George W. Bush

History handed George W. Bush an era-defining test, and few presidencies swung so far between triumph and controversy. Born in 1946, the eldest son of the 41st president, he flew with the Texas Air National Guard, took a Harvard MBA, worked in oil and co-owned the Texas Rangers before winning the Texas governorship and then the contested 2000 election. As the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009 he cut taxes, passed No Child Left Behind and launched PEPFAR against AIDS, then, after the September 11 attacks, opened the war on terror and ordered the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter on weapons that were never found.

His Leo Ascendant gave the regal, camera-ready presence of a natural front-man, holding the torch whether the crowd cheered or jeered. His Sun in Cancer in the twelfth house is a deeply emotional, protective, faith-leaning self, the mama-bear who shines quietly through matters larger than himself. His Moon in Libra in the third house is a Venusian, fair-minded, communicative psyche forever weighing the scales. Ranked below-average by scholars yet once the most popular of presidents, Bush embodied a nation caught between shelter and war.