The Hoover Institution Library & Archives has fully cataloged and made available the papers of Joan Quigley, famed astrologer to First Lady Nancy Reagan during Ronald Reagan’s presidential administration.
A long-time resident of San Francisco, Quigley was a noted celebrity astrologer who in 1988 became the centerpiece of scandal when it was revealed that for seven years she advised Nancy Reagan on the phone nearly daily and levied a huge amount of control over the Reagans’ schedules and decision-making.
The bombshell disclosure appeared in the first chapter of For the Record, a bestselling memoir written by Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff, Donald Regan. Regan stated, “Virtually every major move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance with this woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in a favorable alignment for the enterprise.” Nancy Reagan, who published her own memoir a year after Regan, downplayed Quigley’s influence. Finally in 1990, Quigley published her own book, What Does Joan Say?, a fast-paced memoir that described her relationship with Nancy Reagan and the extensive advising that she provided the First Lady during Ronald Reagan’s administration.
Born in 1927, Joan Quigley spent much of her youth in San Francisco, where her father owned and managed the Drake-Wiltshire Hotel on Union Square. She attended Vassar College, where she studied art history. From her mother she inherited an interest in astrology; after college she began crafting horoscopes for friends and acquaintances. Soon she became a sought-after celebrity astrologer who appeared on television and radio.
In the 1970s she was a frequent guest on the Merv Griffin Show; Griffen, a Bay Area native who had been a singer and entertainer before becoming a television personality, knew Quigley from her early days as a well-connected San Francisco socialite. Merv introduced Joan to the woman who would become her most notorious client: Nancy Reagan, who had become First Lady of California when Ronald Reagan was elected governor in 1967. Yet it would not be until 1981, after John Hinckley Jr.’s assassination attempt against then President Reagan, that Nancy Reagan recruited Joan Quigley for professional help.
Concerned for her husband’s safety, Nancy sought out predictions about days and times that were favorable for travel, public appearances, and meetings. Soon, Joan and Nancy were dictating (sometimes to the minute) the departure and landing times of Air Force One, the appropriate days for debates, and favorable times for summits with Gorbachev.
Annoyed and envious of the amount of control the two women wielded over the president, members of Reagan’s cabinet and staff bristled as Nancy relied more and more on astrology and Joan’s counsel.
When Joan’s employ was disclosed by Donald Regan in 1988, a media circus unfolded. Journalists bemoaned that a powerful conservative presidential couple known for courting the religious right had relied on the occult to make hugely consequential decisions that affected national security.
Joan, in her memoir, claimed astrology to be an actual and useful science, and stated that she was proud of acting upon her patriotic duty to help the presidential administration succeed. After the revelation of Joan’s influence in the White House hit the newsstands, Nancy Reagan never talked to Joan again. Joan likened the slight to “buying a Picasso and putting it in your living room and putting adhesive tape over the signature.”
The newly updated finding aid to the Joan Quigley papers can be found here.
