20 November 2021 is Joe Biden’s 79th birthday. As noted in this piece from January (“Presidential calculations: dates and ages”), he is the oldest person to hold the office of US President. During my research for that piece, I spent rather a lot of time looking at other information related to holders of the office including the Chinese Years that they were born in, and their star signs.
I take a neutral view when it comes to astrology and Chinese Years. Maybe it’s because I’m a Virgo Tiger (whatever that means). I do not ascribe great value to the information, and I do not condemn people who do. Apparently Ronald Reagan (an Aquarius Pig) and his wife Nancy (a Cancerian Rooster) employed an astrologer to help with their decisions in the White House. We can assume that their astrological charts never suggested that the time was right to launch an all-out nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, and I am grateful for that.
Before getting to summaries of Presidents by astrological information, here are some straightforward observations regarding the decades they were born in, and their months of birth.
Presidents by Decade of Birth
Joe Biden (20 November 1942) is the fourth US President who was born in the 1940s. The other three (Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Donald Trump) were all born in 1946.
Nobody born in the 1930s has ever become US President. For this to change, there would have to be a successful candidate in 2024 who is 83 or older, or a successful candidate in 2028 who is 87 or older. It looks unlikely.
The first US President, George Washington, was born in the 1730s (1732). Every decade through to the 1920s saw the birth of at least one US President, except for the 1810s (1810-1819).
In addition to the 1940s, there have been two other decades which saw the birth of four different US Presidents: 1800-1809 (Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln) and 1910-1919 (Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, John F Kennedy).
To date, there have been no US Presidents born in the 1950s.
Barack Obama was a child of the 1960s (born in 1961).
Presidents by Month of birth
Joe Biden is the sixth US President born in November, along with Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Warren G Harding, James K Polk and James A Garfield. Harding and Polk, born 70 years apart, are the only two Presidents to share a birthday (2 November).
The only other month that has seen the birth of six US Presidents is October: Rutherford B Hayes, Chester A Arthur, Jimmy Carter, Dwight Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, John Adams.
September is the least common birth month for US Presidents: William H Taft is the only one so far.
Presidents by Star Sign
Joe Biden is the sixth US President born in the sign of Scorpio. Generally, this falls between 23 October and 21 November, although like all astrological signs, these dates are not fixed: they can change a little from year to year. The other Scorpios were: Theodore Roosevelt, John Adams (both born at the end of October), Warren G Harding, James K Polk and James A Garfield.
The next most common star sign for US Presidents (five in all) is Aquarius: William H Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald, Reagan.
The least represented star signs, with two each, are Aries (John Tyler and Thomas Jefferson) and Virgo (William H Taft and Lyndon B, Johnson).
Here is the summary of US Presidents by star sign :
Aries 2
Taurus 4
Gemini 3
Cancer 4
Leo 4
Virgo 2
Libra 4
Scorpio 6
Sagittarius 3
Capricorn 4
Aquarius 5
Pisces 4
Presidents by Chinese Year
As you may know, the date of the Chinese New Year falls between 21 January and 20 February and differs from year to year. (Broadly speaking, it takes place during the astrological sign of Aquarius.)
1942, Joe Biden’s birth year, was the Chinese Year of the Horse. Three other Presidents were born in the Year of the Horse: Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes (both 1822) and Theodore Roosevelt (1858).
The four Chinese Years that have seen the birth of most US Presidents (five in each case) are as follows:
Rat: George Washington (1732), Franklin Pierce (1804), Richard Nixon (1913), Jimmy Carter (1924), George HW Bush (1924).
Snake: William H Harrison (1773), Benjamin Harrison (1833), William H Taft (1857), Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882), John F Kennedy (1917).
Dog: John Tyler (1790), Herbert Hoover (1874), Bill Clinton (1946), George W Bush (1946), Donald Trump (1946).
Pig: Thomas, Jefferson (1743), Andre Jackson (1767), John Quincy Adams (1767), James, Buchanan (1791), Ronald, Reagan (1911).
There has only been one US President born in the Year of the Rooster (Grover Cleveland, 1837) and one in the year of the Goat/Sheep (James Madison, 1751).
Presidents by Star Sign and Chinese Year
Joe Biden’s combination of star sign and Chinese Year is Scorpio Horse, the same as Theodore Roosevelt.
Four other combinations of star sign and Chinese Year have been represented multiple times by US Presidents:
Scorpio Rabbit (3): John Adams, James K Polk, James A Garfield.
Aquarius Snake (2): William H Harrison, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Capricorn Dragon (2): Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson.
Leo Dog (2): Herbert Hoover, Bill Clinton.
A table summarizing US Presidents by star sign and Chinese Year
As you might expect, I have been using a spreadsheet to store all the information in this post. There may come a time when I offer my calculations as an interactive table, but for now here is a static table showing the 45 different US Presidents so far in order of when their birthdays fall in the year. It starts with Millard Filmore (7 January 1800) and ends with Andrew Johnson (29 December 1808). It shows, simply, their birth sign and Chinese Year.
Grover Cleveland, who is counted as both the 22nd and 24th President (the only holder of the office to serve two non-consecutive terms) only gets one line here.
And what does it all mean? I have no idea.
| President | Sign | Chinese Year |
| Millard Fillmore | Capricorn | Rabbit/Cat |
| Richard Nixon | Capricorn | Rat |
| William McKinley | Aquarius | Tiger |
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt | Aquarius | Snake |
| Ronald Reagan | Aquarius | Pig |
| William H Harrison | Aquarius | Snake |
| Abraham Lincoln | Aquarius | Dragon |
| George Washington | Pisces | Rat |
| Andrew Jackson | Pisces | Pig |
| James Madison | Pisces | Goat/Sheep |
| Grover Cleveland | Pisces | Rooster |
| John Tyler | Aries | Dog |
| Thomas Jefferson | Aries | Pig |
| James Buchanan | Taurus | Pig |
| Ulysses S Grant | Taurus | Horse |
| James Monroe | Taurus | Tiger |
| Harry S Truman | Taurus | Monkey |
| John F Kennedy | Gemini | Snake |
| George HW Bush | Gemini | Rat |
| Donald Trump | Gemini | Dog |
| Calvin Coolidge | Cancer | Monkey |
| George W Bush | Cancer | Dog |
| John Quincy Adams | Cancer | Pig |
| Gerald Ford | Cancer | Ox |
| Barack Obama | Leo | Ox |
| Herbert Hoover | Leo | Dog |
| Bill Clinton | Leo | Dog |
| Benjamin Harrison | Leo | Snake |
| Lyndon B Johnson | Virgo | Monkey |
| William H Taft | Virgo | Snake |
| Jimmy Carter | Libra | Rat |
| Rutherford B Hayes | Libra | Horse |
| Chester A Arthur | Libra | Ox |
| Dwight Eisenhower | Libra | Tiger |
| Theodore Roosevelt | Scorpio | Horse |
| John Adams | Scorpio | Rabbit/Cat |
| Warren G Harding | Scorpio | Ox |
| James K Polk | Scorpio | Rabbit/Cat |
| James A Garfield | Scorpio | Rabbit/Cat |
| Joe Biden | Scorpio | Horse |
| Franklin Pierce | Sagittarius | Rat |
| Zachary Taylor | Sagittarius | Dragon |
| Martin van Buren | Sagittarius | Tiger |
| Woodrow Wilson | Capricorn | Dragon |
| Andrew Johnson | Capricorn | Dragon |
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The Compartments 