# Simple question: Which of the democratic candidates for president are FREEMASONS? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2004, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603 "2004-01-22T08:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/21 "2004-01-24T19:51:00Z")
Wow! People from Ivy Legue universities may go on to distinguished careers. This thread is surely breaking new ground. I’d never thought of it before… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/22 "2004-01-24T23:05:38Z")
OK, how many Presidents have been lawyers? A majority. A vast majority, in fact, especially if you restrict yourself to the past century or so. What schools turn out the best of the best in lawyering? Harvard and Yale. Harvard Law especially, to the point where those words have become synonymous with Rich Lawyering Types. So, what schools would you expect the lawyers who have held the highest job open to lawyers to have attended? Harvard and Yale. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/23 "2004-01-24T23:50:01Z")
Hush, **Derleth**. Your little “Lookit all the lawyers” comment may be realistic and, indeed, factual, but it’s not nearly as fun as imagining a hundreds-of-years-old conspiracy replete with black magic, sacred vows, and dark doings in secret societies. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/24 "2004-01-25T04:12:23Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > Hush, **Derleth**. Your little “Lookit all the lawyers” comment may be realistic and, indeed, factual, but it’s not nearly as fun as imagining a hundreds-of-years-old conspiracy replete with black magic, sacred vows, and dark doings in secret societies. What, you mean lawyering _doesn’t_ involve that? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/25 "2004-01-25T05:14:10Z")
I thought after the ritual sacrifices and sacred oaths, it was just common evil. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/26 "2004-01-25T05:38:22Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Yep, Gerry Ford was our last Masonic president, and he never took the Craft seriously. > > Now, HST was very much into Masonry, sitting in Lodges while he was in office. Howyadoin, Elks too… So was JFK. But what does Hunter S. Thompson have to do with this? 😉 Just sayin, is all… > [@akrako1](#): > > I would agree that he is slightly paranoid… We have an early entry for “Understatement of the Week”! 🙂 -Rav ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/27 "2004-01-25T05:41:13Z")
George Washington – Teddy Roosevelt – Franklin Roosevelt…Does this mean a do-over on some major wars? Will a Rainbow Girl ever get to be President? Should I learn how to lay bricks before travelling abroad? I consider myself a citizen of the world. Do I _have_ to go to Yale or Harvard before I die or will the airport in Denver do? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/28 "2004-01-25T06:14:29Z")
In the **Loompanics** book catalog, (ever heard of it?) a book is sold that says it exposes the Skull and Bones Society as a group planning to take over the world. Coming from Loompanics, it is likely nuts. Skull and Bones is a social club in a university, so it is probably nothing more than a Power Drinkers Society. I wouldn’t be surprised to have this confirmed. Conspiracy theories and their proponents just make me sick. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/29 "2004-01-25T14:36:08Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > … **Akrako1,** if you don’t get your BS meter calibrated, you’re going to be telling us about “gas music from Jupiter.” :rolleyes: Perhaps I am misinformed, I thought ‘gas music’ came from Uranus. I think someone claimed JFK was a Brother. Not so. Back In The Day, the Catholic Church prohibited its members from joining. (Of course some did, but large numbers. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/30 "2004-01-25T15:41:55Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Perhaps I am misinformed, I thought ‘gas music’ came from Uranus. “Gas music from Jupiter” was a wee quote from Firesign Theater’s UFO-addled _Everything You Know Is Wrong._ The whole play is stuffed with wild fantasies to show that things are not what they seem. The websites we’ve seen in this thread reminded me a lot of Harry “Happy” Cox and his tales of stoned revolutionaries and alien visits. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/31 "2004-01-25T17:49:06Z")
Actually, **Paul in Saudi** , the Catholic church still forbids membership in the Masons. They even have their own version-the Knights of Columbus, of which my dad is a member, although not a very active one. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/32 "2004-01-25T18:12:05Z")
I’m positive I just read a squib in a newspaper that said that Barbara Bush was just turned down when she applied to Skull & Bones, but I can’t find it on an Internet search. But that seems to mean 1) the end of the Bush dynasty and 2) the election of John Kerry in 2004. Joe Lieberman turned down Skull & Bones when he was at Yale, and look what happened to him. They control the world, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/33 "2004-01-25T18:48:51Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > OK, how many Presidents have been lawyers? A majority. A vast majority, in fact, especially if you restrict yourself to the past century or so. This isn’t true. In the 20th century, the only lawyer presidents were McKinley, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, FDR, Nixon, Ford and Clinton. If anything, we’ve been _less_ inclinded to elect lawyers to the presidency in the modern era – note most of the members of the above list predate WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/34 "2004-01-25T19:25:25Z")
If you’re going to make lists like that, you have to expect someone to come along and nitpick: Truman is a technicality: [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/103truman/103facts2.htm](http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/103truman/103facts2.htm) > [@](#): > > With the support of family and friends, Truman decided to run for political office in Jackson County. He won the position of eastern county judge in 1922, and served for a four-year term. After losing the race for re-election, Truman ran again in 1926 and became the presiding judge of Jackson Country. Although no law degree was required for the position, Truman studied law in night school for three years out of respect for his job and the people he served. Truman worked at the courthouse just a few blocks from his Delaware Street home. Wilson is mostly wrong: > **[Woodrow Wilson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson)** > > Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election. As President, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I in 1917. He was the leading architect of the Lea... > [@](#): > > Afterward, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia for one year. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/35 "2004-01-25T21:00:20Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Actually, **Paul in Saudi** , the Catholic church still forbids membership in the Masons. They even have their own version-the Knights of Columbus, of which my dad is a member, although not a very active one. And the Knights of Columbus is based in New Haven (also home to Yale). Coincidence? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/36 "2004-01-25T22:13:25Z")
> [@akrako1](#): > > Anyways, here’s some more non-William Cooper quotes that say the same thing: > > “The year in the tomb at Yale instills within members an unwavering loyalty to Skull and Bones society. Members have been known to stab their Skull and Bones pins into their skin to keep them in place during swimming or bathing. The knights (as the student members are called) learn quickly that their allegiance to the society must supercede all else - family, friendships, country, God.” > [secretsofthetomb.com is for sale](http://www.secretsofthetomb.com/excerpt.asp) Everything on this page, including this quote, is indeed from Alexandra Robbins’ book _Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power_ (2002; Back Bay, 2003 - the quotation comes from p6). Except that it derives from her opening chapter “The Legend of Skull and Bones” and, in particular, the first six pages of the book. Where, by way of introduction and in a different typeface from the rest of the text, she sets out what people _often believe_ about her subject. Pretty much the whole point of her book is arguing that this “legend” is actually all bollocks and that the truth is more prosaic. As usual, don’t take everything you read on the Internet at face value. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/37 "2004-01-26T00:35:56Z")
I do not intend to be argumentative, my knowledge on all things Catholic is not what it should be, but… I understood that the Vatican II Council turned the Altar around and let Catholics (in certain countries) join the Masons. Why only in certain countries is a mystery to me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/38 "2004-01-26T00:48:16Z")
The high amount of Presidential Freemasons may just show that many more people are Freemasons than what is thought. I have heard that recently the Freemasons have turned from a “subversive” organization to supporting and starting charitable efforts, kind of like the Shriners. As for Skull and Bones, I stand by my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/39 "2004-01-26T01:03:57Z")
**Gosh Darn it!** Shriners _are_ Masons. The Shrine is a Masonic organization! All members of the Shrine are members of the York or Scottish Rites. Therefore all of us are Master Masons. (sigh.) ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603/40 "2004-01-26T02:17:42Z")
Hey, **Paul’s** our man on the inside. So who are you guys going to put in office? Go wacky this year. Like Kuinich or Sharpton. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-question-which-of-the-democratic-candidates-for-president-are-freemasons/225603.md?page=3)