The Vice Presidency is such a strange political post. As we’ve all watched The West Wing and House of Cards, we know what goes on. A presidential candidate will offer the job as running mate for a whole combination of reasons.

Often the choice is made for the simple political reason that the proposed VP comes from a different point on the political or geographical spectrum and would broaden the candidates appeal to the electorate.

Sometimes the offer of running mate is a way of neutralising an opponent for the party ticket, getting them to withdraw their own candidacy in exchange for 2nd in command with perhaps the offer to support them for the main job when it next comes around.

Because the Vice President has no real role other than around election time, you would think that these offers would be rejected by most ambitious politicians. But it is still tempting for one reason alone, the holder is only a ” heartbeat ” away from the Presidency.

And there are times when its more tempting than others.

Most people know of the so called curse of Tippicanoe which meant that every President elected in a year ending in a zero between 1840 and 1960 died or was killed in office. That’s 7 in a row. But most people do not realise that this curse is astrological.

There is one planetary cycle of exceptional regularity and that is the Jupiter / Saturn relationship. The conjunction between these two occurs every 20 years. It goes without saying that this occurred in 1841 and every 20 years to 1961 during the 1st year of office of all 7 of these Presidents.

Jupiter and Saturn are the two planets that traditionally have had the strongest impact on Mundane or Political Astrology. Jupiter ruled the king or ruler or leader, Saturn ruled the end of things or death. So death of the King / President.

For more information on this see Coincidence – The Greatest Conspiracy Theory of All 

Nine vice presidents have taken over the top job after the death or resignation of the President and four more became President at the end of the incumbent’s term.

Given this state of affairs it’s not surprising that the very first Vice President, John Adams  said “I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything.”

So the offer of running mate can be a gamble worth taking.

To begin with the idea didn’t exist. In the first three elections the top two candidates would be named President and Vice President, respectively. However, this caused some problems as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed on just about everything.

A look at their relationship might tell us why.

The all time classic aspect in any form of synastry is the Sun of one partner conjunct the Moon of the other.

This is a kind of soul mate connection, certainly an arrangement where the two parties were fated to be drawn together in a relationship. But of course what kind of relationship largely depends on the sign and aspects involved.

John Adams’ Scorpio Sun together with an Aries Moon opposite Mars gives the impression of someone who’s quite capable of having an argument with anyone.

Jefferson’s Sun sitting right on that Aries Moon and his T Square apex Mars in Leo makes him itching for a fight as well as indicating someone who would be unwilling to accept being a No 2.

As this relationship threw up all kinds of problems it was decided that in future each party would nominate two candidates, one for President and one for VP.

So Aaron Burr was selected as Thomas Jefferson’s running mate. This was utterly stupid and clear evidence that the early politicos were not getting astrological guidance.

Given that Jefferson had so many issues with a Moon in Aries President it made no sense to pick another one as his own deputy. To compound it by having a running mate with their Sun opposite his own apex Mars was just asking for trouble.

Which is exactly what Jefferson got. The vote ended in a tie, but Burr would not accept the Vice Presidency and a stalemate ensued. It was eventually solved after 36 separate ballots that Thomas Jefferson would become President. Aaron Burr was technically Vice President, but never trusted by Jefferson and kept at arms length.

So how do you go about picking a running mate who will actually help you get elected and work with you constructively once you gain office ?

As long as its not in Aries, a Sun / Moon connection would really make sense in terms of being able to agree on the important points and to work together.

A running mate would  have to bring something different to the ticket however, to broaden the electoral appeal otherwise there’s no point. Often the advantage can be a geographical one in that the VP nominee has a strong connection with a part of the country that the candidate lacks.

In this case a Sun / Moon aspect other than a conjunction would be best because it would mean that the running mate could bring something different to the table.

John F Kennedy picked Lyndon Johnson for this reason. JFK’s background was very much the east coast, liberal, catholic but did not appeal to the more conservative Democrat strongholds in the South, some of which would be needed to win the election. LBJ helped bring the Texas vote onboard in 1960.

As you might expect there was very powerful synastry between the two men.

Both had the Moon in Virgo so there was a basic sympathy but Johnson’s Moon was square to Kennedy’s Sun so he was able to bring that bit extra in a way that dovetailed nicely with the Democratic campaign in 1960.

There is one problem with picking a running mate with such tight synastry with your own. They will also reap similar transits to you.

This proved to be the case in November 1963 as Uranus squared JFK’s 8th house Sun in Dallas, it also conjuncted LBJ’s Moon and projected the Vice President into the Oval Office.

Of course Kennedy’s decision to run in the face of the Jupiter / Saturn curse was one thing but picking Johnson for a running mate may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it probably sealed his own fate too.

For the 1964 campaign Johnson picked Hubert Humphrey as a running mate. He said that Humphrey was the best qualified to become president should something happen to him.

LBJ went for the same connection that he had with JFK, his own Moon square Humphrey’s Sun in Gemini.

This made perfect sense because Johnson did not have much support on the left side of his party and Humphrey’s noted liberalism ( just like JFK ) helped soften some opposition.

Its possible Johnson used astrology to help make this choice, if so he would have doubtless have checked the ephemeris to see that there were not heavy duty transits to the first decanate of Mutable signs on the horizon.

An interesting reflection of this 1964 pairing came up again for the Democrats 12 years later when Jimmy Carter, also from the South picked another Minnesotan with liberal credentials, Walter Mondale as running mate to deliver a nicely balanced ticket.

Like the JFK and LBJ pairing, Carter and Mondale had a Sun / Sun square aspect and a Sun / Moon connection, a harmonious sextile between Jimmy’s Scorpio Moon and Walter’s Capricorn Sun.

Possibly the most successful pairing of all came in the election 4 years later as Ronald Reagan chose George Bush as his running mate. Bush was a moderate conservative which helped to soften some of Reagan’s right wing nutter appeal.

Capricorn Research has always felt that Aquarius is an overrated sign. Far from being the liberal, equality loving humanitarians that they are depicted, some of them are as reactionary, opinionated and stubborn as they come.

A T Square with an apex Sun is always guaranteed to provide a person with an overblown sense of their own importance and a dogmatic individual usually portraying many of the worst Leo characteristics, particularly if that T Square includes Jupiter.

Unfortunately the 1980s was saddled with two of these maniacs running the show as Margaret Thatcher had a T square with a Jupiter / Pluto opposition and an apex Sun.

Even worse each point of Reagan’s T Square was in trine to the same points in Thatcher’s so they got on like a house on fire and the rest of us suffered accordingly.

George Bush had a Air sign Grand Trine in material houses, which linked in perfectly as his Sun and Moon formed another Grand Trine with Reagan’s Sun.

It’s often said that Nancy Reagan only started to use the advice of astrologer Joan Quigley after the assassination attempt on her husband in 1981. But this inspired choice of running mate makes Capricorn Research wonder if the whole thing wasn’t inspired by astrology from the beginning. After all it would have been simple to use the attack as an excuse for something they’d already been playing with.

I always feel compelled to point out that the only way such a complete dickhead could become leader of the free world for 8 years was because his every move was made on consulting an astrologer.

Speaking of dickheads..

George W Bush was well short of most of the attributes that you would expect to be needed to become President, but that simple fact hadn’t stopped the American people voting for someone before. Dubya simply bypassed this fact by wrapping himself in the American flag, which is quite easy to get away with when your Sun is in the same degree of Cancer as the US chart.

It was recognised however, that he was short on national security and foreign policy experience. So he got Dick Cheney in as running mate.

This was another perfect match as Cheney’s Sun was trine Bush’s Moon and Bush’s Sun was trine Cheney’s Moon.

Its arguable that Dick Cheney had any impact on the election campaign but he certainly did once the pair were in office, as he effectively ran the show whilst the President sat there looking like a chimp.

One important point to make is that even if a candidate makes the perfect choice of running mate, this won’t change his own fate. In many ways it will confirm it.

We’ve already seen how Kennedy’s choice of Johnson tied in with his assassination as LBJ was destined to become President himself.

Another example of the vice president confirming the fortunes of the man in charge came from Richard Nixon’s choice of Spiro Agnew.

Agnew was selected because he was from Maryland, and could identify with Southerners without scaring away Northerners, despite his regular use of racial slurs on the campaign trail.

Nixon kept him on the ticket in 1972 and when asked why said ” with Agnew as Vice President no assassin in his right mind would kill me.”

The synastry between the two was very powerful. Agnew’s Moon was closely conjunct Nixon’s Sun, whilst his Sun was square the President’s Moon.

The trouble with this is that Agnew’s Moon would also be opposite Nixon’s Neptune which was the astrological symbol of the Watergate scandal.

Soon after the election it was revealed that Agnew had accepted bribes while Governor of Maryland.

Agnew’s Moon was in Capricorn in the 2nd house of finances opposite Jupiter on the cusp of the 8th of other people’s money about as good an indicator of financial corruption as you could imagine.

Spiro was forced to resign as Vice President, the first of many during the Nixon administration.

We know that Cancerians like to keep to the familiar, but Gerald Ford’s choices perhaps took that a little too far.

Ford’s first pick as Vice President on assuming office after Nixon’s resignation was fellow Sun conjunct Neptune in Cancer, Nelson Rockefeller.

Nelson Rockefeller also had the Moon in Scorpio square to Jupiter.

For the 1976 election however Ford dumped Rockefeller in favour of Bob Dole. This was not for geographical or ideological balance. He was looking for a conservative tough guy but astrologically he picked more or less the same person.

Dole is another Cancer also with the Moon in Scorpio in aspect to Jupiter. Bob Dole turned out to be a liability on the campaign trail and his performance in his debate with Walter Mondale was seen as a disaster.

So Ford lost to the Carter / Mondale ticket but he deserved to if only for sheer lack of imagination in his choice of running mate.

Undeterred by ignominious failure as is so often the case in politics, Bob Dole decided to have another crack in 1988, this time at the Presidency itself.

For running mate he chose Jack Kemp.

Kemp of course was another Cancerian and he also had the Moon in Sagittarius in aspect to Saturn just like Dole’s ex partner Gerald Ford.

Needless to say, the Dole / Kemp ticket sank without trace.

It really is hard to believe that so called astute businessmen will throw away millions of their own hard earned without doing even the most basic astrological research.

The moral of this story seems to be if you’ve got some dodgy solar aspects yourself, don’t pick someone with the Sun conjunct your own. It may sound like a good idea but it doesn’t work in practice, it just draws more attention to your own inadequacies.

But even this is not as daft as picking someone with their Moon conjunct yours.

John McCain recognised that one major disadvantage that he experienced in 2008 compared to Barack Obama was the age gap, so surely for this reason only, he got the bizarre, gaffe prone Sarah Palin onboard.

Both McCain and Palin had the Moon in early Aquarius. Palin’s Moon was part of a stellium in the sign a fact that comfortably backs up Capricorn Research’s theory that Aquarians are just as likely to be stubborn reactionaries as rebels.

Sarah Palin has the Sun conjunct Mars and Saturn in Aquarius which would neatly demonstrate an acute ability to open her mouth and put her foot in it at the same time. She soon became a laughing stock.

Palin’s Moon being conjunct McCain’s drew more attention to his lunar aspects in opposition to Pluto and square Uranus, and voters started to think what would happen if he died in office. They then took one look at Palin and stampeded to vote Democrat. The McCain campaign quickly came to resent Palin, and blamed her for the loss to Obama.

But the prize for most stupid pick of a running mate has to go to John Kerry in 2004.

Kerry’s Sun in Sagittarius is opposite a Moon / Saturn conjunction in Gemini in the 7th house of partners so he was bound to choose a running mate who would be a mistake.

Sure enough he picked John Edwards whose Sun was right in the middle of Kerry’s Moon / Saturn and so personified his poor choice.

Even George W Bush got more votes.

Kerry eventually came to regret the decision, and stated he wished he had never picked Edwards. The two stopped speaking to each other after the campaign ended.

Another laughably similar situation was that of third party candidate Ross Perot in 1992.

As an independent Perot was a non starter anyway but extremely rich as an awful lot of American Cancerian politicians do seem to be particularly if they have the Sun conjunct Jupiter and Moon with Pluto all in the sign.

The trouble was that Sun and Moon was opposite Saturn in Capricorn on the 7th house cusp, suggesting that Perot would pick some old bloke as running mate who would blow it for him.

Step forward Admiral James Stockdale.

With the Sun in Capricorn conjunct Perot’s 7th house Saturn in opposition to his own Moon in Cancer, Stockdale was exactly the kind of old geezer required to fit the ticket.

It wasn’t entirely his fault however. Perot had suspended his campaign which led to Stockdale being unaware he was going to be in the Vice Presidential Debate until a week before it was held. Stockdale had no formal preparation for the debate and did not discuss political issues with Perot beforehand.