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John Michael Greer ([personal profile] ecosophia) wrote2021-07-23 12:40 pm

Extra! Extra! Old Political Scandal!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!One of the things I'm doing just now in the mundane astrology project is looking over colorful past events and casting the relevant mundane charts for them, in order to do some retrospective analysis and see how the events in question showed up in advance in ingress and other mundane charts. The first of these, an astrological analysis of the assassination of US president William McKinley in 1901, is already up on my Patreon and SubscribeStar accounts. Yes, it's old news, but studying a chart like that is among other things a good way to see how political events such as assassinations might be signaled in the charts that show our own future. 

To do that, I need a good stock of lurid, scandalous political events from the not too distant past. I want to avoid events that are still hot-button issues today, in the hope of keeping the yelling quotient as low as possible, but they should be recent enough that the details (including exact times) are well documented: broadly speaking, let's say the middle of the 19th through the middle of the 20th century. I'd like to focus mostly on American and British events but I'm certainly willing to consider suitably dramatic events from elsewhere if it's possible to get accurate details. 

Also, the scandals in question need to be events of political importance. If Lady Blatherskite was caught having a scandalous affair, even if Victorian society was convulsed by the news, that won't necessarily show up on a mundane chart.  If the affair included details that brought down the government of Lord Bilgewater, forced a new election, and caused a dramatic change in England's policy toward Africa, that's going to be visible in the ingress and other charts that were in effect at that time. By studying how it was visible, we can figure out what to expect from future charts. 

McKinley's assassination is one good example of the sort of thing I'm looking for.  The abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, and the constitutional crisis that surrounded it, is another, and yet another is the impressively lurid Profumo scandal that brought down British prime minister Harold Macmillan's government in 1963. I'm planning on doing charts on the latter two -- but there must be more political dirty laundry from the past that deserves a good airing in the light of the stars. So, dear reader: what are your favorite political crises from the era before you were born? Mundane astrologers want to know. 
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[personal profile] abwatt 2021-07-23 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Some obvious examples might include:

- The impeachment of Andrew Johnson, whose trial saw levels of bribery never before seen in the US;
- Grover Cleveland's improbable two terms, separated by Benjamin Harrison;
- The Maxitrial in Palermo in 1986 against the Mafia in Italy, and the murder of the police commander and prosecutor who made it happen.

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, there's the Teapot Dome Scandal which rocked the Harding Administration. I also just finished reading about the Bonus Army where President Hoover's handling of the vets looking for an early payout of their bonus gave his administration enough of a black eye (along with his ham-handed handling of the Depression) to help him lose the election to Franklin Roosevelt.

JLfromNH/Citrine Insouciant Armadillo

Teapot Dome

(Anonymous) - 2021-07-28 13:30 (UTC) - Expand

A couple of suggestions...

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
A British example that comes to mind would be the fall of Charles Stewart Parnell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stewart_Parnell#Political_downfall) which derailed Irish Home Rule. That one was certainly pretty lurid for the time, as he was cited in a divorce case.

Slightly further back, we have the assassination of Spencer Perceval (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Spencer_Perceval), still the only British Prime Minister to suffer such a fate. The usual story is that he died at the hands of a lone nutter, but there is a school of thought that it was to do with his support for the abolition of the slave trade, which did not occur for another twenty years.

Not British or US, but there's also the Affair of the Diamond Necklace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_Diamond_Necklace#Scandal) which was a factor in the French Revolution.

HTH...

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 06:04 pm (UTC)(link)
In the UK, Anthony Eden’s resignation, and the circumstances associated with it, might be interesting. Lots of questions that could be timed and asked.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/15009842.profile-the-mystery-of-anthony-edens-resignation/

Could also look at the dates and times he started as foreign minister and then PM, to see how things map from there, as well as the timing of his various operations. Because he was quite popular, and then things went wrong. Why?

Also, be aware that Churchill intervened in his medical treatment, so there are questions to be asked there. There’s rather few surgeons that are likely to operate better after being harassed and pressured by anyone, let alone by someone of Churchill’s stature.

https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/98/6/387/1548168

Eden’s story isn’t what I’d class as dirty laundry, but there are a number of strange events that coalesced around his resignation, which might be fruit for comparative study with the more lurid examples you mentioned. You could compare his birth chart versus the mundane charting and see which are better predictors - maybe start to build a model of what should be classed as personally versus nationally relevant in leader charts and general state-focused charts. Because sometimes, even leaders just have a terrible time of it.
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[personal profile] peristaltor 2021-07-23 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Just reading about it myself for the first time, so I don't yet have all the details; but I'm fascinated by Representative Wright Patman filing articles of impeachment against Andrew Mellon, backed by charges strong enough to force Herbert Hoover to remove Mellon not just from his office, but from the country, sending him to England as the Ambassador.

This seems to be a real turning point in populism rearing its angry head against the brand of extremely concentrated corporate oligopoly then just called "Mellonism."

Another related point might be the day the US troops Hoover dispatched opened fire against the Bonus Marchers camped in DC. Roosevelt knew he would win from that point on.
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[personal profile] inavalon 2021-07-23 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
The 1951 espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg comes to mind, for some reason.

There's an interesting timeline here:

https://famous-trials.com/rosenberg/2231-timeline

The Utah war

(Anonymous) - 2021-07-25 22:26 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
That for me would be the arm’s crisis in 1970, around the time the Troubles in Ireland started to get really bad. The skinny was really a inside job to establish an Irish Republic military presence in Northern Ireland to protect the nationalist community, which had already been vetoed by the Taoiseach (Irish PM) Jack Lynch (because it was crazy.) This led to future Taoiseach Charles Haughey (the Dark Prince of Irish Politics) instigating a plot to smuggle arms to the IRA who were fighting the British at this point. Off course it all went pear shaped, and he was sacked. But became Taoiseach 10 years later, and that’s when the real corruption began. See the links below.

https://villagemagazine.ie/misrepresenting-haugheys-relationship-with-the-provos-the-irish-times-promoted-the-official-iras-version-of-the-arms-crisis/

https://coles-books.co.uk/the-arms-crisis-of-1970-the-plot-that-never-was-apollo-by-michael-heney

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0505/1136524-arms-crisis-debacle-1970-haughey-blaney-lynch/

I don’t know if this falls under the Britain category, but its hella interesting.

Adrian

[personal profile] isaac_hill 2021-07-23 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, what about the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand? That'd be interesting... maybe too complicated though.

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Good lord, so much to choose from. The first that occurred to me is the rise and fall of Rasputin. Teapot Dome. Scopes trial. Rise of the railroad barons

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2021-07-24 19:24 (UTC) - Expand

[personal profile] mollari 2021-07-23 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
What about the King-Byng Affair of 1926 in Canada? It was a massive constitutional crisis, set major precedents on the use of the Governor General's power to refuse to call an election, redefined the role of the office, was a major factor in pushing for the Statute of Westminster, and thus shaped the political climate for the entre British Empire, as it transitioned to the British Commonwealth.

Another fun one could be Harold Holt's disappearance in Australia. The prime minister went for a swim in 1967 and vanished without a trace. He's presumed dead by drowning, but no body was ever recovered. It's a strange mystery, and I'm curious what the chart shows. (My guess is Uranus is heavily implicated, but I haven't looked at the relevant charts yet)

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
How about the Dreyfus Affair?

[personal profile] violetcabra 2021-07-23 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Personally, I would love to see an interpretation for the ingress chart and other relevant mundane astrology surrounding the assassination of Julius Caesar.

(no subject)

[personal profile] violetcabra - 2021-07-24 01:09 (UTC) - Expand

another assasination

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
The assasination of the Archduke that kicked off World War 1.

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
John--

A couple of ideas:

Watergate & Nixon's resignation
Spiro Agnew's resignation
Teapot Dome
James Garfield's assassination

--David BTL

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
tea pot dome under Harding (maybe just Harding in general?)


Teapot Dome Scandal

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
The Teapot Dome Scandal - Members of President Hardings cabinet were accused of taking bribes, which resulted in his Secretary of the Interior going to prison. It was regarded as the biggest political scandal in American politics prior to Watergate.
degringolade: (Default)

[personal profile] degringolade 2021-07-23 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Can't go wrong with the Profumo affair.
degringolade: (Default)

Chappaquiddick?

[personal profile] degringolade 2021-07-23 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that a scandal?
degringolade: (Default)

Rosenbergs?

[personal profile] degringolade 2021-07-23 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Kinda scandlish.

Kennedy/Marilyn Monroe?

NZ Scandals

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
In case you are interested in a scandal from New Zealand:

12 October 1898: William Larnach (MP for Labour) committed suicide facing bankruptcy amid some rather lurid rumors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Larnach

I don't think it brought down the government, but it did result in by-elections to fill his seat.

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
John,
Some suggestions for the UK would be the 56 suez crisis or alternatively the 70s oil crisis. A more political one would be the 1909 budget. Rejected by the Lords but eventually forced through the commons. That led to reform in 1911 and MPs being salaried, professional politicians and supremacy of the commons.
Regards Averagejoe

[personal profile] deborah_bender 2021-07-23 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Wikipedia has an entire article on the scandals of the Grant administration. The most famous American scandal of the early twentieth century was Teapot Dome. There were Hollywood scandals in that period (Fatty Arbuckle comes to mind), but I don't know whether any of them had political consequences.

When is a political crisis also a scandal? Would the bombing of Pearl Harbor or Truman relieving General MacArthur of command qualify? I was alive for the latter, and some of your readers were old enough to follow the news.

Who did the Messiah?

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Who. Killed. JFK.

Finally, we can know the truth!!! ;-)

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
The JFK comment was me, Tidlösa, Sweden.

(Anonymous) 2021-07-23 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"So, dear reader: what are your favorite political crises from the era before you were born?"

You´re cheating, John Michael. There are *so many juicy scandals* from the era *after* I was born!

Tidlösa, Sweden (yes, "even in Sweden", I mean where do I even begin?)

Some Swedish scandals

(Anonymous) - 2021-07-24 15:32 (UTC) - Expand

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