Joan Quigley: Astrologer who was said by White House insiders to have influenced the policies of President Ronald Reagan

Before the president met Mikhail Gorbachev, she told Nancy Reagan that her husband’s 'evil empire' attitude had to go

Joan Quigley is seen with charts she uses in her work at her residence in San Francisco (AP)

Joan Quigley was an astrologer who helped determine President Ronald Reagan’s schedule and claimed to have convinced him to soften his stance towards the Soviet Union. Nancy Reagan began consulting her after the 1981 assassination attempt on her husband because she wanted to keep him from getting shot again, she wrote in her 1989 autobiography My Turn.

The entertainer Merv Griffin had told her that Quigley had predicted that the day the president was shot was going to be a dangerous one for him. Quigley would go on to advise Nancy Reagan on dates for presidential trips and news conferences. The president became aware of the consultations and warned his wife to be careful because it might look odd if it came out, Nancy wrote. “If it makes you feel better, go ahead and do it,” he told her.

The consultations were revealed to great embarrassment for the White House in a 1988 book by the former White House Chief of Staff, Donald Regan, who had blamed the First Lady for his removal a year earlier. Regan said that almost every major move and decision the Reagans made was cleared in advance with Quigley, an heiress and Republican political activist.

Both the president and Nancy denied that any policies or decisions were based on astrology, but Quigley told a different story in her 1990 memoir, What Does Joan Say?

Before Reagan’s 1985 summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva, Quigley said she advised Nancy that “Ronnie’s ‘evil empire’ attitude has to go ... Gorbachev’s Aquarian planet is in such harmony with Ronnie’s, you’ll see ... They’ll share a vision.”

Joan Ceciel Quigley, astrologer: born Kansas City 10 April 1927; died San Francisco 23 October 2014.