Harry S Truman took over as US president when Franklin D Roosevelt died in office in 1945. He authorized the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war, implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, established the Truman Doctrine and NATO, engaged in an internationalist foreign policy and renounced isolationism, successfully guided the U.S. economy through the post-war economic challenges, pushed forward with civil rights legislation, starting racial integration in the military and federal agencies and oversaw the start of the Korean War. He was re-elected in 1948 but corruption in his administration became a campaign issue in the 1952 election. He entered a financially difficult retirement since in those days former presidents did not receive any payment. Despite criticism when he left office, later reassessment has been favourable.
He was born 8 May 1884 4pm Lamar, Missouri and had an intense, stalwart and deeply buried 8th house Sun Neptune conjunction in Taurus with a persuasive Mercury Pluto in Gemini also in the 8th. His Saturn in Gemini was in his philosophical 9th along with a friendly-to-foreigners Venus. But what is most notable about his chart is a 10th house Jupiter in Cancer which brings luck, success and increasing respect in older life. His Jupiter was sextile a 12th house Uranus which in turn was trine his Sun Neptune making him innovative, a modest risk-taker. His Sun Neptune were also square Mars in Leo, suiting him for a publicity-attracting career. His Moon in intense Scorpio was trine Venus and his midheaven but was otherwise unaspected.
His Cancer Midheaven was conjunct the USA Cancer Sun and his Venus in Cancer sat comfortably with the USA Venus Jupiter.
An interesting, heavyweight and surprising chart with so much in the 8th house and Uranus in the 12th, which would not make for a standard, routine life but clearly suited him for high office.
His leaving-a-legacy-for-history 17th Harmonic was heavily aspected; as was his global-personality 22H; and his workmanlike, creative-builder 5th harmonic.
And of course re my previous post, transiting Ceres was there too.
I think with Uranus in Taurus and our psychic concern with the earth, then its time as astrologers to give Ceres as much, if not more, weight as Pluto.
He may rule the Underworld but she rules our Planet.
How did he use power wisely when he murdered millions of civillians and unleashed nuclear war on the world?
Rightly so there was huge controversy around his political motivations, and the multitude of criticisms from allies, scientists and generals at his act. And the reality that the Japanese were on the brink of surreder and whose army was starved and beaten.
It was a crime against humanitry, and quite deliberate. As bad as Hitler, but withg more hypocrisy.
it marked the beginning of the modern era and the background note thats been playing eversince. The apocalypse by our own hand.
The US has not won a war in 75 years. We have fought several wars since Truman, all the while spending infinite fortunes for repeated stalemates along with one demoralizing defeat and expulsion. Truman’s judicious use of power started the illusion of saving the world with an ultimate victory over Japan by “vaporizing” half a million civilians in two instants. Thus, began the American military industrial complex. Truman painted up the illusion of preemptive responsibility, with the unprovable projections of potential “lives saved” sold as reality. While the war weary Soviets were the first to stand up to the US, but, the first to call bluff was communist Korea, by putting its dukes up and keeping them there.
Well, here we are today, getting bitch slapped by a virus originating in a country we are engaging a trade war with. World leaders all dickering over the “fairness”, of “intellectual property” insisting it is possible in this place and time to claim “first dibs”on an idea… like bagpipes, central banking or things of more contemporary and high tech nature.
It was Truman who waived the French back into Indo China after the war, the British back into Malaya and the Dutch back into Indonesia. Bitter wars had to be fought to expel them, especially in Vietnam. Roosevelt had been determined to stop the European powers from recolonising these countries. Truman also removed US support to the Chinese Nationalists which led directly to Mao Tse Tung and the Communists rising to power in China – as a result of which 60 million people were to die. Truman was a haberdasher from Missouri who was out of his depth and unprepared for office, whose mistakes led to decades of war.
Some time before Obama presidency, I did an undoubtably serious test on which US president was closest to me ideologically fully expecting to see FDR win, but apparently, my thoughts aligned even more with Truman. But studying his views closer, I could see why. No wonder, since his Mercury/Pluto is conjunct my Jupiter/MC. My Jupiter is 9th house side, though.
Slightly off topic just watched “The Plot Against America” based on Philip Roth’s novel I’ve intended to read for a while. It started a bit slow, but I actually binged the last three and half episodes. Truman is only present in this alternate history story as a name, but it does give a chilling look to what really could have happened in The US in early 1940’s. I got into googling Charles Lindbergh – to whom actor Ben Cole bares stricking resamplence to – and realized that although I’ve read a lot lately about his Nazi symphaties in the late 1930’s, I didn’t know about his Post-War double life in Germany, which came into light in 2001. He had an interesting family history too, his grandfather having eloped from Sweden where he had been a member of Diet after being accused of bribery with his young mistress and son. I wonder how that would show on a chart, he did have Moon/Uranus in Sadgittarius and Venus/Mercury in Pisces, but they seemed to get activated when he was in his later 50’s, which interesting.
Wow, all that 8th house energy. A lot of intensity, for sure. A little bit surprised. Many thanks for your interesting insights re a great president (IMO).