Art, obsession, and identity
<p>The Freemasons are one of world's oldest fraternal organizations. Established in the early 1700s, the roots of Freemasonry go back many centuries prior, to medieval times. Because it's a rather select and private group, the Masons have been subject to suspicion and speculation, and plenty of conspiracy theories! But the truth is that many prominent figures of the past and present were and are members, including several US presidents. </p><p>Curious to find out how Freemasonry helped shape the United States? Click on and meet America's Masonic presidents.</p>
The first president of the United States was a Freemason. Washington was 20 years old when he first entered the Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, Virginia.
During his inauguration, the president swore his oath on a Bible from St. John's Masonic Lodge No. 1 in New York.
George Washington's Masonic background is well known, and variously celebrated. An example is the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Virginia.
James Monroe entered the Williamsburg Lodge No. 6 in 1775 and paid dues to the lodge until 1780.
The future fifth US president dropped out of College of William and Mary to fight in the Revolutionary War, after which he resumed his studies. As president, Monroe was made an honorary member of Washington Naval Lodge #4.
Andrew Jackson was a high-ranked Mason. He served as the grand master of the grand lodge of Tennessee from 1822 to 1824.
Jackson's masonic background actually got him into trouble during his presidency. The Anti-Masonic Party, founded in 1828, strongly opposed Freemasonry, and Andrew Jackson, being a Freemason, was an obvious target.
James K. Polk was initiated in Columbia Lodge No. 31, Columbia, Tennessee in 1820. Polk was 25 at the time.
"Brother" Polk went on to serve as Governor of Tennessee and then as the 11th president of the United States.
James Buchanan was raised to Lodge No. 43 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1817. Buchanan then went on to become Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Buchanan became the first and only president to be elected from Pennsylvania. However, not even his fellow freemasons saved him from what is considered one of the worst presidencies the country has ever seen.
In 1843 Andrew Johnson became an apprentice in the Tennessee State Senate, in Greeneville (Tennessee) Lodge #119. In 1851 Johnson became a Master Mason, and in 1859 joined the Nashville York Rite Commandery of Knights Templar.
Johnson's biographer, historian Annette Gordon-Reed, wrote that the president was a "proud Mason" and that "the local Masonic temple played a great role in the funeral proceedings."
James Garfield was initiated in Magnolia Lodge No. 20, Columbus, Ohio, November 19, passed December 3, 1861, and raised December 22, 1864. Garfield achieved Master Mason in 1864 in Columbus, Ohio.
The second US president to be assassinated had affiliations with several lodges, namely the Pentalpha Lodge in Washington, D.C. Garfield attained 14th degree Scottish Rite in 1872.
The Freemason's chronicle. Volume 14 (1881) described the president as "pure a man as the purest of them and will stand beside them in Masonic history as a shining example and illustration of the purity and nobility of Freemasonry… He knew Masonry through and through; he vouched for it with all of his mind and heart…"
Garfield's successor was also a Mason, and also eventually assassinated. William McKinley became a Freemason as the American Civil War neared its end. McKinley was raised a Master Mason at the Hiram Lodge #21 in Winchester.
McKinley went on to serve as Governor of Ohio and US president. McKinley's vice-president and fellow Freemason, Theodore Roosevelt, was his successor. Pictured is a group of Freemasons honoring President McKinley in Washington, D.C.
Unlike other presidents, Theodore Roosevelt only became a Mason the same year he took office, in 1901. He was 42. Roosevelt was initiated in Matinecock Lodge No. 806, Oyster Bay, New York.
Some of Roosevelt's Masonic activities are detailed in a number of letters. While addressing the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1902 on the anniversary of George Washington's initiation, he named some of the reasons why he became a Mason himself. "One of the things that attracted me so greatly to Masonry, that I hailed the chance of becoming a mason, was that it really did act up to what we, as a government and as a people, are pledged to—of treating each man on his merits as a man," his speech read.
"When Brother George Washington went into a lodge of the fraternity, he went into the one place in the United States where he stood below or above his fellows according to their official position in the lodge. He went into the place where the idea of our government was realized as far as it is humanly possible for mankind to realize a lofty idea," added Roosevelt.
William Taft was initiated on February 18, 1909, only becoming a Freemason shortly before his inauguration.
Taft was made a "Mason at Sight" within the Body of Kilwinning Lodge No. 356, Cincinnati, Ohio. During his appointment he said, "I am glad to be here, and to be a Mason. It does me good to feel the thrill that comes from recognizing on all hands the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man."
Warren Harding was initiated on June 28, 1901, in Marion Lodge No. 70 in Marion, Ohio, and became a Master Mason 19 years later.
It has been theorized that Harding's delayed promotion was due to political prejudices and/or rumors about the president's African-American ancestry.
FDR was initiated in 1911 in Holland Lodge # 8 in New York City. In 1930, he became a Shriner.
In 1934 Roosevelt was made the first Honorary Grand Master of the Order of DeMolay at the White House. He went on to become friends with a Freemason "brother" from across the pond—Winston Churchill—and together they fought Nazism.
In 1909, Harry Truman was initiated in Belton Lodge #450 of Belton Missouri. Two years later he helped establish Grandview Lodge #618 and was elected its first master. While serving as president, Truman said, "The greatest honor that has ever come to me, and that can ever come to me in my life, is to be the Grand Master of Masons in Missouri."
In 1945, Truman became the only president to receive the 33rd degree of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. According to author Brian Burnes, who wrote the 2003 book 'Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times,' Truman said that "Freemasonry is a system of morals which makes it easier to live with your fellow man, whether he understands it or not."
The last Masonic president (as far as we know) was raised to the order on May 18, 1949, in Columbia Lodge No. 3 in D.C. The president was then made honorary grand master of the Order of DeMolay in 1975.
Ford was present at the inauguration of the Masonic memorial honoring George Washington. "When I took my obligation as a master mason— incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that Order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States," Ford remarked in his speech.
"Masonic principles—internal, not external—and our order's vision of duty to country and acceptance of God as Supreme Being and guiding light have sustained me during my years of government service," he added.
Sources: (Insider) (History Collection) (The Masonic Trowel) (The Grand Lodge of Ohio) (The Theodore Roosevelt Center) (The George Washington Masonic National Memorial)
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The Freemasons are one of world's oldest fraternal organizations. Established in the early 1700s, the roots of Freemasonry go back many centuries prior, to medieval times. Because it's a rather select and private group, the Masons have been subject to suspicion and speculation, and plenty of conspiracy theories! But the truth is that many prominent figures of the past and present were and are members, including several US presidents.
Curious to find out how Freemasonry helped shape the United States? Click on and meet America's Masonic presidents.