ID DATA
Skull and Bones
Only 15 each year become Bonesmen.
aka Brotherhood of Death, The Order, The Eulogian Club, and Lodge 322.
The Tomb.
Headquarters of Skull and Bones Society, Yale campus.
Skull and Bones is the only secret society known to have a summer home and its own private island.
Summary
Skull and Bones is one of the most well-known secret societies. Like other senior societies, upcoming seniors are inducted into the secret society only for one year prior to graduation. Membership lists and activities are kept secret, and members have been known to commit crimes to further the group.
Purpose
An elite secret society aka Brotherhood of Death, The Order of Death, The Order, The Eulogian Club, and Lodge 322, at Yale University that includes some of the most powerful men of the 20th century. They are taught that once they get out into the world, they are expected to reach positions of prominence so that they can further elevate the society’s status and help promote the standing of their fellow Bonesmen.
Legal Entity
Founded in 1832 at Yale University by William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft, two students who were not admitted into Phi Beta Kappa. Russell had studied in Germany from 1831-1832.
The corporate name is the Russell Trust Association, named for William H. (later General) Russell, founded in 1832 or 1856 (dispute among sources). By special act of the state legislature in 1943, its trustees are exempted from the normal requirement of filing corporate reports with the Connecticut Secretary of State.
Part of Another Group?
The Rumors
It has been suggested that while William Russell was studying in Germany, he was initiated into a secret society with a skull and bones for its emblem. Some even claim that he was initiated into a continuation of the Illuminati.
In support of the theory
1. An invitation to a thirteenth-anniversary describes “a Jubilee Commemoration of the History of Our Establishment in New Haven.”
2. An historical address from the tomb stating “The Eulogian Club: An Historical Discourse Pronounced before our Venerable Order on the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Foundation of our American Chapter in New Haven July 30th 1863 Thursday evening. By Timothy Dwight of 1849.”
3. As mentioned in the Kris Millegan book on Skull and Bones, according to information acquired from a break-in to the 'tomb' (the Skull and Bones meeting hall) in 1876, "Bones is a chapter of a corps in a German University....General Russell, its founder, was in Germany before his Senior Year and formed a warm friendship with a leading member of a German society. He brought back with him to college, authority to found a chapter here."
4. A 1933 Bones document refers to the “birth of our Yale chapter.”
5. It is suggested that when Bonesmen refer to the order as Lodge 322 they are acknowledging that they are but a chapter of a secret society.
6. Another example is the patterns that imply Skull and Bones is a branch of another secret society; the techniques used at Yale by Bones are far from unique.
Membership
All presidents of Yale, since 1886, have been either "Bonesmen" or directly tied to the Order and its interests.
Initiation
Each year, 15 third-year Yale students are tapped to replace the senior group the following year. Once they pass initiation, they are immersed in a year-long experience that binds them to each other. This takes place in a stone building resembling a mausoleum, and known as "the Tomb."
In 1991, the society began to admit women. Foreign-born, ethnic and gay individuals are occasionally inducted, as well.
Nicknames
Initiates are most commonly known as Bonesmen, Knights of Eulogia, and Boodle Boys. The females who have recently been permitted to become members would be known as Boneswomen, Ladies of Eulogia, and Boodle Girls.
Members are given new code names. The active young members call themselves "Knights," older Knights become "Patriarchs," and everyone else in the world at large "Gentiles" or "barbarians."
Benefits and Responsibilities
Upon graduation, members a receive large cash amount ($15,000) to help them get started in life. They receive a grandfather clock as a wedding gift.
The Island
It is on the Saint Lawrence River two miles (3 km) north of Alexandria Bay. Among the island's facilities are two tennis courts, two houses, a bungalow, a boathouse, and an amphitheater. It serves as a getaway for the present members of Skull and Bones, and is often used to host reunions to which family members of Bonesmen are welcome. It can also be hired out for personal use, but membership of Skull and Bones as well as upkeep is required. The island is governed and maintained by the Deer Island Club, membership of which is only available for initiates of Skull and Bones.
Neglected?
Originally, the island was intended to give Bonesmen an opportunity to "get together and rekindle old friendships." According to Alexandra Robbins, who interviewed Bonesmen for her book Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power, "A century ago the island sported tennis courts and its softball fields were surrounded by rhubarb plants and gooseberry bushes. Catboats waited on the lake. Stewards catered elegant meals. But although each new Skull and Bones member still visits Deer Island, the place leaves something to be desired. "Now it is just a bunch of burned-out stone buildings," a patriarch sighs. "It's basically ruins." Another Bonesman says that to call the island "rustic" would be to glorify it. "It's a dump, but it's beautiful."
Secrecy
Members swear to never reveal what goes on inside the organization and must tithe their estate to the group. In return, the group makes sure members never go without and have assistance if they have any problems.
Those who belong to the society are supposed to deny membership or knowledge of the group. Some have admitted membership, such as Presidential nominee John Kerry and President George W. Bush, but they refuse to elaborate on the subject.
Historical Highlights
Skull and Bones has succeeded in infiltrating nearly every major research, policy, financial, media, and government institution in the country.
Gilman-Dwight-White
Daniel Gilman, Timothy Dwight and Andrew Dickinson White went to study philosophy in Europe at the University of Berlin in the 50's. Gilman returned from Europe and incorporated Skull and Bones as the Russell Trust in 1856, naming himself as Treasurer and William H. Russell as president. Gilman was appointed Yale Librarian in 1858, and in that position acquired funding for Yale's science departments (Sheffield Scientific School) and got the Morrill Land Bill introduced and passed in Congress, signed into law by Lincoln. Now known as the Land Grant College Act, it gave donated federal lands to colleges for science and agriculture. All of Connecticut's share was quickly grabbed up by Yale.
Important Founders. Gilman was then made Professor of Physical Geography. He later became the first President of the University of California; helped found and also became the first president of John Hopkins; was first president of the Carnegie Institution; and helped found the Peabody, Slater and Russell Sage Foundations.
Influential Even Today. His buddy, Andrew White, was first president of Cornell University (which received New York's share of the Land Grant College Act); U.S. Minister to Russia; U.S. Ambassador to Berlin; and first president of the American Historical Association; Chairman of the American delegation to the first Hague Conference in 1899. Timothy Dwight, a professor at Yale Divinity School, became president of Yale in 1886. Gilman/Dwight/White were also responsible for founding the American Economic Association, American Chemical Society and American Psychological Association. Through their influences on John Dewey and Horace Mann, this trio continues to have an enormous impact on education today.
Taft-Stimson-Bundy
Government and War. W.C. Whitney was Secretary of the Navy, and his attorney was Elihu Root. Root hired Henry Stimson out of law school, who took over from Root as Secretary of War in 1911, appointed by fellow Bonesman William Howard Taft. Stimson later became Coolidge's Governor-General of the Philippines, Hoover's Secretary of State and Secretary of War during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Hollister Bundy was Stimson's special assistant in the Pentagon for the Manhattan Project.
Information and War. His two sons, William Bundy and McGeorge Bundy, were both active in the government. From their positions in the CIA, Department of Defense and State Department as Special Assistants to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, they impacted the flow of intelligence and information during Vietnam. William Bundy later became editor of Foreign Affairs, the quarterly magazine of the Council on Foreign Affairs. McGeorge became president of the Ford Foundation.
Harriman-Bush
Funding Bolsheviks and Nazis. Averil Harriman, the "Elder Statesman" of the Democratic Party, and his brother Roland, were very active. Four of Roland's fellow Bonesmen were directors of Brown Brothers, Harriman, including Prescott Bush, the father of Bush I. Guaranty Trust and Brown Brothers, Harriman are two investment banking firms dominated by Skull and Bones members, and were heavily involved in financing Communism and Hitler's regime. Through funding and political maneuvering they assisted the Bolshevik's in Russia, defying federal laws to help establish banks and develop oil and mineral deposits in the newborn U.S.S.R.
Building up Russia. Later, Averil Harriman became minister to Great Britain in charge of Lend-Lease for Britain and Russia, and in this position he was responsible for shipping entire factories into Russia. Some sources credit Harriman with overseeing transfer of nuclear secrets, plutonium and U.S. currency printing plates to U.S.S.R. By 1932, the Union Banking Corporation of NYC had enlisted four directors from the 1917 class of Bonesmen as well as two Nazi bankers associated with Fritz Thyssen, who had been financing Hitler since 1924.
Government seizes Bush assets. Leo T. Crowley, President Franklin Roosevelt's Alien Property Custodian,signed an order in November, 1942, seizing the property of Prescott Bush under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The order was published in obscure government records and kept out of the news, and explained nothing about Nazis being involved, only that the corporation was run for the 'Thyssen family' of 'Germany and/or Hungary' who were 'nationals... of a designated enemy country.' This declared that Prescott Bush and other directors of Union Banking Corp. were 'front men' for the Nazis without having to face the more important issue of New York and London bankers hiring, arming and instructing the Nazi regime. A small article in December, 1944, mentioned a change of address for Union Banking Corp. without mentioning the assets had been seized by the government for trading with the enemy, or that the new address was the location of the Alien Property Custodian.
Bush involvement in politics. After the war, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, golfed with his favorite partner, President Eisenhower, claimed personal responsibility for urging Nixon into politics and took credit for getting Eisenhower to name Nixon as his running mate in 1952.
Prominent members:
The full list of members is rather lengthy, so here here we have presented a few easily recognizable names.
- Boren, David Lyle. (1963) Asst to Director, Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization; propaganda analyst, U.S. Information Agency; US Senator; chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee Member, US intelligence community.
- Buckley, William Frank. Jr. (1950) Editor, National Review; Member, US intelligence community.
- Bundy, Harvey Hollister. (1909) Special assistant, Manhattan Project, Pentagon.
- Bundy, McGeorge. (1940). Special assistant, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; National Security Advisor during Vietnam; president, Ford Foundation; Member, US intelligence community. CFR.
- Bundy, William Putnam. (1939). Special assistant, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; Editor, Foreign Affairs, magazine for Council on Foreign Relations; Member, US intelligence community.
- Bush, George Herbert Walker (1948) 41st President of the United States aka Bush I; Vice President, under Reagan; Director, National Narcotics Interdiction System; first Chief US Liaison Officer to People's Republic of China; UN Ambassador; Chairman, Republican National Committee; Director, Central Intelligence Agency; senior advisor, Carlyle Group. CFR, Trilateral Commission.
- Bush, George Walker. (1968) 43rd President of the United States aka Bush II; Governor, Texas.
- Bush, Prescott Sheldon. (1917) Director, Brown Brothers, Harriman; US Senator.
- Davenport, Russell Wheeler. (1923) Editor, Fortune Magazine; creator of Fortune 500 list.
- Davison, Frederick Trubee. (1918) Leader, Yale Flying Unit; Director of Personnel, CIA.
- Davison, (Harry or Henry) Pomeroy Jr. (1920) Member, Yale Flying Unit; son of H.P. Davison Sr.; brother of F. Trubee Davison; senior partner, Morgan Guaranty Trust.
- French, Robert Dudley. (1910) Yale's 'unofficial' Secretary of War; Member, US intelligence community.
- Gates, Artemus Lamb. (1918) Leader, Yale Flying Unit; President, New York Trust Company, Union Pacific Railroad, TIME-Life and Boeing Company.
- Gilman, Daniel Coit. (1852) Co-founder, Russell Trust; president, University of California; founder, president, Johns Hopkins University; first president, Carnegie Institution.
- Harriman, E.H. Railroad magnate; father of W. Averill and E. Roland Harriman.
- Harriman, Edward Roland ("Bunny") Noel. (1917) Son of E.H. Harriman; brother of W. Averill Harriman; Helped finance launch of Time magazine by Henry R. Luce.
- Harriman, W. Averill. (1913) aka "Elder Statesman" of Democratic Party; son of E.H. Harriman; brother of E. Roland Harriman; married to Pamela Churchill Harriman (3rd wife); director, Guaranty Trust (1915-1928); minister to Great Britain, Lend-Lease for Britain and Russia; US Ambassador; US Secretary of Commerce; Director, Mutual Security Agency; Governor, New York; Chairman and CEO of the Union Pacific Railroad, Brown Brothers & Harriman and the Southern Pacific Railroad.
- Heinz, Henry John II. (1931) Heir to H. J. Heinz Company, US Senator and/or father of US Senator (?).
- Jay, Pierre. (1892) First Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of NY.
- Kerry, John Forbes. (1966) US Senator, 2004 US Presidential candidate; Member, US intelligence community.
- Lovett, Robert Abercrombie. (1918). Childhood friend of Averill Harriman; Leader, Yale Flying Unit; director, partner, Brown Brothers, Harriman; Chairman, Lovett Committee, advising government on post-WW2 organization of US intelligence; under Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense.
- Luce, Henry Robinson. (1920) Owner, publisher, Life Magazine and Time-Life Corp.
- Rockefeller, Percy Avery. (1900) Director, Brown Brothers Harriman, Standard Oil, Remington Arms; Director, Guaranty Trust (1915-1928).
- Russell, William Huntington. (1833) Co-founder, Skull and Bones society; General, US Army; state legislator, Connecticut.
- Stanley, Harold. (1908) Founder, Morgan Stanley investment firm; vice president and president, Guaranty Trust (1915-1928).
- Stewart, Potter. (1936 or 37?) US Supreme Court Justice.
- Stimson, Henry Lewis. (1888) Secretary of War; Governor-General, Philippine Islands; Secretary of State under Hoover; Secretary of War, under Roosevelt and Truman; recommended resumption of intelligence, resulting in establishment of CIA in 1947.
- Taft, Alphonso. (1833) Co-founder, Skull and Bones society; US Attorney General; Secretary of War, under Grant; Ambassador to Austria; Ambassador to Russia; father of William Howard Taft.
- Taft, William Howard. (1878 or 1887?) 27th President; Chief Justice, US Supreme Court.
- Walker, George Herbert Jr. (1927) Uncle to Bush I; Financier; Director, White, Weld Co.; Co-founder of the New York Mets.
- Weyerhaeuser, Frederick Edward. (1896) Founder, Weyerhaeuser Paper Co.; Chief US Forester 1910-20.
- White, Andrew Dickinson. (1853). First president, Cornell University; US Minister to Russia; Ambassador to Berlin; first president, American Historical Association; chairman, American delegation, Hague Conference 1899.
