Nancy Reagan Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Astrological consultations === [[File:President Ronald Reagan Being Sworn in for a Second Term by Chief Justice Warren Burger as Nancy Reagan Observes during the Private Ceremony at the White House.jpg|thumb|right|"The Gaze": Reagan watches as her husband is sworn in for a second term by Chief Justice [[Warren E. Burger|Warren Burger]], on January 20, 1985.]] During the Reagan administration, Nancy Reagan consulted a San Francisco [[Astrology|astrologer]], [[Joan Quigley]], who provided advice on which days and times would be optimal for the president's safety and success.<ref name="First Lady Nancy Reagan" /><ref name="Ivins, Molly">{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDF1030F93BA25750C0A966958260|title=Stars and Strife|access-date= November 16, 2007|date= March 18, 1990|newspaper=The New York Times|last=Ivins|first= Molly|author-link=Molly Ivins}}</ref> Quigley began her work at the White House after the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981. Nancy Reagan was told by Merv Griffin that Quigley had predicted that day would be dangerous for President Reagan, causing her to become a regular astrological consultant for the administration.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-24 |title=Astrologer who helped guide President Reagan's schedule dies at 87 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/reagan-familys-trusted-astrologer-dies-87 |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}}</ref> Quigley previously worked on the Reagan campaign prior to serving as their astrological consultant. She volunteered for their campaign in 1980, as she was impressed by his astrological chart. Private lines were set up in the White House and Camp David to assist in phone calls between Nancy Reagan and Joan Quigley, which occurred multiple times a day, and she was paid $3,000 a month for her work.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=October 14, 2014 |title=Joan Quigley, Astrologer to a First Lady, Is Dead at 87 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/joan-quigley-astrologer-to-a-first-lady-is-dead-at-87.html |access-date=November 22, 2022 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> [[White House Chief of Staff]] [[Donald Regan]] grew frustrated with this regimen, which created friction between him and the first lady. This friction escalated with the revelation of the [[Iran–Contra affair]], an administration scandal, in which the first lady felt Regan was damaging the president.{{clarify|date=October 2020}}<ref>Anthony, C.S. (1991), p. 396.</ref> She thought he should resign, and expressed this to her husband, although he did not share her view. Regan wanted President Reagan to address the Iran-Contra matter in early 1987 by means of a press conference, though the first lady refused to allow her husband to overexert himself due to a recent prostate surgery and astrological warnings.<ref>Anthony, C.S. (1991), p. 398.</ref> She became so angry with Regan that he hung up on her during a 1987 telephone conversation. According to the recollections of [[ABC News]] correspondent [[Sam Donaldson]], when the President heard of this treatment, he demanded—and eventually received—Regan's resignation.<ref>{{cite video | people=Thomas, Rhys (Writer/Producer); Donaldson, Sam (interviewee)|year=2005 | title=The Presidents| medium=Documentary | publisher=A&E Television}}</ref> Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]] is also reported to have suggested to her to have Regan fired.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/kate-andersen-brower-hillary-clinton-owes-nancy-reagan-article-1.2557427|title=What Hillary Clinton owes Nancy Reagan: The late First Lady wielded real influence on her husband's presidency|date=March 9, 2016|work=Daily News|location=New York}}</ref> In his 1988 memoir, ''For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington'', Regan wrote the following about Nancy Reagan's consultations with an astrologer: {{blockquote|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 [Quigley] who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.<ref>Donald Regan. ''For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington'', (San Diego: Harcourt Trade Publishers, 1988), {{ISBN|0151639663}}</ref><ref name="peopleast">{{cite web |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20099022,00.html |title=The President's Astrologers |work=People |last1=Wadler |first1=Joyce |last2=Blessing |first2=Angela |last3=Mathison |first3=Dirk |last4=Bonnett Sellinger |first4=Margie |date=May 23, 1988 |access-date=July 30, 2021 }}</ref>}} Donald Regan's memoir went on to cause political discourse, as well as scrutiny of the astrological community, as he exposed the "most closely guarded secret" of the Reagan administration. Although he did not know Quigley's name at the time, he wrote extensively on her role in the White House.<ref name=":0" /> Regan further claimed that Quigley selected the date of the 1985 Geneva Summit. For her part, Quigley stated in 1998 that she had "'absolutely nothing'" to do with arranging the summit and added that others were "'overemphasizing'" her role;<ref name="peopleast"/> however, in 1990, she released a book in which she asserted that she was "in charge" of the President's scheduling during the Reagan administration.<ref name="Ivins, Molly"/> Reagan acknowledged in her memoirs that she altered the President's schedule without his knowledge based on astrological advice, but argues that "no political decision was ever based [on astrology]".<ref name="times">{{cite news|work=The New York Times|date=November 1, 1989|access-date=June 3, 2008|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DC1330F932A35752C1A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|title=Books of the Times; Nancy Reagan Tells Her Side of the Stories|author=Apple, R. W. Jr}}</ref> She added, "Astrology was simply one of the ways I coped with the fear I felt after my husband almost died ... Was astrology one of the reasons [further attempts did not occur]? I don't ''really'' believe it was, but I don't ''really'' believe it wasn't."<ref>Reagan, Nancy (1989), pp. 44, 47.</ref> [[File:Reagans talking in Oval Office cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Nancy and Ronald Reagan together in the Oval Office, 1985]] Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page