MCarthyism was an oddity of 20th Century American history which was a pointer to a panicky and gullible streak within the national temperament, allowing public and politicians to be caught up for a time by strident and often dishonest attacks. Mcarthy insisted that communists had infiltrated the United States federal government, universities, film industry, the armed forces. “In the ’50s, institution after institution bowed down to the Red Scare, whether it was school districts, universities, libraries, law firms, Hollywood movie studios — the elite organisations all bent the knee to the red-baiters.” He caused havoc from 1950 to 1954 until he was censured and retreated into alcoholism.
The difference to the present situation is that MCarthy was a junior Senator and not a White House administration. But the pattern is relatively similar given the recent co-ordinated push to intimidate and stifle critical voices and Trump’s campaigns against leading universities, media companies and law firms.
One commentator said: “What makes the Republican and conservative hypocrisy so depressing is that, at a time when free speech in the west needs thoughtful defenders, its self-proclaimed champions have revealed themselves as posturing partisans. But perhaps the only surprise is their lack of pretence.”
McCarthy, born 14 November 1908 3pm Grand Chute, Wisconsin, left school early though returned later to college for a law degree and served in the Marine Corps though saw little active service. ‘Some of his claims of heroism were later shown to be exaggerated or falsified.’
He had an intense, obsessive 8th house Scorpio Sun. And more significantly had the Uranus opposition Neptune of the time on his MC/IC axis. There is an irrationally fanatical side to Uranus Neptune which he clearly lived out; which can be inspired but also obdurately stubborn even when faced with incontrovertible evidence he was wrong. This opposition squared onto Mars Venus in Libra, making him verbally combative and emotionally erratic. Plus his Mars was in an enraged, can-be-ruthless trine to Pluto.
When he started his high-profile campaign to root out reds-under-the-bed in early 1950, Uranus was just into Cancer about to move with considerable disruption across the USA Venus, Jupiter, Sun in Cancer in the following years. In 1950 the USA Solar Arc North Node was exactly conjunct the USA Pluto (opposition Mercury) – which is the indicator on the USA chart of an attraction for demagogues ( = a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.)
McCarthy’s relationship chart with the USA had a hyper-emotional, publicity-attracting composite Mars Neptune Venus conjunction. Tr Pluto was in a trapped, enraging conjunction to the composite Mars when he departed the scene in 1954.
There are not many similarities between McCarthy and Trump astrologically = apart from a North Node in Gemini which can produce a tendency to be wild and wayout. But Trump’s first term did have tr Uranus square the USA Mercury opposition Pluto, as he set about following his mentor and McCarthy acolyte Roy Cohn’s playbook of ‘attack, attack and never apologise.’
Trump’s relationship chart with the USA is also different from McCarthy’s though it has a similar chained-together Saturn Pluto aspect. The DT/USA composite Neptune is catching the upcoming Virgo Solar Eclipse this month for muddle and indecision and the uncertain tr Saturn Neptune opposition the composite Neptune continues throughout this winter. Where it shows further signs of sagging public support is from late April 2026 onwards with tr Neptune undermining the composite Sun by square; with more rising tensions from July 2026 into 2027 as tr Uranus squares the composite Saturn. During this time tr Neptune Saturn will have early in 2026 squared the USA financial Venus moving on to lower national confidence further in 2027 as tr Neptune squares the USA Jupiter. Again not like McCarthy but a definite slide downhill.
At the time of McCarthy, former president Harry Truman lamented “the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spread of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of our society.” A Post reporter described “a period of national turmoil. It was the closest we ever came to a real totalitarian atmosphere.” It wasn’t the media who brought McCarthy down since they’d been exposing his lies in the preceding years. In rural and low-income areas, he was deemed to have been unfairly vilified and gained support. Ultimately it was when the politicians turned against him and there was sufficient of an upswell of public opinion that his platform was demolished.
One point in the USA chart is noteworthy which is the Saturn in Libra which at best is fair-minded, promotes social responsibility, balance, justice and cooperation. Cohn’s Pluto in Cancer was square it; and McCarthy’s Uranus (opposition Neptune) was also exactly square. Trump’s financial Jupiter is conjunct the USA Saturn which could be positive but in the circumstances appears to be leaning more towards allowing financial considerations to trump fairness.
I don’t know about anything else, but you would have been hard put to find a university that wasn’t Communist. When Oppenheimer was allowed to employ 6000 people from top level scientists right down to the janitorial staff, at Los Alamos, every single one was a member of the Communist Party. Except that is for Oppenheimer himself.
Though he, himself never joined, he always described himself as a fellow traveller. And yes he did leave files to be copied or photographed and passed on to the Soviet Union. So it wasn’t quite as innocent as it is made out. Joining The Communist Party made it quite clear that the person who joined, his or her’s first loyalty belonged to Russia. So it shouldn’t be surprising that post war Oppenheimer lost his security clearance. Obviously, it was known during the war, but he was considered too important to the success of the Manhattan Project to do anything about it. Also there had been much concern in the 1930s America about how Communism had overtaken universities. But there was little success at that time in doing away with it. Which is why in the McCarthy Witch-hunts, he was allowed to pursue a rather weak agenda. And it is also the reason why the government wanted to outlaw The Communist Party.
McCarthy wasn’t an oddity – he’s a type that re-occurs in the US from time to time.
In 1953, Arthur Miller wrote “The Crucible” about the Salem witch trials of 1692/3. His experience of McCarthyism gave him a sudden insight into the events of the late 17thC which had previously baffled him. (Miller got convicted of “Contempt of Congress” in 1956).
The wicth trials started in June 1692, in Sept 1692 a grand jury indited 18 people. Executions took place between June 1692 and Dec 1692. At the start of June 1692, Saturn was at 8 Sag 22 and Uranus was at 6 Gemini 2. At the start of Dec 1692, Mars was at 7 Sag 7, Saturn at 13 Sag 46, Uranus at 7 Gemini 48, Jupiter at 17 Gemini 18
The Sibley chart for the USA has Ascendant at 13 Sag 11, Saturn at 14 Libra 48, Uranus at 8 Gemini 55 and Mars at 21 Gemini 22. So the declaration of independence was activating the witch trials a century earlier. (And the Sept 11 terrorist attacks had Pluto at 12 Sag 34, Saturn at 14 Gemini 40 and Uranus at 21 Aqu 56 – so the same spots being hit).
In 1952, when Miller was writing his play while being investigated by McCarthy, the USA was experiencing it’s Saturn return with Neptune unhelpfully in Libra as well. Tr Saturn would have aspected the US asc, Uranus and Mars. But no-one got executed because Uranus was safely in Cancer.
Makes me think that those worried about what will happen when Uranus moves from 8 Gemini to 21 Gemini are right.
Thanks. That is interesting about Arthur Miller/Salem. The ‘oddity’ was badly phrased. I didn’t mean odd in the context of the USA more in comparison to elsewhere.
What is usually forgotten in the analysis of McCarthyism is that there really was Communist infiltration of the institutions McCarthy attacked, but he greatly exaggerated their impact. Some Hollywood scriptwriters really were Communist sympathizers. British intelligence was heavily infiltrated by the KGB. A British spy stole nuclear secrets at Los Alamos which allowed Stalin to obtain the nuclear bomb. Hysteria was fueled by the break with the Russians in 1945, the Iron Curtain, the Chinese Revolution in 1949, and the Korean War which saw General McArthur recommend the use of nuclear weapons and his own authoritarian ambitions. It was not just McCarthy. It was the times indeed defined by a Saturn-Neptune conjunction. On the positivie side, this conjunction brought the death of Stalin in 1953 and the disappearance of the Soviet Union in 1990. I am hoping it will bring the fall of Putin.
Aren’t v having same as both in Aries now…saturn Neptune ?
Andre’, I don’t know how it is in Canada but in America we have freedom or we’re supposed to have freedom of choice about a wide range of things.
And Marjorie I think a better title would have been McCarthy- a blight on American history.
I find it interesting that McCarthyism and HUAC were at their peak during the Saturn/Neptune conjunction in Libra conjunction the early 1950s. No coincidence that we find ourselves today with yet another Saturn/Neptune conjunction, this time in Aries. Back then we were fortunate to have responsible executive leadership in Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, who were both revolted by McCarthy’s slanders and reckless behavior. Today we have a president and his entire political party fueling paranoia and authoritarian solutions. Also it should be noted during the late 1910s we also had a Saturn/Neptune conjunction, in Cancer. During that time America entered WW1 and the Wilson administration proceeded to clamp down on freedom of speech, targeting dissenters, pacifists, and socialists. Seems like it’s a theme of this conjunction, particularly when it hits key cardinal points in the US natal chart.
In many respects the transits of the current moment are far more epochal, with the US going through both its Pluto and Uranus returns this decade. This time it might be more than a blip. Indeed, I see the current era to be just as important as other historical turning points like the Civil War and World War 2. The current administration is clearly out to consolidate power in the Executive branch, with the purpose of ruling in the long-term, even if it means rupturing it’s political stability. In the end, they may be sowing the seeds for this nation’s decline. It rose in the last Uranus return after WW2, and it will fall during this cycle. By the Saturn/Uranus conjunction in late Gemini during the early 2030s we should have a clear verdict.
Can you build further on your analysis, particularly looking at all the Saturn/Neptune conjunctions going further back in US history?
1782, 1818, 1850, and 1888 all had Saturn/Neptune conjunctions. The 1782 event in Capricorn signaled the end of the Revolutionary war. There was a lot of economic chaos during that time, with rampant inflation, war debts, and debates over centralized authority versus state autonomy under the Articles of Confederation. In 1818, it was in Pisces, when we had the Second Great Awakening of evangelical religious energy. In 1850, the conjunction in Aries brought about the lead-up to the Civil War, with the Fugitive Slave Act. In the 1880s, we had a major flare-up of labor and anti-immigrant/nativist strikes when Saturn and Neptune conjoined in Gemini. That one occurred during the peak of the Gilded Age. Fear, paranoia and escapism seem to be some of the common threads across all the conjunctions. Sometimes it ushers in a period of reform or consolidation in the years afterward.
Pluto in Aquarius has ushered revoltions in major asian countries and it’s same economic chaos,high inflation, high debts. As someone tweeted, all this doesn’t end with progress after it ends. Seems rebellious Aquarius is going to keep us on toes.
‘Reds under the beds’ is not so different to the current belief that Trump is somehow personally compromised by Putin and Russia; not just hesitant, but scared about taking any action that might rebound on him.