The Jupiter-Saturn 20 year cycle happens to coincide with what has come to be called the “zero-year curse” regarding presidential elections in the United States. Some claim that it is a result of an American Indian curse on the White House for breaking treaties, or it may be the astrological conjunction that happens every twenty years. Or both. Or something even more interesting. Or pure coincidence. (Of all the possibilities, the latter seems the least likely.)
In any case, the US presidents dying in office, after having been elected in the “zero” year (every twenty years since 1840) include:
1840 -- William Henry Harrison (died of pneumonia after one month in office).
1860 -- Abraham Lincoln (assassinated the first year of his second term in office in 1865).
1880 -- James Garfield (assassinated his first year in office).
1900 -- William McKinley (assassinated his first year in office).
1920 -- Warren Harding (died of a heart attack his second year in office)
1940 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt (died in office of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945).
1960 -- John F. Kennedy (assassinated his third year in office).
1980 -- Ronald Reagan (survived an assassination attempt his first year in office -- but of course he was apparently brain dead most of the time he was in office).
2000 -- George W. Bush (was apparently brain dead on arrival)
Astrologers claim that Reagan survived because the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction was in a “soft” sign, but for George W. Bush, Jr. it’s the most dangerous one since 1900. Rumor has it that Colin Powell didn’t run in the year 2000 because of the “curse”. The American Indians have made no comments on Reagan’s skip, or Shrub’s chances.
Another strange series of coincidences -- which suggest a 100 year cycle (or five Jupiter-Saturn cycles) -- is the Lincoln/Kennedy similarities.
· Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
· John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946
· Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
· John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
· Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
· Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.
· Both Presidents were shot on a Friday. Both Presidents were shot in the head.
· Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
· Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
· Both were assassinated by Southerners.
· Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
· Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
· Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
· John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
· Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
· Both assassins were known by their three names.
· Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
· Both Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
· Lincoln was shot at the theater named “Ford”.
· Kennedy was shot in a car called “Lincoln” made by “Ford”.
· A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
· A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe. <g>
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