political world. A Sun-Neptune aspect might seem more suited to one who is interested in the arts or in the helping professions where one's sensitive and compassionate sides can shine.

What I eventually discovered in my research was that good politicians are not warriors per se who use the techniques of warfare to muscle their way through adversity. Rather, they are good actors (Sun-Neptune) who are essentially chameleons (Sun-Neptune) operating in the foggy (Neptune) realm of subtlety and seduction, using their sensitivity (Neptune) to serve their intuitive (Neptune) sides to try to achieve their goals. It became apparent that a good politician is excellent at assuming different roles in order to fit a given political situation and move his agenda forward. David Maraniss, the author of biographies about both Clinton and Obama, wrote, [Natural] politicians are skilled actors [Sun-Neptune], recreating reality, adjusting and [adlibbing], synthesizing the words, ideas, and feelings of others, slipping into different roles in different scenes, saying the same thing over and over again and making it seem like they are saying it for the first time.( 1 )

For most personality traits that biographers and historians can describe and identify, astrologers can usually identify a corresponding symbolic correlation in the astrological chart via planetary aspects, signs, and or house placements. A case in point, Sun-Neptune individuals can sometimes have a weak (Neptune) or absent father (Sun). Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment, FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, wrote, Just as strong mothers have often bred strong [Presidents], so the absent or weak father [Sun-Neptune] appears again and again in [Presidential] family history, often as pitied by their sons. Alter put a footnote to this statement that reads, Lincoln was estranged from his father, Thomas, while Lyndon Johnson's father, Samuel, and Richard Nixon's father, Frank, were conspicuously depicted by their sons as failures in business. The alcoholism of Jack Reagan and Roger Clinton (Bill Clinton's stepfather) rendered them weak in the eyes of their sons.( 2 ) Both the Sun and Saturn can represent the father in an astrological chart. While I did not write about Lincoln, he had a Saturn-Neptune aspect which could be representative of his weak father. A Saturn-Neptune aspect like the Sun-Neptune aspect can emphasize the theme of the weak or absent father, absent in the sense of being either physically or emotionally missing in their sons' lives.

Both major and minor (semi-square, sesquiquadrate, quincunx, and in Clinton's case, the novile) aspects were used when looking at Sun-Neptune aspects. The Sun in aspect to Neptune is not unusual, and is just as likely to turn up in a natal chart as is any other planet aspecting the Sun, but there is no aggregate population that has one hundred percent of its members with this aspect. I was intrigued with this occurrence and thus set out to research the Presidential biographies in question to see just how this aspect played out in their individual lives. It seemed to be a prerequisite for being elected to the modern Oval Office. Perhaps this phenomenon reflects the media and celebrity-driven culture of the current day and thus today's Presidential campaigns. The celebrity (Neptune) status of modern Presidents has increased. Perhaps it began with the advent of radio and television, two mediums that can highlight the acting (Neptune) abilities as well as the celebrity qualities of any good politician to create a desired image (Neptune).

Roosevelt, perhaps, became the first master at using the medium of radio in his 1930s fireside chats. Television came along in the late 1940s. Ever since Roosevelt, the media has become increasingly important in creating a winning political candidate. Since the advent of radio and television, Americans have elected Presidents who have Sun-Neptune aspects, Presidents who can shine as celebrities (Sun-Neptune) and who also have a certain amount of charisma (Neptune). This was not always necessarily the case. Of course, the use of the mediums of television and radio are in and of themselves Neptunian since they are both used to drive and create a desired image (Neptune). And in a sense, political theater (Neptune) and intrigue serve as a form of entertainment for the masses. Indeed, entertainment is escapist (Neptune) in nature, allowing for brief interludes away from the daily routine.

What follows is an examination of the biographies of the modern Presidents to see how this aspect played out in their lives. The individual chapters were written for both the accomplished astrologer as well as for those who have little or no knowledge of astrology. When a planetary archetype was found to be visible in their biographies, the planet in question is in parentheses. The primary emphasis is on the Sun in aspect to Neptune and how it played out in the Presidents' individual lives. But as astrologers know, one cannot isolate a particular aspect in a birth chart and claim to know what motivates or drives a person. Thus, in addition, other important natal aspects---such as Sun-Mars, or Sun-Pluto, for example---that seemed to drive and motivate these men are simultaneously delineated along with the Sun-Neptune aspect. Many also had several planets that formed aspects to Neptune in addition to their Sun-Neptune aspect. In a true Neptunian sense, the lines are sometimes blurred as to whether something was exclusively descriptive of a Sun-Neptune, or descriptive of Neptune in aspect to another planet, or descriptive of archetypal Neptune in general. Therefore, often only Neptune is indicated in parentheses instead of Sun-Neptune or Mars-Neptune, etc.

I followed no pattern except those that came up in their individual biographies. Each of the individual chapters can stand alone and are not dependent on any previous or subsequent chapter. In addition, the important astrological transits (the daily movement of the planets that often make aspects to natal planets) that occurred during their lives are delineated, as well as some of the important aspects their chart makes to the birth chart of the United States. Some connections with the US chart are dramatic; others are not as dramatic so were not mentioned. I also took an interest in what I call the astrological family inheritance, a phenomenon whereby family members of a particular President also had the Sun in aspect to Neptune, found primarily in the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama families. This writing does not in any way attempt to analyze their actual Presidencies or terms of office; however, in some instances, it does make mention of important events that carry the themes most often associated with Sun-Neptune or Neptune in general.

It was in my Archetypes, Art, and Culture class with Richard Tarnas that I saw a clip of the 1947 film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which was used to convey the archetypal meaning of Neptune. It was this film clip of the Walter Mitty character---driving in a dreamlike state, the ever hopeful but delusional dreamer (Sun-Neptune) who imagined great things for himself and visualized himself as various heroic figures---that came to mind as I researched Lyndon Johnson and read Doris Kearns Goodwin's account of young Lyndon's trip back to Texas to start life anew after his two-year sojourn in California. He had left Texas in a rebellious moment after high school graduation. Johnson recounted his drive to Kearns Goodwin, recalling that he was a passenger in the car on a drive during which he very nearly imitated the delusional dreamer, Walter Mitty.

He described the thoughts and the great things he imagined for himself then, I still believed my mother the most beautiful, sexy, intelligent woman I'd ever met and I was determined to recapture her wonderful love, but not at the price of my daddy's respect. Finally, I saw it all before me. I would become a political figure. Daddy would like that. He would consider it a manly thing to be. But that would be just the beginning. I was going to reach beyond my father. I would finish college; I would build great power and gain high office. Mother would like that. I would succeed where her own father had failed; I would go to the Capitol and talk about big ideas. She would never be disappointed in me again.( 3 )

Thus, I described this Neptune-like moment in Johnson's life as a Walter Mitty moment. The difference between Johnson and Mitty, though, was that Johnson eventually realized his dreams, but in that moment his aspirations could have seemed delusional (Neptune). Unbeknownst to me at the time of the Johnson writing, other politicians were being likened to Walter Mitty in the political lexicon, the term being used to ridicule them. I came upon this fact as I later researched Richard Nixon. I knew that the only major aspect Nixon's Sun made in his chart was the opposition to Neptune. (The Sun also made the semi-square to Venus which is considered minor.) I knew he was also influenced by one other major aspect in his chart, the Mars-Pluto opposition, but I was confused as to exactly how Sun-Neptune revealed itself in his biography.

Then, in the final book I read on Nixon, I came across the mention of Walter Mitty, and it was an aha moment. In the Prologue to his book, The Arrogance of Power: the Secret World of Richard Nixon, Anthony Summers wrote of Nixon, Henry Kissinger has written of the 'Walter Mitty dimensions of his personality...the absence of any sense of proportion. His self-image of coolness in crisis...distorted by the dogged desperation with which he attacked his problems...The titanic struggle among the various personalities within him.'( 4 ) With this reference to Walter Mitty, the Neptunian nature of Nixon's personality and how his Sun-Neptune aspect played out in his life became much clearer.

The Sun and the aspects it makes to other planets along with its sign and house placement describes the basic identity of an individual and what essentially makes him or her tick. The Sun, as mentioned previously, also symbolizes the father. The nature of Neptune, on the other hand, and what it symbolizes in a natal chart is harder to define in a few sentences. Its attributes, like the planet itself, can be somewhat nebulous (Neptune), amorphous (Neptune) or difficult to actually ascertain.

Fortunately, its archetypal meaning has been thoroughly delineated by a number of excellent astrologers, and I cannot really add anything new to what they have written. The meaning of archetypal Neptune is exquisitely described by Richard Tarnas in his book Psyche and Cosmos. Liz Greene has also done a very thorough rendering of Neptune, including the aspects it makes to other planets, in her book, The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption. In addition, Sue Tompkins, author of Aspects in Astrology, A Guide to Understanding Planetary Relationships in the Horoscope, does a very thorough examination of the Sun-Neptune aspect.

The range of expressions of a Sun-Neptune aspect is very wide. It is almost impossible to delineate all of its manifestations. But, to be sure, any delineation will remain true to the basic archetypal meaning of the Sun and Neptune. One important note---it is impossible to predict by looking at a natal chart whether or not the person will express a positive or negative side of an aspect. This knowledge is only gained in retrospect after various chapters of an individual's life have unfolded.

What follows after this introduction is a list of keywords associated with Neptune that I have found to be expressive of archetypal Neptune as it played out in the biographies of the modern Presidents. Each physical expression of the keyword was found in one or all of the Presidential biographies. As I went along in the writing, it was often impossible to say whether something was expressive of archetypal Neptune in general or expressive of Neptune aspecting the Sun or Neptune aspecting another planet.

I also describe immediately following Keywords some themes of the Sun-Neptune aspect as it seemed to play out in several of the Presidential biographies. The notations (Neptune) or (Sun-Neptune) in parentheses, or brackets within quotes, are indicated throughout the writings to inform the reader, especially those not familiar with astrology. There often is a lot of overlap, and as stated previously, it can be difficult to say whether something represents archetypal Neptune in general or the actual Sun-Neptune aspect. I also made note of many other expressions of archetypal planetary aspects in their lives, such as (Sun-Mars) or (Mars-Neptune), and those, too, are couched in parentheses.

Citations

1.   David Maraniss, First in His Class, The Biography of Bill Clinton. New York: Touchstone,1995, 323.

2.   Jonathan Alter, The Defining Moment, FDR'S Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2007, 21.

3.   Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976, 1991, 44.

4.   Anthony Summers, The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon. New York: Viking, 2000, XV.

Neptune Keywords Associated with the Modern Presidents

acting, advertising, alcohol, ambiguous, amorphous, art, bliss, blur, cast a spell, chameleon, charisma, charm, celebrity, compassion, confusion, daydreaming, deception, delusional, dissolving, the divine, dreams, drugs, egoless, elusiveness, empathy, enchantment, escapism, evasiveness, fake, fame, fantasy, fascination, film, fog, flattery and glad-handing, formless, fuse, fuzzy, ghosts, God-like, glamour and glitz, guru, heaven, Hollywood, humanitarianism that is global and universal, idealism, idealistic, idealize, idol, idolize, idyllic, illusion, image, imagination, imitator, infiltration of people and space, inspiring, intoxicated, intuition, intuitive, lack of boundaries, liquid, magic, media (all kinds), merge into one, messiah, mimicry, miracles, movies, music, mystical, mythology, naiveté, narcissistic, nebulous, non-reality, the ocean, oneness, oneness with humanity and oneness with the common man, outer space, painting (art), permeable boundaries, photography, poetry, porous boundaries, prescience, psychic, redemption, retreat, religious, romantic, rosy outlook (seeing world through rose colored glasses), sacrifice, salvation, sea, seduction, sensitive, spiritual, sponge, soulful, stage, subconscious, tears, television, theater, unitive, universality, unrealistic, vagueness, waffling.

Sun-Neptune Aspect Themes and the Modern Presidents

The Sun symbolizes one's basic identity and with the aspects it makes to the other planets it defines one's basic personality and how one attempts to shine (Sun) as a unique individual. The Sun also symbolizes the father so attributes assigned to the Sun can also reflect one's father. With the Sun-Neptune aspect as it relates to the Presidents, these are just some of the themes I found to a greater or lesser degree that are reflective of their Sun-Neptune aspect: physically or emotionally absent fathers---this is in line with Jonathan Alter's observation as noted in the introduction---alcoholic fathers (a few Presidents had drinking problems themselves); fear of failure with the corresponding fear that they would end up a Nobody; fathers who were sick, weak, or failures; belief that they and/or their father are victims; wishing to redeem self and/or father; idealistic, big dreamers; confusion about their identity and fear that they may lack a real identity or have no true identity; lives spent striving to become a Somebody; inflation of self and feelings of self importance; idealization of the father; narcissistic; heightened sense of self importance and the wish to inflate and elevate their standing in the world; sense that they are special or want to be special; glamorize identity and the self; ability to merge or infiltrate any group and at their core hard to know since they are chameleons changing identities to fit with the situation or event at hand; self-sabotage at various times in their lives; kinship with the common man or Everyman and the masses; self-delusional; engaging in escapist activities; religious tendencies; see themselves as mythical heroes; celebrity identity, actor, entertainer/performer; artist/painter, musician, poet; storyteller, charmer, flatterer; imitator, martyr, global peacemaker, missionary, populist, savior, rescuer, uniter.

Aspect and Orb of All Sun-Neptune Presidents

This chart indicates the aspect and orb for those Presidents with a Sun-Neptune aspect. Aspects used: conjunction, semi-square, sextile, square, trine, sesquiquadrate, quincunx, and opposition. The novile aspect for Bill Clinton was used. The semi-square, sesquiquadrate and quincunx were used if the orb was less than 3 degrees. Based on birth dates from Astro-databank: www.astro.com/astro-databank.

Other Planetary Aspects and the Modern Presidents

Other planetary aspects made by the Suns of the thirteen Presidents of this writing in addition to the Sun-Neptune aspect. Aspects used are the conjunction, semi-square, sextile, square, trine, sesquiquadrate, quincunx and opposition. The Moon is not used since some of the Presidents do not have an exact time of birth.

Sun-Mercury (Sun with Mercury can only make a conjunction)

Sun-Venus (Sun with Venus can only make the conjunction and semi-square)

Sun-Mars

Sun-Jupiter

Sun-Saturn

Sun-Uranus

Sun-Pluto

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

32nd President

Presidency from March 4, 1933 - April 12, 1945

Born January 30, 1882, 8:45 P.M., Hyde Park, New York (Rodden Rating AA)

Sun square Neptune

Venus square Neptune

Mars semi-square Neptune

Jupiter conjunct Neptune

Saturn conjunct Neptune

Uranus trine Neptune

Aspects between Roosevelt's natal chart and natal chart of US:

His Moon conjuncts US Sun, Jupiter and Venus

His Mercury exactly conjuncts US Moon

His Mars conjuncts US Mars

His Uranus conjuncts US Neptune

His Ascendant forms a tight conjunction with US Neptune

President Roosevelt is one of the giants in the pantheon of US Presidents, consistently ranking among the top three Presidents to ever serve the United States. His presidency is particularly interesting in the context of this writing since he was President when the US had its first and only Neptune return (Neptune returning to its natal position) since it became a nation. This return was exact for the first time in 1938. Moreover, both Roosevelt's private and public lives were imbued with many motifs associated with the archetypal complex of the planet Neptune.

Roosevelt was born into wealth that stemmed from both sides of his family. Opium (drugs are always associated with Neptune) was a chief commodity for his mother's family, and the West Indian sugar trade, real estate and other investments brought wealth to his father's family. He had a happy childhood and especially loved sailing the Atlantic during the family's annual trips to Europe, which often lasted for months. He also enjoyed sailing around Campobello, the family's summer retreat, with his father. He was particularly fascinated by the sea (Neptune), and by sailing, and spent hours reading about boats and the adventures of various mariners.

His mother came from an adventurous seafaring family, and Roosevelt often spoke of her long sea voyage to China. Water (Neptune) and sailing (Neptune) played an important role in his life story (Sun square Neptune), water and the ocean (Neptune) always symbolic of Neptune's permeable and dissolving qualities.

Private tutors were procured for him until he entered Groton, a private boarding school, when he was fourteen. His many boyhood travels were the reason he was so fluent in French and proficient in German. During his youth, Roosevelt spent almost as much time in Europe as he spent in the United States. When he was born, his father, James, was already in his mid-fifties, and when Franklin was eight, in 1890, he had a mild heart attack. James played with him as much as he could and taught him how to sail, but after his heart attack he gradually grew too frail to participate in a lot of activities with his young son.

In their annual travels to Europe, the family often went to the spas (Neptune) in Germany and France renowned for their curative powers, hoping to heal the elder Roosevelt. In December, 1900, when Franklin was eighteen and a freshman at Harvard, his father died. Roosevelt's Sun square Saturn-Neptune is symbolic of the frail (Neptune), sickly (Neptune), old (Saturn) father (Sun) who was not completely available to him in his youth.

When his father died, transit Neptune was in the tenth house of FDR's natal chart forming a conjunction with his natal Mars. The fourth and tenth houses are symbolic of the parents---some astrologers assign the tenth to the mother and the fourth to the father, and other astrologers assign the tenth to the father and the fourth to the mother. Neptune transiting the tenth house at this time not only suggests the loss of Roosevelt's father but also his confusion and malaise concerning his future, feelings perhaps to be expected of a college freshman but made even more poignant because Neptune was transiting in his tenth house of career and status, and his father had just died.

After graduating from Harvard in 1904, Franklin entered law school at Columbia University. He failed to complete law school---dropping out in the middle of his third year---but he still passed the New York State bar. He practiced law briefly, but it didn't hold his interest for long. Young Frank was rather bored with the law profession and told his fellow law school clerks at one point that he wanted to get into politics as soon as he could, that he thought he could actually be President someday. Apparently, he had his route to the White House all mapped out. His goals were to first win a seat in the New York State Assembly, then an appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and then get elected to the governorship of the State of New York. His plans drew heavily from the route taken by his cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt.( 1 ) With his natal Mars in the tenth house---the tenth house symbolic of one's career and standing in the world---he probably needed a career that was exciting and action-packed. Politics at this time probably seemed very glamorous (Neptune) to him as transit Neptune was transiting his tenth house of career.

While transit Neptune was still in Franklin's natal tenth house and approaching the conjunction to his natal Moon in 1903, when he was still at Harvard, he fell in love with his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. They married in March, 1905, as transit Neptune made a very tight conjunction (one degree from exactitude) to his natal Moon (wife). This marriage glamorized (Neptune) politics for him even more since it gave him the opportunity to pay a number of visits to the White House while Theodore Roosevelt ruled the country.

When he and Eleanor took a second honeymoon to Europe during the summer break between his first and second year of law school, they visited a clairvoyant in Paris. Franklin wrote his mother about this experience and reported, I am to be President of the U.S. or the Equitable, I couldn't make out which.( 2 )

FDR's dream of entering politics was realized in November, 1910, when he was elected to the State Senate in New York. Roosevelt proved to have a gift for the art of campaigning, displaying confidence and self-assurance, perhaps in part due to his status as a member of the wealthy, aristocratic, New York elite. Jean Edward Smith writes, FDR was having the time of his life. Nothing seemed to lessen his enthusiasm for jumping into a crowd, pumping hands, and making friends.( 3 ) One constituent described him as a top-notch salesman.( 4 ) The biographer H.W. Brands wrote that Roosevelt had no special qualifications for office; he brought no compelling new ideas to the campaign; he had little in common with most of the voters of his district; he utterly lacked elective experience. But he had that something---that sincerity, that charisma [Neptune]---that caused people to respond.( 5 ) Brands also quotes a feature writer from the New York Times who was profiling FDR. The reporter quoted wrote that in Roosevelt one saw a young man with the finely-chiseled face of a Roman patrician, only with a ruddier glow of health upon it. He is tall and lithe. With his handsome face and his form of supple strength he could make a fortune on the stage [Neptune].( 6 )

These descriptions of FDR are symbolized in his natal birth chart. His natal Sun-Venus conjunction in the fifth house of fun and games suggests that campaigning and politics were fun for him, fun in the sense that politics and campaigning are, at their most basic, a form of game playing.

Roosevelt's Sun square Jupiter and Neptune are indicative of the larger (Jupiter) than life, charismatic (Neptune), mythical (Neptune), and god-like (Neptune) qualities that were attributed to his character. As in theatre (Neptune), there was mutual suspension of disbelief between the performer, FDR, and the audience, his constituents (fifth house Sun is associated with the archetype of the performer, a natural trait of the Sun wanting to show off its specialness, and in astrology the fifth house is considered the ultimate placement for the Sun as the Sun rules the natural fifth house).

Like an actor upon the stage, Neptune has the ability to create illusions and deceptions. Like many with Sun square Jupiter, Franklin had a knack for exaggeration both in his personal and professional lives. Jupiter enlarges whatever it touches and is known for its salesmanship ability, including the potential to oversell a person or product through some form of exaggeration when in a hard aspect with the Sun. Adding Neptune to the mix brings the potential for deception (Neptune) and illusion (Neptune), or at least the ability to create an image (Neptune), whether the image created is true or false or somewhere in-between. Of course, exaggeration and deception do not necessarily illicit bad outcomes if they are used as tools to obtain noble goals. Franklin would indeed use these tools when he became President, but in the early stages of his political career, some thought of him as a rather snobbish aristocrat who was arrogant, superficial and somewhat of a dilettante.

FDR was very active in Democratic politics during his time as a State Senator and worked tirelessly for the election of President Woodrow Wilson in 1912. He was rewarded for his efforts and was appointed Assistant Secretary of the US Navy in March, 1913, a position that delighted him. At the time of the appointment, transit Pluto was within one degree of an exact conjunction with his natal Mars which is positioned at his Midheaven (MC). He had never served in the military, but his knowledge of the sea was more advanced than the other candidates. Roosevelt had loved ships all his life and had been a student of the navy. H. W. Brands writes that his practical knowledge of the sea outstripped that of nearly every other Democrat of comparable political promise and ambition.( 7 )

During his tenure, Franklin worked aggressively to improve and increase the country's naval capacity, and his bosses were pleased with his efforts. After about eighteen months on the job, he once again grew restless and wanted to further his political career. He tried, unsuccessfully, to get the party nomination for the New York US Senate seat in 1914. When he failed to get back into elected politics, he remained Assistant Naval Secretary.

With the outbreak of World War I and America's entry into the war in April, 1917, Franklin contemplated joining the military. He decided against it at the time. But on an official visit to the war fronts of France in the summer of 1918, as the war was winding down, FDR decided to resign as Assistant Naval Secretary and seek active duty in France as part of a naval artillery unit. As H. W. Brands wrote, Such an assignment might not be the stuff of heroism, but it would allow him to see action. With luck he might be decorated, even lightly wounded. A president-in-the-making couldn't ask for more.( 8 )

Roosevelt really wanted to see action. His romantic (Neptune) notion of serving in the war (Mars) is symbolized in his natal chart by the semi-square from Mars to Neptune. As events unfolded, he did not get the chance to resign his post and seek action. While in Europe, he was infected with the pandemic flu that spread worldwide and developed pneumonia. He returned to the US to recuperate. Shortly after his return, he had even more dire issues to confront.

Because Roosevelt was too ill to unpack his bags when he returned home, Eleanor unpacked them for him and found the love letters he had received from Lucy Mercer while in Europe. Lucy had been Eleanor's former social secretary. The bottom fell out of Eleanor's life and she threatened to leave him. Divorce was discussed, but her mother-in-law, Sara Roosevelt, would not hear of it and threatened to cut off FDR's inheritance. Franklin had always been close to his mother, and after his father's death, he had drawn even closer to her. In a sense, he became her surrogate husband, and likewise, she served as his surrogate wife, along with Eleanor. His political adviser, Louis Howe, thought divorce would be disastrous to his political career. Franklin promised never to see Lucy again and there was no divorce, but he and Eleanor never shared the same bed after that.

When this crisis in the marriage occurred in September, 1918, transit Neptune was forming an opposition to his natal Sun-Venus conjunction, as well as squaring his natal Neptune. The opposition between transit Neptune and natal Venus (love and relationships) was very tight. Transit Neptune was essentially forming a T-square with his natal Sun-Venus conjunction and his natal Neptune. Transit Neptune opposing his natal Venus at the time of the revelation is symbolic of the affair. Neptune-Venus can be seduced or can escape into what seems like a perfect fantasy relationship with the perfect goddess or god. There can be an endless search for the perfect person with whom one can share a perfect life filled with eternal bliss, but it is a search that can never end satisfactorily since humans are not divine. Sometimes, those with a natal Venus-Neptune aspect---especially those with a square between the planets like Roosevelt had---go from one relationship to the next in search of the ever-elusive divine. This Neptune transit at the time of the affair suggests self delusion and confusion surrounding his relationships. He did have five children at the time of the affair and many responsibilities. His natal Venus square natal Neptune suggests an innate proclivity to romanticize love and relationships. When transit Neptune came along it greatly multiplied this proclivity.

At the time of the affair, FDR also had transit Pluto in exact conjunction with his natal Moon. This transit reflected the serious emotional (Moon) turmoil (Pluto) he confronted in his home and with all the women (Moon) in his life---his wife, his mother, and also Lucy, his mistress. There are reports that Roosevelt continued to write to Lucy, and he apparently arranged for her presence at his 1933 inauguration.( 9 ) His daughter, Anna, began arranging visits between them in 1941, and Lucy was with him at his death in 1945. The news of FDR's affair was not public knowledge until the 1960s. Some biographers have suggested that Franklin was never truly close to anyone on an emotional level and wasn't prone to discussing his emotional life or open to discussing his emotional needs. His exact quincunx (the two planets 150 degrees apart) from his natal Moon to natal Venus might suggest uneasiness with emotions (Moon), especially in his relationships (Venus) with the women (Moon) in his life.

Ironically, it was the affair that set Eleanor's career in motion. She became an advocate and spokeswoman for social and humanitarian causes. Doris Kearns Goodwin writes, She was the first president's wife to hold---and lose---a government job, the first to testify before a congressional committee, the first to hold press conferences, to speak before a national party convention, to write a syndicated column, to be a radio commentator, to earn money as a lecturer.( 10 )

Eleanor developed a close political partnership with her husband which proved to be a very valuable asset to him as she was sent all over the country on investigative assignments. It was difficult for him to venture out on such assignments because of his disability and for the most part, the true nature of his condition was kept hidden from the American public. She was essentially the eyes and ears that assessed the state of the nation for him.

Even though Eleanor had given birth to six children, motherhood and the notion of being a good wife and mother had never really appealed to her. Her daughter, Anna, said that her mother told her that sex is an ordeal to be borne, and, after her brother, John's, birth, that was the end of any marital relationship, period.( 11 ) Although she was very supportive of FDR's political aspirations, she had no intention of playing the traditional roles of a President's wife, and in fact, lived many months apart from him after the affair. While he was President, Eleanor often lived in New York or was off on her assignments. She loved this part of her life.

Eleanor's need to have a career and be out in the world is symbolized by her tenth house Sun. Her almost crusade-like zeal for humanitarian and social causes is reflected in an eleventh house Mars (eleventh house is often associated with group and collective causes) in opposition to Neptune. The Mars oppose Neptune reflects her fight (Mars) for the underdog and the disadvantaged (Neptune). Saturn in the seventh house might describe her feelings about the nature of her marriage or marriage in general, and the square from Venus to Pluto certainly could reflect her feelings about sex and her marital relationship. Venus in semi-square to the Moon could reflect her ambivalent feelings about motherhood. Some women with hard aspects between the Moon and Venus feel that motherhood signifies an end to their days of youth and beauty (Venus), and that motherhood (Moon) is also when they are forced to adopt a more matronly countenance.

When Roosevelt was nominated at the 1920 Democratic Convention as Vice-Presidential candidate along with Presidential candidate, James Cox, Governor of Ohio, he resigned from his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. They lost the election that November. Roosevelt then headed for Wall Street in January, 1921, where he was hired as Vice President of Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland. He thought he should return to the private sector to replenish his finances which had been significantly reduced after ten years of public service and campaigning. However, fate would not be kind to him.

Within seven months of starting his new position, FDR was stricken with polio in August, 1921, as he vacationed with his family on Campobello Island. He loved to sail, swim, and play games with his children. One afternoon, after taking a dip in the waters of Lake Glen Severn and then an icy dip in the Bay of Fundy with his children, he returned to the family cottage feeling completely exhausted. Within a short time thereafter, he developed a fever and chills. Thinking he had only caught a bad cold, he went to bed, but in the morning, when he tried to stand, his legs buckled and he ached all over. His condition worsened daily until he was basically paralyzed from the neck down.

His back, arm, and leg muscles were extremely weak. He also lost all bladder and bowel control and was for the most part an invalid during the early stages of polio. At one point there was even concern over his eyesight. The doctor advised Eleanor and Franklin's friend, Louis Howe, to massage his legs. This proved very painful for him and was later determined to be detrimental to his progress since it caused additional irritation of his muscles and nerves, and the atrophy to his leg muscles was increasing.

While he remained at Campobello, Eleanor and Louis Howe took care of all Franklin's daily needs, moving him, turning and bathing him, and brushing his teeth. Eleanor also took care of his catheter and gave him enemas. In mid-September, Roosevelt was taken to a hospital in New York. In October, his arms and back muscles recovered, and he was able to sit up and pull himself up by a strap. With some assistance, he learned to swing himself into a wheelchair. He began an intensive exercise regimen in December, always working himself much harder than required by the prescribed exercise of the therapist.

FDR exercised in a heated pool and used the parallel bars on the lawn in an attempt to strengthen his arms. His progress was slow. In March, 1922, he was fitted with steel braces that weighed fourteen pounds and ran from his heels to above his hips. After seven months in bed, Franklin's ability to balance had vanished, and it required the assistance of all hands just to get him to his feet. Since his hips were paralyzed, he was incapable of moving his legs individually and was taught to pivot forward on his crutches, using his head and upper body for leverage.( 12 ) He practiced this walk for months until he was thoroughly exhausted and sweating profusely. In late 1922, with much difficulty, Roosevelt attempted to return to his job with Fidelity & Deposit.

In May, 1923, he saw the physician who had been treating him for one last examination. His arm and neck mobility was fully recovered and he had regained bowel and bladder control, but he remained paralyzed from the waist down and was unable to flex his hips. The doctor was not hopeful that he would ever make any more progress. Roosevelt continued to search for miracle cures as he carried on with his exercise regimen and swimming, but other than improving his ability to get around, his efforts effected no change in his condition.( 13 )

When FDR was stricken with polio, transit Mars and transit Neptune were both opposing his natal Sun in a tight opposition, and on the day the symptoms first began, August 10, 1921, transit Neptune was forming an exact square to his natal Neptune. Transit Mars and transit Neptune were thus forming a T-square with his natal Sun-Neptune square. With natal Neptune, the square was exact. He also had a transit Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in a tight conjunction with his Ascendant. Throughout the ordeal, he kept a stiff upper lip, reflecting the Saturn transit on the Ascendant, and also, reflecting Jupiter on the Ascendant, tried to be very cheerful, putting a positive spin on the tragic diagnosis and giving an outward impression of hope. He was insistent on seeing the bright side of life. The transit Mars-Neptune conjunction opposing his Sun suggests his much-weakened state due to the polio virus. Neptune is associated with permeable boundaries, thus the ease with which the virus entered the body. With this transit there was also perhaps confusion (Neptune) about his identity (Sun) and what path his life would take. FDR as the nearly helpless victim (Neptune) who had to accept and surrender to the many indignities of his illness is also reflective of this Neptune transit at the time

Roosevelt refused to give up hope that he would regain the use of his legs. It was known that polio patients could benefit from a regimen of physical therapy. Without exercise, patients' muscles severely atrophied and their hips gradually deteriorated due to lack of weight-bearing exercise. The circulatory system also worsened. Patients needed much assistance to properly exercise. Remembering the numerous trips his family had made to a spa in Germany during his father's lengthy illness, Franklin set out to find similar spas in the United States. Although the United States had nowhere near the number of spas as Europe and was behind Europe in recognizing the possible curative powers of natural spring waters, he had heard of Warm Springs, Georgia, where there were reports of a polio patient who had greatly improved after spending time at the springs. After three years of exercise with no noticeable improvement to his legs, FDR set out for Warm Springs in late 1924.

Franklin fell in love with Warm Springs immediately. He believed his health and legs were improving shortly after he started working out in the spring water pool. The spring water made him so buoyant that he could paddle around in the water for hours. He hoped to somehow rebuild his legs. He eventually spent a little more than half his time there from 1925-1928. Shortly after he arrived in Georgia, a reporter wrote an article about his condition that was widely circulated around the country, relating the benefits to his health that Warm Springs provided. He received hundreds of letters from fellow polio victims, many of them anxious to visit Warm Springs to see if their health would also improve.

On his second trip to Georgia in the spring of 1925, he found polio victims were coming to the springs based on press reports of his good fortune at the spa. These visitors, however, were not quite as welcomed as he was---his welcome was due in part because of his political celebrity status as a former Vice-Presidential candidate. The owners of the spa at the Meriwether Inn feared that polio victims would drive their regular spa customers away because of their fear of catching polio. It was not known how the disease was transmitted, and many were afraid they could become infected in the pools.

Roosevelt negotiated with the owners to let the polio victims stay and convinced them to build a separate pool so that their regular customers would not be repulsed by all the cripples as they were referred to. He also arranged for them to stay at other nearby cottages, out of view of the regular spa attendees.

In the new pool, he led them in exercises, held lectures on the anatomy of the skeletal-muscular system, found specialists for them in their hometowns, and, above all, dispensed great hope (Sun square Jupiter-Neptune conjunction) to them that their lives would improve. He also led them in all manner of fun games and conversation. They quickly came to love him.

Roosevelt began to feel that the only way to insure a quality facility for victims of polio was to purchase the spa. Eleanor was very concerned about the expense. But in April, 1926, Franklin successfully bought the resort and in January, 1927, created the non-profit Georgia Warm Springs Foundation which eventually bought out his vested interest. No polio victim would be turned away because of lack of