This has been updated to include President Donald Trump.
Here is a list of the Mercury signs of all US Presidents. The bar chart shows the most prevalent Mercury sign among US Presidents, which happens to be Scorpio.
The Mercury sign tells us about the way a person’s mind works. Mercury reflects the way a person sees, hears, understands, and assimilates information. It shows the way we process information, and how we communicate.
It’s not surprising that, with the exception of Capricorn, all of the most prevalent signs are “fixed” signs. Scorpio, Leo, Taurus, and Aquarius are the fixed signs of the zodiac.
These are minds which can be stubborn, but reassuringly methodical and steady. Capricorn is not a fixed sign, yet it shares those qualities. It makes sense that these qualities are commonly represented among the presidents.
Only 17 US Presidents in history have not had Mercury in one of the fixed signs or Capricorn.
At the other end of the spectrum, Gemini is the least represented among Mercury signs of U.S. Presidents. Only one president in U.S. history had Mercury in Gemini: Harry S. Truman. Gemini is the changeable sign. Gemini in Mercury is a changeable mind, and while inventive and even genius, it lacks the reassuring steadiness that voters seek.
Another interesting thing to note is that only two U.S. Presidents in history had Mercury retrograde: Benjamin Harrison and Harry S. Truman. Although, Harrison’s Mercury was dignified in the sign that it rules, Virgo, and it had a harmonious trine from Jupiter which would mitigate any negative effects. Truman’s Mercury was not so lucky, and coincidentally, he is noted as the most unpopular President in US history.
Here is a list of each U.S. President with his Mercury sign:
George Washington: Aquarius
John Adams: Scorpio
Thomas Jefferson: Pisces
James Madison: Aquarius
James Monroe: Taurus
John Quincy Adams: Leo
Andrew Jackson: Aries
Martin Van Buren: Scorpio
William Henry Harrison: Capricorn
John Tyler: Pisces
James K. Polk: Sagittarius
Zachary Taylor: Capricorn
Millard Fillmore: Sagittarius
Franklin Pierce: Scorpio or Sagittarius
James Buchanan: Taurus
Abraham Lincoln: Pisces
Andrew Johnson: Sagittarius
Ulysses S. Grant: Aries
Rutherford B. Hayes: Scorpio
James A. Garfield: Scorpio
Chester A. Arthur: Scorpio
Grover Cleveland: Pisces
Benjamin Harrison: Virgo
William McKinley: Aquarius
Theodore Roosevelt: Scorpio
William Howard Taft: Libra
Woodrow Wilson: Capricorn
Warren G. Harding: Scorpio
Calvin Coolidge: Cancer
Herbert Hoover: Leo
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Aquarius
Harry S. Truman: Gemini
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Libra
John F. Kennedy: Taurus
Lyndon B. Johnson: Virgo
Richard Nixon: Capricorn
Gerald Ford: Leo
Jimmy Carter: Virgo
Ronald Reagan: Capricorn
George H. W. Bush: Taurus
Bill Clinton: Leo
George W. Bush: Leo
Barack Obama: Leo
Donald J. Trump: Cancer
Notes
- The list includes all 44 presidents, including President Trump. Although he’s called the 45th president, there have actually been only 44 presidents because Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd & the 24th president. Our tally doesn’t make the mistake of including Grover Cleveland twice.
- Only 43 Mercury signs are included in the bar graph because it omits Franklin Pierce’s Mercury sign, which is either in Scorpio or Sagittarius depending on the time he was born.
- See the list of birth times that we used.