After looking at Nixon’s fall I got curious about why he didn’t win the first Presidential elections he participated in. In the national popular vote, Kennedy beat Nixon by less than two-tenths of one percentage point (0.17%), the closest popular vote margin of the 20th century. So what were the astrology factors that defined that tight victory?
It’s always good to start with the natal chart itself.
i) Interestingly, we’ll discover some similarities between Kennedy’s and Nixon’s natal charts:
A. Mars-Mercury-Jupiter conjunction: the tendency to act when just some analytics or communication is necessary and vice versa; acting or talking about big, meaningful stuff. Both conjunctions get additional energy from hard aspects: Kennedy’s is supported by square from Uranus in the 4th House; Nixon’s is supported by Pluto in the 10th House (both 4th and 10th Houses are about the country you live in).
B. Moon in Aquarius for Kennedy is very similar to Nixon’s Moon in the 11th House: being comfortable with belonging to big groups of people, thinking about the future and progress, inclusion.
ii) There are differences in the natal charts as well, of course.
A) Nixon is surprisingly better suited for being a formal leader of the country from my astrology point of view. His Sun is in the 4th House (deep connection with the country) in Capricorn with the trine from Saturn (systemic approach, understanding hierarchy, great management skills). Kennedy’s Saturn is not part of his personality, his Sun is in the 11th House in conjunction with Venus. This is more about a partnership, energy via crisis, transformation, and investment.
2. Transits for the election day – November 8th, 1960.
Kennedy: Pluto squares Sun, composing formula 7/10 (public gives power), activating natal square Sun-Moon (father pushing Kennedy to become a President).
Nixon: Jupiter has the trine with Venus, composing formula 7/7 (love of public), activating Pluto-Mars/Mercury/Jupiter opposition in the natal chart (actions and moral values fight with the desire to be on top).
3. Solar returns for the election day – November 8th, 1960.
Kennedy: Asc in the 5th House (axis 5-11) – the importance of some kind of global events; MC in 3rd House (axis 3-9) – the potential of the informal leadership turning to formal leadership; Saturn in 9th House – the potential of the informal leadership turning to formal leadership; Jupiter, Sun and Venus in Houses of 3-9 axis (personal leadership).
Nixon: Asc and MC are in the same positions as Kennedy’s; Venus in the 10th House (public love can potentially bring to the top); Sun, Mercury, and Saturn in the 12th House (not many chances for any public success).
4. Directions for the election day – November 8th, 1960, which I believe are the decisive indicators in any prognosis.
Kennedy: two 10/10 formulas made up by Sun (strong planet and ruler of the 10th House), one of which is the conjunction (the strongest aspect you can get); two formulas 7/10, one of which is made up again by the Sun (public gives power); one formula 9/10 made up by Neptune’s conjunction with 9th House (informal leadership becomes formal).
Nixon: no single formula 10/10; two formulas 7/10; one formula 9/10; no conjunctions. Not impressive at all.
Let’s compare these indicators with indicators for the elections Nixon won.
1968: 7/7 formula (public love) created by conjunction; 7/10 formula; 10/11 formula (formal position through politics) created by conjunction.
1972: multiple formulas 10/11 (one conjunction); Sun arrived at the cusp of the 7th House (“I” equals “publics”, whatever I want, the public wants); one formula 9/11.
As we can see for the victorious elections Nixon had conjunctions in the related houses which wasn’t the case in the 1960’s election. I would also pay attention to the lack of 10/10 or 7/10 formulas for Nixon’s victory in 1972. I think this shows the weakness of the victory and is part of why Nixon resign during the second term.