Did He or Didn't He? Teddy Roosevelt and Astrology

Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president from 1901 to 1909, kept his natal horoscope chart mounted on a chess board in the Oval Office. When visitors asked about it, Roosevelt said, “I always keep my weather eye on the opposition of my seventh house Moon to my first house Mars.”

You'll see that story on several astrology sites and quotation sites on the Net. But I did some checking, and:

First of all, Theodore Roosevelt did not occupy the Oval Office because there was no presidential Oval Office until 1909, its first occupant President William Howard Taft, Roosevelt's successor. Roosevelt’s office was in the West Wing and is now called the Roosevelt Room. Theodore Roosevelt’s horoscope (October 27, 1858, 7:45 p.m., New York City) does show his natal Moon opposing Mars, and Houses 1 and 7 are involved, but the quotation reverses it: His Moon is actually in House 1 and his Mars in House 7.

Roosevelt was no astrology buff if he couldn't even keep his own chart straight. Chances are he didn't say this at all; there's no proof. This anecdote was first published around 1930, when mass media created the first real fad for popular astrology.

Besides, why would a president mount his horoscope on a chessboard? Couldn't he afford a frame? Would he have let just anyone see it? At that time, the practice of astrology was illegal.

Astrology shouldn't operate on misinformation. We're always striving for truth.