FAQ: What U.S. Presidents have been Masons?
Larry the Mason from Holbrook
Version 1.0
August 2006
This Frequently Asked Question comes from the weekly USENET MASONRY FAQ, posted to alt.freemasonry every Friday at 08:00 Pacific. Please refer to the weekly FAQ for other resource and contact information.
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What US Presidents have been Masons?
George Washington William McKinley
James Monroe Theodore Roosevelt
Andrew Jackson William Howard Taft
James Polk Warren G. Harding
James Buchanan Franklin D. Roosevelt
Andrew Johnson Harry S. Truman
James Garfield (Lyndon B. Johnson)
Gerald R. Ford
Notes (in chronological order):
William McKinley's Masonic membership has not been confirmed 100%,
though his name does appear on several lists. Hopefully, someone will
be able to provide a definitive yes or no.
William Howard Taft was made a Mason At Sight by the Grand Master of
Ohio and later raised to Grand Master of Ohio in 1909.
Harry S. Truman was also Grand Master of his home state, Missouri.
Lyndon Johnson was an Entered Apprentice, but never progressed beyond
that degree.
Ronald Reagan is not a craft Mason. He was made an honorary 33rd
degree Mason by the Southern Jurisdiction of the AASR and an honorary
member of the Imperial Council of the Shrine, but he was never
entered, passed, and raised as a Mason, nor was he ever made a Mason
at sight. (Source: Robinson's _Born in Blood_)
Bill Clinton is not a Mason, though he was involved in DeMolay for a
time.
Many other leaders in government have been Masons: "They have included
fourteen Presidents and eighteen Vice Presidents of the United States;
a majority of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court, of the
Governors of States, of the members of the Senate, and a large
percentage of the Congressmen. Five Chief Justices of the United
States were Masons and two were Grand Masters. The five were Oliver
Ellsworth, John Marshall (also Grand Master of Masons in Virginia),
William Howard Taft, Frederick M. Vinson and Earl Warren (also Grand
Master of Masons in California.)"
-- Henry C. Clausen