Friday, October 24, 2008

The US Presidents Life Path number

THE US PRESIDENTS - A study of their Life Path numbers

On this page, I have calculated the Life Path number for each of the US Presidents. The purpose of this study is to determine how the nine Life Path numbers each score in producing quality individuals to serve as our leader. Then, how do these leaders lead based on this important factor associated with their birth?

The Life Path numbers will be discussed individually identifying the Presidents having that number. When we think about leadership, the Life Path 1 and the Life Path 8 pop up as probable winners. Sure enough, both have had their fair share of success, especially the Life Path 8. But they certainly don't stand alone. Each Life Path number, 1 through 9 has produced multiple Presidents.

In the analysis, the Presidents have been ranked. There are any number of Presidential rankings available, but I found that some seem to have a partisan bias. I attempted to avoid any political slant by using the C-span survey which was developed using the thinking of approximately 90 historians and Presidential experts. These historians and scholars rated the Presidents on 10 criteria including: 1. Public Persuasion, 2. Crisis Leadership, 3. Economic Management, 4. Moral Authority, 5. International Relations, 6. Administrative Skills, 7. Relations with Congress, 8. Vision/setting agenda, 9. Pursual of Equal Justice for All, and, 10. Performance Within the Context of the Time. If you want to examine any category individually, visit here and take a look. You can also use this page to check out any particular President and see how he ranked in all of the individual categories.

Just below is a listing of the Presidents in the order that they served, the historians' leadership ranking number, their birth date, and the resulting Life Path number. If you are not familiar with Life Path numbers, you can click here to visit the page that will introduce you to this numerology concept.

I've discussed the presidency of at least one or 2 Presidents from each Life Path group, in most cases focusing on the highest ranking example of each Life Path group. In the Life Path 2 group, Bill Clinton was added to the analysis even though he was not one of the highest in this grouping, but he is our most recent past President. I also added our current leader, George W. Bush while reviewing the Life Path 6 Presidents.

George Washington - ranking 3
b. February 22, 1732 - 10/1



Benjamin Harrison - ranking 31
b. August 20, 1833 - 16/7

John Adams - ranking 16
b. October 30, 1735 - 11/2



William McKinley - ranking 15
b. January 29, 1843 - 10/1

Thomas Jefferson - ranking 7
b. April 13, 1743 - 14/5



Theodore Roosevelt - ranking 4
b. October 27, 1858 - 14/5

James Madison - ranking 18
b. March 16, 1751 - 15/6



William Howard Taft - ranking 24
b. September 15, 1857 - 18/9

James Monroe - ranking 14
b. April 28, 1758 - 8



Woodrow Wilson - ranking 6
b. December 28, 1856 - 6

John Quincy Adams - ranking 19
b. July 11, 1767 - 12/3



Warren G. Harding - 38
b. November 2, 1865 - 6

Andrew Jackson - ranking 13
b. March 15, 1767 - 12/3



Calvin Coolidge - ranking 27
b. July 4, 1872 - 11/2

Martin Van Buren - ranking 30
b. December 5, 1782 - 17/8



Herbert Hoover - ranking 34
b. August 10, 1874 - 11/2

William Henry Harrison - ranking 37
b. February 9, 1773 - 20/2



Franklin D. Roosevelt - ranking 2
b. January 30, 1882 - 5

John Tyler - ranking 36
b. March 29, 1790 - 13/4



Harry S. Truman - ranking 5
b. May 8, 1884 - 16/7

James K. Polk - ranking 12
b. November 2, 1795 - 8



Dwight D. Eisenhower - ranking 9
b. October 14, 1890 - 15/6

Zachary Taylor - ranking 28
b. November 24, 1784 - 10/1



John F. Kennedy - ranking 8
b. May 29, 1917 - 16/7

Millard Fillmore - ranking 35
b. January 7, 1800 - 8



Lyndon B. Johnson - ranking 10
b. August 27, 1908 - 26/8

Franklin Pierce - ranking 39
b. November 23, 1804 - 11/2



Richard M. Nixon - ranking 25
b. January 9, 1913 - 15/6

James Buchanan - ranking 41
b. April 23, 1791 - 18/9



Gerald R. Ford - ranking 23
b. July 14, 1913 - 17/8

Abraham Lincoln - ranking 1
b. February 12, 1809 - 14/5



Jimmy Carter - ranking 22
b. October 1, 1924 - 9

Andrew Johnson - ranking 40
b. December 29, 1808 - 13/4



Ronald Reagan - ranking 11
b. February 6, 1911 - 20/2

Ulysses S. Grant - ranking 33
b/ April 27, 1822 - 17/8



George Bush - ranking 20
b. June 12, 1924 - 16/7

Rutherford B. Hayes - ranking 26
October 4, 1822 - 9



Bill Clinton - ranking 21
b. August 19, 1946 - 20/2

James A. Garfield - ranking 29
b. November 19, 1831 - 7



George W. Bush - ranking unknown*
b. July 6, 1946 - 15/6

Chester A. Arthur - ranking 32
b. October 5, 1829 - 8



Grover Cleveland - ranking 17
b. March 18, 1837 - 13/4



The Life Path 1
Natural Skill Set: An original thinker, natural leader, forms strong opinions, forcefulness in word and deed, inventiveness, courageous, innate executive ability. With excessive 1 energy or negative application of 1 energy: Overly assertive or aggressive, dominating, impulsiveness, egotistical, uncooperative.

The Life Path 1 Presidents: George Washington, Zachary Taylor, and William McKinley
The Life Path 1 served us extremely well and no doubt was an great choice for our first President, George Washington.

George Washington took office as the first US President acutely aware of the need to build an executive structure that could be a mold for future presidents. It was his to decide what was really meant by the term "executive power" in the Constitution, and to fix the place of the presidency in the government. He had to hold the new nation together, get the government working, and attract first-rate people to run it. Washington established the power of the President. It was his idea that the President was to represent all the people, placing the office above political parties and battles. He was to be the leader at home and in foreign affairs, as well. He was to be a symbol of the people and of the nation. He was never to abuse his power, but he was never to fail to use the power that the people and the Constitution had entrusted to him. He had to set its finances in order, get its commerce going again, protect the frontiers against the Indians, and defend the nation against threats from Britain and Spain.

Congress, under his leadership, established the first executive departments. With the aid of his cabinet and the Congress, Washington got the machinery of government going. A financial system was established that got the United States out of debt and enabled it to pay its way. The supremacy of federal (or national) law over state law was established. Peace was made with the Indians, and new lands in what was then the West were acquired, including the future sites of Detroit and Chicago. Three new states, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee, were admitted to the Union.

Clearly, this was a time when the original thought, assertive leadership, will, and determination of a Life Path 1 President was absolutely essential. George Washington, in accepting this task, established himself as one of our greatest Presidents.

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The Life Path 2
Natural Skill Set: A diplomat, an arbitrator, master of tact and persuasion, sincerity, builder of consensus, spiritually influenced, extroverted, a gather of facts. With excessive 2 energy or negative application of 2 energy: Caught up in too much detail, timidity, failure to take action, shyness, lack of courage.

The Life Path 2 Presidents: John Adams, William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton
The strength of the Life Path 2 in high office is surely their skills in diplomacy and their ability to persuade both the Congress and the American people. To masters of persuade with highly different agendas are found in recent Presidential history - Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Ronald Reagan - Early in Ronald Reagan's presidency, Congress passed his requests for cuts in taxes and a number of government programs. He also won increased funds for defense. But the increased defense spending and tax cut had led to a record budget deficit. Democrats attacked Reagan for cutting social welfare programs and called for reduced defense spending and a tax increase in order to lower the deficit.

In 1983, Reagan sent U.S. Marines to Lebanon as part of a peacekeeping force. The Marines were recalled in 1984, after some 240 had been killed in a terrorist attack. Reagan also sent U.S. troops to Grenada in 1983, to prevent what the administration saw as a Cuban attempt to take over the Caribbean island nation. The president denounced the left-wing Sandinista government of Nicaragua as a threat to peace in Central America, and he repeatedly sought military aid for the anti-Sandinista guerrillas, known as contras. The Iran-Contra Affair proved embarrassing to the administration. Congressional hearings in 1987 revealed that presidential aides had acted illegally by selling weapons to Iran and diverting the money to Nicaraguan rebels.

His call for extensive changes in the federal income tax laws helped bring about passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. A stock market crash in 1987 lead to new bill to balance the federal budget became law , but the huge deficit continued to trouble the government.

Reagan ordered the bombing of military targets in Libya in 1986 in retaliation for its role in international terrorism. His policy of reflagging (flying the U.S. flag on) Kuwaiti oil tankers and providing them with a U.S. naval escort in the Persian Gulf led to clashes with Iran in 1987. The president's greatest diplomatic achievement was the 1987 treaty with the Soviet Union banning intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF), approved by the Senate in 1988.

Reagan's skills in persuasion led the nation toward a far more conservative brand of government. Indeed, his leadership made the mold for the conservative movement in national politics, and has been the model for the two Republican leaders since his Presidency. His dogged determination to expand the military might of the United States is often credited as being the action that resulted in the breakup of the Soviet Union. Despite the many problems of these troubled times, Ronald Reagan's ability to instill confidence in his leadership through convincing oratory was without equal in our history.

Bill Clinton - Early in his presidency, Clinton called for nearly $500 billion in tax increases and spending cuts. Congress narrowly approved. Clinton also won approval for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. However, one of his top priorities--health reform--met with stiff opposition, and he had to abandon the idea.

Clinton was plagued with allegations of misconduct prior to his election as president. Months were spent on an investigation of his and his wife's involvement in the failed Whitewater Development Corporation, an Arkansas real estate development firm. The other concerned charges of sexual harassment made by Paula Jones. These issues contributed to the Democratic Party's defeat in the 1994 midterm elections.

In international matters, Clinton helped bring about an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) concerning self-rule for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. And in the Balkans, he sent 20,000 American troops to serve as part of an international peacekeeping force.

In his second term, his first major accomplishment was reaching an agreement with the Republican-controlled Congress on a plan to achieve a balanced budget. Despite tax cuts worth $95 billion, the plan also trimmed $263 billion from federal expenditures. Meanwhile, the number of people receiving welfare dropped, in part because of the welfare reform law Clinton pushed through Congress in 1996. Seeking to ease racial tensions, Clinton in 1997 launched a yearlong campaign of town hall meetings and conferences. He called for reconciliation between the races, defended affirmative action, and pointed out that by the end of the next half-century there would no longer be a majority race in America.

Soon after another scandal disrupted Clinton's presidency. This controversy stemmed from charges that he had an improper relationship Monica Lewinsky, and then tried to cover it up. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who had been investigating the Whitewater case, launched an inquiry. His probe focused on whether Clinton had committed perjury by denying the affair with Lewinsky in a sworn deposition in the Paula Jones case, and also whether Clinton had tried to get Lewinsky to lie in her own sworn statement in the Paula Jones lawsuit. At first Clinton denied the charges, but when Lewinsky confirmed the affair in testimony before a grand jury, he was forced to admit he had not told the truth. Starr meanwhile issued a report, contending that the president's actions could be grounds for impeachment. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. After a trial in the Senate, the president was acquitted on both the impeachment and perjury charges. Despite these difficulties, Clinton was able to reach an agreement with Congress on a program designed to bolster the Social Security system in the long run. In 2000 the Clintons were cleared of any wrongdoing in the Whitewater matter.

Clinton's scandals at home did not prevent him from playing an active role abroad. He persuaded Russian president Boris Yeltsin to accept the expansion of NATO by admitting some former Soviet Bloc countries as members. Following terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Clinton unleashed retaliatory strikes at terrorist sites in Afghanistan and Sudan. He also ordered the bombing of Iraq when Iraq refused to allow the UN to inspect its weapons facilities. He helped negotiate a Mideast pact between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel agreed to withdraw its troops from land claimed by the Palestinians in return for a promise to stop terrorism against Israel.

Soon after his impeachment trial ended, Clinton set in motion the biggest military operation of his presidency, joining other NATO countries in a massive bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. The aim was to force Yugoslavian president Slobodan Miloevi to stop attacks on ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo. After ten weeks of bombing, Miloevi agreed to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, and Clinton claimed victory. The United States did not lose a single soldier in combat.

In the last year of his presidency, Clinton made yet another effort to ease Mideast tensions. But at a summit meeting at Camp David, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat failed to reach an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Clearly this ultimate diplomat set the bar high in foreign affairs. He is the classic good example of the 2 Life Path. Sadly, he suffered in the rankings owing to his last place finish in Moral Authority, which he clearly earned.

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The Life Path 3
Natural Skill Set: Gifted use of speech and written communication, inspired thinking, visionary plans, accurate insights, a positive and inspirational spirit. With excessive 3 energy or negative application of 3 energy: Extravagance, lack of direction, moodiness, overly critical, unforgiving.

The 3 Presidents: John Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson
By 1829 the 3 Life Path had scored two very competent Presidents, but it hasn't been heard from since.

John Quincy Adams was indeed a man of letters. Serving as his father's secretary, he became an accomplished linguist and writer. Under President Monroe, Adams was a key player in the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine. As President, he urged the United States to take a lead in the development of the arts and sciences through the establishment of a national university, the financing of scientific expeditions, and the erection of an observatory.

Adams' excessive 3 energy derived from both his name and birth adding to that number may have added to his moodiness which give the public the image of an aloof and uncaring leader. Ideologic conflicts with his successor, Jackson, diminished his career and reputation.

Andrew Jackson was a frontiersman, an army general, a lawyer, a senator from Tennessee, and a judge. His toughness earned him the nickname "Old Hickory." A strong leader, he made the office of the president more powerful than it had been before. He was also one of the founders of the Democratic Party. About Jackson it was said "A writer brilliant, elegant, eloquent, and without being able to compose a correct sentence, or spell words of four syllables. " Andrew Jackson came from the backwoods, and was the people's popular choice, a favorite as only a inspiring Life Path 3 could be. Jackson, like Adams before him, suffered in a numerology sense from an overload of 3 energy since his name also produces a 3 Destiny. This may explain his extravagances, criticism, and unforgiving nature.

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The 4 Life Path
Natural Skill Set: Excellent management skills, common sense thinking, scientific approach, concentrated effort to achieve goals, determined, overcoming obstacles, careful planner, attention to detail, steadfast. With excessive 4 energy or negative application of 4 energy: Stubborn very fixed opinions, argumentative, slow to change when change is needed, caught up in detail, slow decision-making.

The 4 Presidents: John Tyler, Andrew Johnson, and Grover Cleveland
The 4 hasn't fared too well in providing great leaders, scoring only three Presidents. The latest and only notable, Grover Cleveland, serving in the late 19th century. .

Grover Cleveland - As a lawyer in Buffalo, Cleveland became notable for his single-minded concentration upon whatever task faced him.

Cleveland was the only President to serve two, nonconsecutive terms. After his first term, he was narrowly defeated by Benjamin Harrison , grandson of William Henry Harrison. Cleveland, in turn, defeated Harrison four years later.

As President, his dogged determination and abrupt manner, typical Life Path 4 traits, became obvious. Cleveland vigorously pursued a policy barring special favors to any economic group. He signed into law the Interstate Commerce Act, the first law attempting Federal regulation of the railroads. Regulation and control, more 4 tendencies, highlighted his term. Grover Cleveland was not one of the great presidents, but for courage, honesty, and patriotism he has never been surpassed.

Grover Cleveland's blunt and stubborn ways curtailed his popularity and probably explains why the "strictly business" Life Path 4 fails to deliver more good Presidents.

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The Life Path 5
Natural Skill Set: Progressive ideas, inventive, resourceful, fights for freedom, independent, quick thinker, inquisitiveness, excellent administrator, energetic. With excessive 5 energy or negative application of 5 energy: Overly critical, impatient temperament, a sharp tongue, hasty decisions, impulsiveness, restlessness, nervousness.

The 5 Presidents: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin. Roosevelt When you look at the Life Path 5 Presidents, with ranking 7, 1, 4 and 2, respectively, you wonder why we don't make this Life Path a prerequisite for serving as US President. The Life Path 5 has been the clear winner in terms of quality. All four must be admired.

Jefferson may be the best example of the four in expression the love of freedom and liberty so strong in the Life Path 5. Before his presidency, at age 33, he drafted the Declaration of Independence and authored a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786. As President, he slashed Army and Navy expenditures, cut the budget, eliminated the tax on whiskey, yet reduced the national debt by a third. Although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of new land, Jefferson boldly acquired the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803.

Lincoln, as an exemplary Life Path 5, issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. He never let the world forget that the Civil War involved one huge issue. Dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg he said: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Great Life Path 5 stuff that landed him the the top ranking.

Theodore Roosevelt expressed the view that the President as a "steward of the people" should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution." As President, he held the ideal that the Government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the Nation, especially between capital and labor, guaranteeing justice to each and dispensing favors to none. Serving the people and freeing them from the tyrants of the time he became know as the trust buster bringing antitrust suits under the Sherman Act. A legendary peacemaker and our greatest environmentalist, Roosevelt proves that the love of liberty inherent in the 5 Life Path does provide top Presidents.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, our longest serving President (4 terms) took office at the height of the great depression and gave the people hope when he asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." His leadership freed the country from the poverty by initiating a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority. His resistance to involving his country in war, and finally his leadership during the second world war after the country for forced to enter the hostilities, cemented this Life Path 5 leader as our second best President.

All of these greats were progressive thinkers and energetic fighters for freedom and liberty. All are certainly deserving of the elevated rankings, and together they establish the Life Path 5 as the ideal for "leader of the free world."

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The Life Path 6
Natural Skill Set: An idealist, determined humanitarian spirit, service to fellow man, righteousness, conventional thinking, fixed opinions, steadfast in beliefs. With excessive 6 energy or negative application of 6 energy: Stubbornness, obstinacy, self-righteousness, dominating posture, easily victimized by adulation, slow decision-making.

The 6 Presidents: James Madison, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush - This has been a popular Life Path choice probably because of the "Father-Knows-Best" attitude they project. The results of the 6 Presidents is mixed, with three that did well, and the others not faring so well.

Woodrow Wilson - The highest rated of the 6 Presidents was Woodrow Wilson, ranked our 6th best. As President, developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy." A great progressive President, accomplishments included achieving a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

In 1916, a new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. After winning reelection, Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany, eventually tipping the scales in favor of the allies and gaining victory.

Wilson was a good example of how great the humanitarian Life Path 6 President can be.

George W. Bush - I won't attempt to write the history for the current administration since they still have some time to go. Here are, however, a few thoughts on our current President. George Walker Bush with his Life Path 15/6, Destiny 15/6, and birthday 6, is up to his neck in 6 energy. The excessive 6 energy invites some of the negative traits associated with the number. These include: stubbornness, obstinacy, self-righteousness, dominating posture, easily victimized by adulation, and slow decision-making. Critics would argue that he has demonstrated all of these throughout his tenure. Additionally, the negative energy associated with this number may find him rejecting responsibility altogether for major parts of his life. This appears to have been the case for the first forty years of his life. His reputation was pretty much that of a playboy.

The sub challenges in his life were that of the number 1. The challenge of the number 1 suggests he would feel dominated by others with strong influence, probably his famous father. The challenge of the number 1 is avoidance of being dominated, but doing so in a fashion that does not impose upon or dominate others. With the challenge of the number 1 it's extremely important to control the ego, and avoid the negative aspect of individuality. False pride, pomposity, egotism are issues to be guarded against now. He is perpetually in a state of learning about self-reliance and how to solve his own problems independently. Critics would say the challenge is yet to be met.

As President, again the many critics would say the negative 6 in Bush shows up in his determination to lead the country into a questionable war. Supporters would support his actions and his "stubbornness" would be viewed as "true grit." The historians will get to decide how future generations will see his presidency. My guess is that this 6 President will rank closer to Harding that he does to Nixon, most likely near the all time bottom.

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The Life Path 7
Natural Skill Set: Careful researcher, investigation, circumspection, foresight, analysis, scientific and inventive thinking, contemplation in solitude, decisive, penetrating wit and acumen. With excessive 7 energy or negative application of 7 energy: Overly reserved and secretive, shrewdness, bossy, sarcastic, cynical, over-analyzing, argumentative, harsh temperament, conviction to a fault.

The 7 Presidents: James Garfield, William Henry Harrison, Harry S Truman, John F. Kennedy, George H. W. Bush - The 7 Life Path makes a surprising (to me) showing as the number is one that shouldn't even want to be President. It has done well with one great, Truman, one near great, JFK, and Geo. H. W. Bush wasn't that far off the mark, as well. Two of the five were assassinated in office.

Harry S Truman - The greatest of the 7 Presidents was Harry S. Truman. Truman was a vice President who rarely saw the President he worked for and knew little about what was going on such as the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly these and a bevy of wartime problems became his to solve when FDR died, and VP became President. As President, he made some of the most crucial decisions in our history. Dropping the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ending the war, proposing the expansion of Social Security, a full-employment program, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing and slum clearance, a program that became known as the Fair Deal. In 1947 as the Soviet Union pressured Turkey and Greece, he asked Congress to aid the two countries, initiating the Truman Doctrine. The Marshall Plan, named for his Secretary of State, stimulated spectacular economic recovery in war-torn western Europe. He was negotiating a military alliance to protect Western nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, established in 1949. In June 1950, when the Communist government of North Korea attacked South Korea, Truman after conferring with military advisers wrote, "complete, almost unspoken acceptance on the part of everyone that whatever had to be done to meet this aggression had to be done. There was no suggestion from anyone that either the United Nations or the United States could back away from it." A long, discouraging struggle ensued as U.N. forces held a line above the old boundary of South Korea. Truman kept the war a limited one, rather than risk a major conflict with China and perhaps Russia.

Truman made some of the most difficult decisions handled by any American President. His ability to think things through, thoroughly analyze and contemplate, foresee consequences, make the choice, and execute the decision of the face of stiff opposition, earned this plainspoken man his elevated ranking as one of the finest Presidents in our nation's history.

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The Life Path 8
Natural Skill Set: Executive and abilities, political skills, expert handling of power and authority, working for a cause, master of gaining recognition and respect, exercising sound judgment, organization, hard working, decisive and commanding. With excessive 8 energy or negative application of 8 energy: Lacks true humanitarian feelings, impatience with subordinates, overly ambitious, repressing others, over reaching, expressing anger, love of display.

The 8 Presidents: James Monroe, Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald R. Ford

The executive skills and political savvy of the Life Path 8 would lead one to assume that this would be a natural number to dominate the oval office. Indeed, it has produced more Presidents more (a total of 8) than any other Life Path number. Yet only three of the 8 have ranked as above average Presidents, and only one of these, Lyndon B. Johnson, was ranked as one of the top ten Presidents.

Lyndon B. Johnson - The assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, elevated Johnson to the office where he quickly showed his skills in domestic affairs. Legislation was passed promoting economic growth and the Economic Opportunity Act, launching the War on Poverty. He secured a strong Civil Rights Act in 1964, which became the legal authority against racial and sexual discrimination.

Although Johnson had increased the number of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam from 16,000 at the time when he took office to nearly 25,000 a year later, compared the challenging Republican, Goldwater, at the time this seemed restrained. In this election, he easily won his own term in 1964. A huge victory gave him a mandate for the Great Society, his domestic program. Congress responded by passing the Medicare program, approving federal aid to elementary and secondary education, supplementing the War on Poverty, and creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It also passed another important civil rights law, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As the nation became mired in Vietnam, racial problems grew into widespread urban race riots between 1965 and 1968. Military escalation in Vietnam proved to be Johnson's undoing. Overshadowing domestic affairs, the war resulted in sharp inflation, and prompted unremitting criticism, especially from the young who were subject to the draft. The war dragged on and was not won. Johnson became more secretive, dogmatic, and hypersensitive to criticism. His brilliant political instincts were failing. With his popularity on the decline, on Mar. 31, 1968, he announced he would stop the bombing in most of North Vietnam and seek a negotiated end to the war, and that he would not run for reelection.

Johnson was a power broker in Congress and in the presidency. A great example of the strength of the Life Path 8 chief executive.

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The Life Path 9
Natural Skill Set: Compassionate, idealistic, concern for mankind, highly spiritual, lives by philanthropic principles, inclination toward amnesty, dramatic thinking and execution of ideas. With excessive 9 energy or negative application of 9 energy: Moods and depression, impulsiveness, changeable behavior, scattered energies, too much desire for personal recognition.

The 9 Presidents: James Buchanan, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard Taft, and Jimmy Carter
The Life Path 9 is surprisingly the one number which has failed to produce an above average President. For all of the good works that 9s might choose to do, leading the free world doesn't seem to be in their natural skill set. Jimmy Carter topped this group.

Jimmy Carter - As President, Carter signed a new Panama Canal Treaty turning the canal over to Panama in the year 1999. Many criticized him for allowing the United States to give up control of this strategic waterway. Carter's dedication to working for human rights around the world angered some countries. And in 1979, when Carter signed the SALT II Treaty with Soviet President Brezhnev limiting nuclear weapons, the U.S. Senate refused to approve the treaty. The American economy was in a slump. The oil-producing Middle Eastern countries raised prices on crude oil, which caused prices of many products to rise dramatically. It became very expensive to borrow money, buy homes, or expand businesses.

Major accomplishments of his time included the 1978 agreement known as the Camp David Accords. This set the groundwork for a peace treaty the following year between Egypt and Israel. Carter had invited the leaders of both countries to the United States so that he could help them work out a fair peace treaty. He also established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. On the home front, Carter created a national energy policy and created the new Department of Energy. He expanded the National Park System, including protecting more than a million acres (400,000 hectares) of the Alaskan wilderness. He also appointed record numbers of women, African-Americans, and Hispanics to government jobs. The final 14 months of the Carter administration were haunted by a crisis in Iran. A group of Iranians kidnapped 66 Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held them hostage for 444 days. This episode probably cost Carter a second term in office.

Jimmy Carter was a very caring and religious President. His words and deeds established him as one of our most righteous leaders, if not one of stronger chiefs. His charitable ways have continued throughout his post-presidency. His is a vivid example of the 9 Life Path President.

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