Jeane Dixon

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Lore & Background

Jeane Dixon was born Lydia Emma Pinckert in Medford, Wisconsin, one of ten siblings born to German-born Roman Catholic parents. She was raised in Missouri and California. Her birth date was often reported as 1918, and Dixon would proffer this date to reporters, at one point even producing a passport to this effect, but she once testified in a deposition that she was born in 1910. An investigation by a reporter for the *National Observer*, who interviewed family members and examined official records, concluded she was born in 1904. Dixon claimed that while growing up in California, a 'Gypsy' gave her a crystal ball and read her palm, predicting she would become a famous seer and advise powerful people. She married James Dixon, a divorcé, in 1939 and worked with him in his real estate company in Washington, D.C., serving as its president. The couple had no children. Dixon was the sister of football player Erny Pinckert. She wrote seven books, including an autobiography, a horoscope book for dogs, and an astrological cookbook. Another million-seller, *My Life and Prophecies*, was credited 'as told to Rene Noorbergen', but Dixon was sued by Adele Fletcher, who claimed that her rejected manuscript was rewritten and published as that book. Fletcher was awarded 5% of the royalties by a jury. Dixon reportedly predicted the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the May 13, 1956, issue of *Parade Magazine* she wrote that the 1960 presidential election would be 'dominated by labor and won by a Democrat' who would then go on to 'be assassinated or die in office though not necessarily in his first term'. In 1960, as the election neared, she changed her mind and incorrectly predicted that Richard Nixon would win. On June 5, 1968, Dixon was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles to give a speech. She was walking through the kitchen when she suddenly stopped and purportedly blurted out loud, 'This is the place where Robert Kennedy will be shot. I can see him being carried out with blood on his face.' Later that day, her prediction was right. Richard Nixon followed Dixon's writing through his secretary, Rose Mary Woods, and met with Dixon in the Oval Office in 1971. Her prediction of terrorist attacks in the United States in the wake of the Munich massacre spurred Nixon to create a cabinet committee on counterterrorism. She was one of several astrologers who gave advice to Nancy Reagan.

Reader's Guide

Jeane Dixon's significance lies in her role as a prominent public psychic whose few correct predictions—most notably the assassination of John F. Kennedy—overshadowed a much larger number of incorrect ones. This pattern, termed 'the Jeane Dixon effect' by mathematician John Allen Paulos, illustrates the tendency of Dixon and her fans to promote her few correct predictions while ignoring the larger number of incorrect predictions. Critics such as James Randi noted that it is a common strategy of prophets to make many predictions, hoping some come true, and subsequently ignore all the incorrect predictions. Randi notes a series of incorrect predictions that Dixon made, also noting that these are only a few from a 'very long' list. Among these include the predictions that US President Richard Nixon would survive the Watergate scandal and make a comeback, that Russia would be the first country to put a man on the moon, that China would start World War III in 1958, and that the Vietnam War would end in 1966. Other erroneous forecasts included predicting World War III over Quemoy and Matsu in 1958, that American labor leader Walter Reuther would run for president in 1964, and that the second child of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would be a girl (they had a boy). Despite her inaccuracies, she remained a cultural fixture through her books, newspaper column, and influence on figures like Nancy Reagan and Richard Nixon. The Jeane Dixon Museum and Library, opened in 2002 in Strasburg, Virginia, housed many of her possessions until its contents were auctioned in July 2009.

Did You Know?

• Dixon was the sister of football player Erny Pinckert.
• She wrote a horoscope book for dogs and an astrological cookbook.
• Adele Fletcher was awarded 5% of the royalties from Dixon's book *My Life and Prophecies* after a jury found her rejected manuscript had been rewritten and published as that book.
• Dixon experienced cardiac arrest and died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on January 25, 1997. Before her death, she uttered the words 'I knew this would happen.'
• In 1967, Dixon told the family of missing 34-year-old Mary Faye Hunter that she was okay, but Mary Faye was found dead several months later.