Downfall of a President

The Oscar nominee for best picture in 2009, Frost/Nixon, brings to life a moment in 1977 when President Richard Milhouse Nixon publicly admitted his wrongdoings in the Watergate Scandal and apologised to the American public for it. In doing so, a painful episode began to close in American history concerning a highly evident case of manipulation of power at the highest levels of government. This tendency and the downfall of President Nixon are shown in a crystal clear manner in the SAMVA USA chart (Perpetual Union).

Still, the "Watergate Scandal" stands as an enduring testament to a dark side of US democracy - the abuse of power by those entrusted with it. The scandal revealed the fact that there existed, with the knowledge of the President, "a White House dirty tricks squad, which was behind an orchestrated campaign of political sabotage, an enemies list, a "plumbers" unit to plug political leaks and a secret campaign slush fund associated with the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP), all with high-level administration involvement." Given such abuses, it is not surprising to come across conspiracy theories surrounding many events in the national life, notably the assassination of President Kennedy, which many believe was executed by secret agents of the government.

Manipulation in government
Indeed, such a tendency for manipulation in government is seen in the , notably in the conjunction of Rahu at 17° 47' Aries and the most effective point of 10th house at 20° 00' Aries. Rahu is the lord of desire for material gain and rules secrecy, diplomacy, deception and manipulation. The 10th house rules, amongst other things, the government administration. Hence, there is such an element seen in the national life of the most powerful nation on the planet. Interestingly, while Nixon received a full pardon for his part in the crimes, the top government officials in the Nixon administration weren't so lucky and many of them were imprisoned after being found guilty by a court of law for their participation in the subsequent cover-up following the Watergate break-in. However, Nixon received his justice and was sidelined from national life from 1974 to the time of his death in 1994.

Difficulties for the leader
What is perhaps more interesting is that the SAMVA USA chart shows the difficulties that sometimes befall US Presidents. The aspect in the chart of Saturn, as 8th lord of obstacles and endings, to the 2nd lord Sun, as indicator of the leader and other highly placed persons, is clear on this point. Earlier, the astrology of the many assassination attempts in US history have been documented on this blog. Earlier, many assassination attempts made on US Presidents have been described in the article Death of a President. In this article, an anlysis is given of the fateful moment in the national life when President Nixon fell from power.

First, let us step back in time and recall the timeline of the major events in the Watergate Scandal:
June 17, 1972: The scandals began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in Washington , D.C during the early morning hours.
January 1973: The men who broke into the office were tried and convicted. All seven men were either directly or indirectly employed by President Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President. Many people suspected a conspiracy
March 19, 1973: James McCord, one of the burglars, writes a letter to Judge John J. Sirica charging a cover-up of the burglary, transforming the affair into a political scandal of unprecedented magnitude.
April 30, 1973: Nixon is forced to ask for the resignation of two of his most influential aides, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, both of whom were indicted and ultimately went to prison.
October 20, 1973: Nixon compels Justice Department officials to fire Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who would not obey the Presidential order to drop his subpoena for Nixon's secret tapes of his conversations in the White House.
January 28, 1974: Nixon campaign aide Herbert Porter pleads guilty to the charge of lying to the FBI during the early stages of the Watergate investigation.
February 25, 1974: Nixon's personal lawyer Herbert Kalmbach pleads guilty to two charges of illegal election-campaign activities.
March 1, 1974: former aides of the President, known as the Watergate Seven — Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Charles Colson, Gordon C. Strachan, Robert Mardian and Kenneth Parkinson — are indicted for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation.
April 5, 1974: former Nixon appointments secretary Dwight Chapin is convicted of lying to the grand jury.
April 7, 1974, the Watergate grand jury indicts Ed Reinecke, Republican lieutenant governor of California , on three charges of perjury before the Senate committee.
July 24, 1974: In the case United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that claims of executive privilege over the tapes were void, and they further ordered him to surrender them to Jaworski.
July 27, 1974: the House Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against the President: obstruction of justice is passed.
July 29, 1974 The second article of impeachment (abuse of power) is passed.
July 30, 1974: the third article of impeachment (contempt of Congress) article is passed. Nixon complies and releases the subpoenaed tapes. Their contents are finally revealed.
August 7, 1974: after being told by key Republican Senators that enough votes exist in Congress to convict and remove him from office, Nixon decides to resign.
August 8, 1974: In a nationally televised address during the evening, Nixon announces he will resign, effective at noon Eastern Time on Friday, August 9, 1974.
August 9, 1974: Nixon signs his resignation letter at 11:35 am and leaves the White House by helicopter at Noon.
September 8, 1974: Richard Nixon receives a full pardon from his successor, President Gerald Ford.
May 25, 1977: Final of four interviews is broadcast on national TV where Nixon admits breaking the law and letting the American people down.

The downfall of Nixon
The aspects on August 9, 1974 are quite difficult. Mercury-Mercury period was operating. Transit functional malefic Ketu at 23° 53' Taurus was exactly aspecting natal 2nd lord Sun at 23° 44' Capricorn while transit functional malefic Rahu at 23° 53' Scorpio/H5 was aspecting transit 2nd lord Sun at 23° 09' Cancer/H1. This fateful moment for the US President, just like in the assassination of President Kennedy, shows up with chilling clarity in the SAMVA USA chart.

Interestingly, in the months leading up to the resignation, the nodes were stationary afflicting natal 8th lord Saturn at 26° 46' Scorpio/H5 and natal Sun. Transit 8th lord Saturn was conjunct the MEP of the 12th house under aspect from 6th lord Jupiter conjunct the MEP of the 8th house. Transit Saturn was also afflicted by natal Ketu at 17° 47 Libra in the 4th house. As the above timeline shows, the months leading up to the resignation were very tense in the political life of the country.

Conclusion
In short, the SAMVA USA chart shows in a stunning manner the dramatic events in the national life. Given this strong confirmation of the event, likely the events leading up to the departure of a reviled President Nixon was no less traumatic for the American people than the sorrow following the untimely death of a much admired President Kennedy. The two events show startling similarities in the exactness of the afflictions to the natal Sun at the time of the fateful point of separation.

Source
Watergate Scandal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal
Transits in SAMVA USA chart on November 22, 1963
http://tinyurl.com/Kennedy-killed