Resumo de A Gift Of Prophecy

For many years, Jeane Dixon was America's most famous psychic. "A Gift of Prophecy" is a semi-biography
describing her childhood and adult life, but mainly dedicated to recounting the numerous predictions that left friends and
acquaintances in awe of her powers.
Most famously, during the 1950's, she predicted that the next president would die in office. The first chapter is all about
Mrs. Dixon's futile attempts to avert this disaster.
The second chapter recounts her childhood, and is highlighted by her visit to a gypsy fortune teller when Jeane was eight
years old. The gypsy supposedly gasped when she read Jeane's palm and foretold her fame as a seer. She capped off
the visit by giving Jeane a crystal ball and a deck of cards as gifts.
The rest of the book details the many events, some obscure, but many with national or even global significance, that she
predicted. She attempted to dissuade Carole Lombard from flying on a tour to promote war bond sales. Ms Lombard
ignored the warning, and died in a plane crash. She foresaw the partition of India, the triumph of Communism in China,
the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr., the Alaskan earthquake, and the launching of Sputnik.
Impressive, if she actually foretold all of these events. By the time the book was published, all of these events were safely
in the past. It doesn't take much psychic ability to predict incidents that have already happened.
Scattered throughout the book are several predictions for events that had not happened when the book was published.
The final chapter is also devoted to future events that she could foresee. A brief review of some of these predictions
reveals a rather unimpressive record.
A world war was supposed to occur in the 1980's between China and the United States. Russia would be our ally. The
Chinese would use germ warfare. Russia would put the first man on the moon. The Pope would cease to reign over the
Roman Catholic Church by the end of the twentieth century. A man whose name begins with "S" would be the Soviet
leader who deposed Krushchev.
An internet search under the name "Philip Hulitar" will find references to his career as a clothing designer, but I can find no
reference to an invention of his which is important to women. Mrs. Dixon predicted that it would make him very wealthy.
She also predicted, in 1956, that Indian Prime Minister Nehru would be replaced in about seven years by a man whose
name begins with the letter s. In 1964, Nehru died and was replaced by a man named Shastri. Amazing? Nehru was 67
when she made her prediction. Is it so incredible that a politician of that age would leave office within seven years?
Nor was Lal Shastri a complete unknown in Indian politics at the time of her prediction. It seems plausible to suggest that
Mrs. Dixon had heard his name mentioned as a possible future prime minister. Shastri himself died in 1966, the year after
the book was published, an event not foretold by Mrs. Dixon.
Many other predictions are so vague that they couldn't possible be labeled as erroneous. Nixon would provide good
service for our country. Barry Goldwater would be vindicated. President Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty
programs would be failures. Johnson and Pope Paul VI were vulnerable to danger.
No predictions about Watergate, our dependence on foreign oil, the fall of the Soviet Union, September 11, global warming,
ozone depletion, the winner of the first Super Bowl, or even that there would someday be a football game called the Super
Bowl.
Naturally, a glib rationale is given for the misses, for, to be fair, a few erroneous predictions are reported as well. For
example, although she had previously predicted that a young, blue-eyed Democrat would become President in 1960 and die
in office, she later predicted that Nixon would win the election that year.
Some visions, it is explained, represent the will of God, while others are subject to change. Nixon's losstributed to
election fraud, something she couldn't foresee when she made her prediction. But Kennedy's assassination was,
supposedly, unavoidable.
What good, though, are psychic predictions if they are not reliable? What good is a psychic if she can't predict extremely
important events, and give the rest of us a chance to prevent murder, or prepare for hurricanes or earthquakes?
The book is replete with anecdotes of how Mrs. Dixon gave advice to friends and acquaintances which turned out to be
beneficial, or, if the advice was ignored, detrimental. However, it is impossible to confirm or deny the accuracy of these
anecdotes. The memories of the people involved is suspect, and there is always the possibility that the stories are
exaggerated or completely fabricated.
Since this book was first published, John Allen Paulos, a mathematician at Temple University, has pointed out that the more
predictions a "psychic" makes, the more likely it is that one or more will come true. If any do come true, these will be
trumpeted as proof of her psychic power. The ones that fail to come true will be quickly forgotten.
It is called "the Jeane Dixon Effect."

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