Chester Alan "Gavin" Arthur III (March 21, 1901 – April 28, 1972) was an American
astrologer
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
and
sexologist. He was the grandson of
Chester A. Arthur, the twenty-first
president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
. He received his early education from
Columbia College and later joined the
Philolexian Society. He left his college and participated in the
Irish Republican Movement. During his time in Ireland, he began going by the name Gavin.
Arthur founded ''Dune Forum'', a short-lived cultural magazine aimed to spread alternating religious and political ideologies. After his father's death, he inherited various official documents, including newspapers during the time of his grandfather's presidency and presidential memento. In the 1950s, due to financial instability, Arthur sold newspapers on the streets of San Francisco. In the 1960s, he published ''The Circle of Sex'', where he claimed that he had developed sexual intimacy with
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...
. He also claimed that Carpenter had had sexual relations with American author
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...
. Arthur died in 1972; he was the last living descendant of the Arthur family. Most of his papers and official documents were donated to the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
Early life and education
Chester Alan Arthur III was born in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...
, on March 21, 1901, to
Chester Alan Arthur II and his wife, Myra Fithian Andrews. He was the grandson of
Chester A. Arthur, twenty-first
president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
. Arthur II was an indirect stakeholder in the Trinchera Estate, a ranch which was one of the main sources of income for his family. During the early 1920s, Arthur studied at
Columbia College in New York; he was a member of the Class of 1924 and also of the
Philolexian Society. Arthur was an admirer of the works of the British poet and activist
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...
.
Career
Early career
After leaving college, Arthur worked in the
Irish Republican Movement, living in New York, France, and Ireland. While in Europe, Arthur and his wife Charlotte had roles in the 1930
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
film ''
Borderline,'' which also starred
H.D. and
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...
. In the early 1930s, he moved to
Pismo Beach, California
Pismo Beach ( Chumash: ''Pismuʔ'') is a city in the southern portion of San Luis Obispo County, in the Central Coast area of California, United States. Its estimated population was 8,072 at the 2020 census, up from 7,655 in the 2010 census. ...
, and began going by the name "Gavin",. Arthur founded an art and literature
commune and published a short-lived magazine, ''Dune Forum'', with an intention to "express the creative thought of America looking not toward Europe but toward the West" and spread alternating religious and political ideologies. Amy Hart wrote that the magazine was a "platform where Dunites could express their varied worldviews and religious ideals". Dunites were group of artists and mystics who lived in
Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes from the 1930s till 1950s. Arthur, one of the most famous dunite, described the group as "intensely individualistic, with ideas as different one from another as any in the country" in the ''Dune Forum''. The magazine was released in seven issues between 1933 and 1934.
In 1934, Arthur joined the
Utopian Society of America. Between 1936 and 1937, he wrote six articles published in
Labor Defender and he served as an editor with
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. An early innovator of jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harl ...
. Upon his father's death in 1937, all of Arthur II's financial assets were distributed equally between his son Gavin and his wife. He inherited various receipts, bills, checkbooks, presidential mementos, newspaper clippings from
his grandfather's presidency, and correspondence letters from politicians such as
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
,
James A. Garfield,
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...
,
James G. Blaine, among others. He received typed copies of various important documents. Arthur served as secretary of the California
Democratic Party in 1940, during the administration of
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
, but resigned the following year, convinced that the party had betrayed his principles. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Arthur served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
and the
Merchant navy.
After the war, Arthur moved to New York and undertook the writing of a family history, which was never completed. Returning to California in 1949, Arthur taught classes at
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated area, unincorporated place ...
for many years. In 1952, he finished his bachelor's degree at
San Francisco State College. Often low on funds, Arthur sold newspapers on the streets of San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. At the same time, he began to gain fame as an
astrologer
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
.
''The Circle of Sex''
A sexologist by profession, Arthur published ''The Circle of Sex'' in 1962 that analyzed human sexuality through the lens of
yin-yang
Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
polarities. Rather than the linear scale developed by
Alfred Kinsey, Arthur envisioned sexuality as a wheel with twelve orientations, six for each sex. The twelve types corresponded to the 12-hours dial clock and Arthur illustrated each with a historical archetype, like
Don Juan
Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women.
The original version of the story of Don Juan appears in the 1630 play (''The Trickster of Seville and t ...
,
Sappho
Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...
, and
Lady C. In 1966, he published an enlarged edition of the same title. In that edition, he claimed that on his first visit with Carpenter, they both developed a sexual intimacy. Carpenter later told him that he had been sexual with American author
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...
as well. Arthur, bisexual himself, was said to have been intimate with
Neal Cassady as well.
Astrology and later career
Arthur was friend to many people of the
Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...
, including
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...
and
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British and American writer, speaker, and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist, and Hinduism, Hindu philosophy for a Wes ...
. He was active in the early
gay rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Not ...
movement, and was also a leader of the
Haight-Ashbury counterculture. Arthur used his astrology to decide the date for the first "
Human Be-In
The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture an ...
" event on January 14, 1967. Over 30,000 people, including many
Gypsies attended the event. During the presidency of
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
, according to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', he helped the first lady
Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...
to "locate art objects stored and forgotten by previous Presidential occupants". Arthur believed he was in spiritual connections with local
Chumash Indians. According to various of his friends, including
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
,
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
, and
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, Arthur would refer to himself as a "pre-hippie hippie".
Personal life and death
Arthur was married three times. In 1922, he married Charlotte Joy Johnson, divorcing her in 1932. Three years later, he wed
Esther Murphy Strachey, whom he divorced in 1961. His final marriage, to Ellen Jansen, took place in 1965.
Arthur died on April 28, 1972, at the
Fort Miley Veterans Hospital in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. He is buried at the
Albany Rural Cemetery. Having no children of his own, he was the last living descendant of his grandfather, President Chester A. Arthur. His papers, including many family papers, were given to the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
soon after his death. Philip Avillo wrote that "Throughout his life, Arthur cultivated a wide variety of people, including political leaders, writers, entertainers, sexologists, and social misfits and outcasts."
References
Works cited
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur, Gavin
1901 births
1972 deaths
20th-century American astrologers
American expatriates in the Republic of Ireland
American LGBTQ military personnel
Bisexual military personnel
American magazine founders
United States Navy personnel of World War II
American newspaper people
American relationships and sexuality writers
American sexologists
Beat Generation people
Bisexual male writers
California Democrats
Arthur family
Educators from California
Educators from New York (state)
American LGBTQ businesspeople
LGBTQ people from California
LGBTQ people from Colorado
LGBTQ people from New York (state)
American LGBTQ rights activists
Military personnel from Colorado
People from Pismo Beach, California
San Francisco State University alumni
Writers from Colorado Springs, Colorado
Writers from San Francisco
Writers from New York City
Dunites
20th-century American non-fiction writers
Activists from California
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
Columbia College (New York) alumni
20th-century pseudonymous writers
American bisexual men
American bisexual writers
20th-century American LGBTQ people