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QUIGLEY, JOAN 1927-

WHIT E HOUSE ASTROLOGER

Stranger Than Fiction

In Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land the president of the world secretly receives advice from an astrologer. In 1988 it was learned that the wife of the president of the United States had, for some years, been consulting an astrologer concerning her husband's schedule. Nancy Reagan's unnamed "friend" was soon revealed to be San Francisco astrologer Joan Quigley. Astonishment and outrage that the leader of the free world was guided in his actions by a woman who saw destiny in the stars provided the Reagan administration with one of its greatest embarrassments.

How to Become a White House Astrologer

Quigley, who was educated at prestigious Vassar College, had been interested in astrology since she was a teenager. After college she began studying with an astrologer and writing about the subject for the magazine Seventeen. Born into a prominent San Francisco family, she returned to the city and lived a dual existence as an astrologer and socialite. A regular guest on radio and television programs, she first met Nancy Reagan in 1973 on The Merv Griffin Show. Both Reagans possessed an interest in astrology, as Ronald Reagan revealed in his 1965 autobiography Where's the Rest of Me?, but Nancy Reagan did not begin consulting Quigley until 1981, when Quigley told her that she had accurately predicted that someone would attempt to assassinate the president. Fearing for her husband's safety, Mrs. Reagan began consulting Quigley regularly about the president's schedule.

All Is Revealed

The American public did not know that the White House had its own astrologer until 1988, when former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan, who had been ousted from his position in 1986, revealed in his memoir, For the Record, that the first lady regularly received advice from an astrologer, whom she called her "Friend," and that on the basis of this advice she manipulated the president's itinerary. Time magazine quickly uncovered Quigley's identity, and she stepped into the limelight. Both she and the Reagan administration stressed that she did not offer advice about policy, only about scheduling, but the damage was done, and Mrs. Reagan took Quigley off the payroll.

Contradictions

Furthermore, after Nancy Reagan's memoir My Turn (1989), in which the former first lady downplayed Quigley's influence, Quigley responded in her memoir, "What Does Joan Say?" My Seven Years as White House Astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan (1990), by quoting Regan's review of Mrs. Reagan's book, where he said that whoever "controls the President's schedule controls the workings of the presidency," thus highlighting her influence in major policy decisions. Her prescience was not complete, however: when the story broke she mentioned that because Ronald Reagan was born with Mercury in Capricorn, his memory was excellent, failing to predict his battle with Alzheimer's disease in the mid 1990s.