Watergate is a scandal in the early Seventies of the last century that added the suffix -gate to so many things after that; that alone assures Watergate a place in history. The period starts with burglars being discovered in the Watergate hotel in Washington, DC (hence the name) and ends with the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the only United States president to resign from the office.

The Watergate scandal was one of biggest events that came out of nowhere into the public consciousness to hit the United States between Pearl Harbor and the attack of the World Trade Center on 9/11. If the Sibly chart for the United States that we use is in anyway valid something should show up in the chart. If you haven’t scrolled down yet you might try to guess what it should be.

The burglars were going to plant communication devices (that is, bug) the Democratic headquarters located in the Watergate Hotel. The main informant was a character known as “Deep Throat” (after a popular pornographic film playing at that time and now available on YouTube) who gave accounts of the burglary to two Washington Post reporters. Deep Throat was later reveled as Mark Felt, a deputy director of the FBI — after J. Edgar Hoover died earlier that year. As an alternative scenario of Watergate it was an attempt by the FBI to bring down a sitting president.

After the Watergate event there was for a limited time an outrage against secret organizations such as the CIA. In fact two Congressional committees, the Church Committee chaired by Senator Frank Church from Idaho and the PIke Committee chaired by Otis Pike a Representative from Massachusetts, investigated the secrets of the CIA and much that we know about that organization, suck as the MKUltra program, came out at that time.

Richard Nixon Discovery of Burglary

First let us look at Richard Nixon’s chart and what was happening on the day the Watergate burglars were discovered and the day he resigned and left office to allow his recently appointed Vice President, who replaced Spiro Agnew who was the elected Vice President but resigned during the Watergate Crisis. Thus the new President had not been elected on a presidential ticket. Agnew was the second vice president of the United States to resign,

On June 17, 1972 Saturn was in a loose conjunction to Nixon’s Midheaven, and within a month Saturn would be exactly conjunct his s MC and square his Ascendant. This can be seen as the hand of fate coming for Nixon. On the other hand, for August 9, 1974 Jupiter was square his MC and opposite his Ascendant. I’ve looked at many charts of the deaths of people and those charts often show a prominent Jupiter. In this case it was a death for the Presidency of Richard Nixon and a release from the toils of that office. So at the beginning it was Saturn prominent and at the end of the Watergate crisis it was Jupiter that was prominent. How poetic.

Richard Nixon Resigns

Richard Nixon’s chart obviously responded well — that is to say appropriately — to the transits during the Watergate Crisis. And how did the US chart respond during the period?

US Discovery of Burglery

For the United States chart, at the beginning of the Watergate crisis Uranus was conjunct natal Saturn and thus square the US Sun. Saturn was opposite the Ascendant, and most importantly Pluto was conjunct the US Midheaven. Clearly this Watergate crisis was a shock or transformation to the government of the US, the outward projection of the US, which is indicated by the MC. The other aspects are as well almost self-explanatory.

US – Nixon Resigns

On the day of Nixon’s resignation Saturn is conjunct the US Sun, Uranus has moved in the two years since the beginning of the crisis and was now square Mercury, and Pluto has moved on and is separating from a conjunction with the MC. During the whole Watergate Crisis Pluto was right on the MC of the US,

This can be seen as peak Empire.

As we’ve seen before Pluto was at the Ascendant of the Sibly chart on September 11, 2001, and was 180 degree from the position, and thus on the Descendant of the Sibly chart, on February 15, 1898 when the USS Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor and the Spanish-American came soon after. The destruction of the Maine was a casus belli for the Us to start the war, The Spanish-American War was the start for the US Empire and I believe the attacks of 9/11 will be seen as the end of the American Empire, but of course when an animal or empire is on its last legs is when it is most vicious.

But there is one other position of Pluto on an angle that we haven’t yet explored; Pluto conjunct the point opposite the Midheaven, which is called the IC.

Pluto was transiting the IC of the United States from about 1822 to 1825. This was considered the “Era of Good Feelings” and the presidency of James Monroe, the last of the Founders of US to serve as president. He died on July 4, just as did two other Founders/Presidents, but he did not die in the same year as did both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. By the time of Pluto on the IC the US had worked out some of the problems of the initial founding. Monroe is most famous for proposing the Monroe Doctrine (written by his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams) that has been used as an excuse for Empire building in the subsequent years and in fact has recently become popular and talked about again. The period following the Monroe doctrine until the Spanish-American War can be seen as pre-Empire for the United States, which saw such things as a war with Mexico which allowed for much of that country to be incorporated into the United States.

Monroe Doctrine Read

This period also saw a change from an America as a democracy of fraternity to an America as a democracy of cupidity (as historian Richard Hofstadter put it), and things would never be the same again. One can posit that this set the stage for the American Empire. The US got directly involved after the Spanish activity in Cuba, which contradicted what was stated in the Monroe Doctrine.

America has just seen a Pluto Return, the only country to witness a Pluto Return since most countries reorganized their country before 250 years pass. Pluto will next cross the IC of the United States in 2066 so we have much time to develop between the Pluto Return and Pluto at the IC.