The Order of Skull and Bones, once known as The Brotherhood of Death,^[1] is a secret society based at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, and is one of the oldest student secret societies in the United States. Skull and Bones has maintained its selective membership and Masonic-inspired rituals since its founding in 1832. The society's alumni organization, which owns its properties and oversees undergraduate activity, is the Russell Trust Association, named after one of Bones' founding members. Skull and Bones is controversial, being rumored to be a secret white supremacist organization, and also proven^{[citation needed]} to have inspired Leopold and Loeb to attempt their "perfect crime". Correspondences dated November 1923 indicate that the Bonesmen offered them $2,000 (about $24,000 as of 2007) to do it if they could avoid getting caught. Wingdings version of the Jolly Roger (character N). Many pirates created their own individualized versions. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Skull & Bones is the fifth and double album by the rap group Cypress Hill. ... For the Europe album, see Secret Society (Europe album). ... “Yale” redirects here. ... “New Haven” redirects here. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Largest metro area Hartford Area  Ranked 48th  - Total 5,543[2] sq mi (14,356 km²)  - Width 70 miles (113 km)  - Length 110 miles (177 km)  - % water 12. ... The Russell Trust Association is the business name for the New Haven, Connecticut based Skull and Bones society, incorporated in 1856. ... Nathan Leopold (left) and Richard Loeb (center) under arrest Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...

Traditionally, Skull and Bones was male-only, and restricted to wealthy whites. Overt homosexuals were excluded, a heterosexual public lifestyle being considered mandatory. Women are now allowed to join, the conditions under which they are invited remaining obscure, and rumors indicate that there may have been minority and homosexual members in recent years. It is rumored that some members of Skull and Bones receive membership because of family connections. Skull and Bones members often engage in overt nepotism after college, enriching each other immensely in corporate life. Look up nepotism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Skull and Bones is notorious for its secrecy. George W. Bush described his experience as "so secret we can't talk about it", and when asked what it meant that he and Bush were both Bonesmen, Kerry said, "Not much because it's a secret".[2]

History

The society inducts only rising seniors during the late junior year prior to their graduation. By reputation, "Bonesmen" tapped the current football and heavyweight rowing captains as well as notables from the Yale Daily News, Yale Lit, and Yale Political Union before the 1970s. The group's decision, after much dispute, to admit women helped diversify the membership along lines that reflect current undergraduate activity. Numerous undergraduate constituencies are better represented among the recently-tapped membership (as with the other societies) compared to the Skull and Bones "cohorts", or "delegations", that included the 27th, 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States. A front page of the Yale Daily News. ... William Howard Taft I (September 15, 1857–March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913), and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921 - 1930). ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ...

There are many other notable members of Skull and Bones throughout history. Bonesman Benjamin Sillman Jr. was the first to produce gasoline, and the first American oil company, Pennsylvania Rock Oil, had connections to the order. Bonesman and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Morrison R. Waite's informal commentary regarding Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company was interpreted as legitimizing corporate personhood. Skull and Bones members played a key role in founding and setting the direction for the Carnegie Institution, the Peabody, Slater, and Russel Sage Foundations, as well as the American Economic Association, the American Historical Association, and the American Psychological Association. The first presidents of the University of California, Johns Hopkins University, and Cornell University were all Bonesmen. On October 22, 1945, Secretary of War Robert Patterson created the Lovett Committee, chaired by Bonesman Robert A. Lovett to develop a new U.S. intelligence apparatus. This resulted in the creation of the CIA, which has employed a number of Bonesmen. A Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the head judge in a supreme court. ... Categories: People stubs | Chief Justices of the U.S. | 1816 births | 1888 deaths ... Santa Clara County v. ... Corporate personhood is a term used to describe the legal fiction used within United States law that a corporation, under the concept of legal entity, has a limited subset of the same constitutional rights as a human being. ... Berkeley Davis Irvine Los Angeles Merced San Diego Santa Barbara Santa Cruz UC Office of the President in Oakland The University of California (UC) is a public university system in the state of California. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ... “Cornell” redirects here. ...

The Skull and Bones tomb in the 19th century, before adjacent Yale buildings and tree growth.

The Skull & Bones tomb today

Another vantage of the historic Bones tomb.

Bones tomb showing A.J. Davis' towers, right rear facade.

Members meet in the Bones "tomb" on Thursday and Sunday evenings of each week over the course of their senior year. As with other Yale societies, the sharing of a personal history is the keystone of the senior year together in the tomb. Reputedly, members are assigned a nickname. For Bones, it is said that these names are associated with Roman mythology, while at Scroll and Key the names are associated with Greek mythology, and with Egyptian mythology at Wolf's Head. The Skull and Bones tomb Obtained from Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection Photograph taken between 1900 and 1915. ... The Skull and Bones tomb Obtained from Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection Photograph taken between 1900 and 1915. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 420 pixel Image in higher resolution (1600 × 839 pixel, file size: 342 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The Skull & Bones Tomb, circa 2006. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 420 pixel Image in higher resolution (1600 × 839 pixel, file size: 342 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The Skull & Bones Tomb, circa 2006. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2560 × 1920 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2560 × 1920 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1920 × 2560 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1920 × 2560 pixel, file size: 1. ... A head of Minerva found in the ruins of the Roman baths in Bath Roman mythology, the mythological beliefs of the people of Ancient Rome, can be considered as having two parts. ... The Scroll and Key Society is a secret society established by John Addison Porter and others at Yale University, New Haven, CT, in 1842. ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. ... Egyptian mythology or Egyptian religion is the succession of tentative beliefs held by the people of Egypt for over three thousand years, prior to major exposure to Christianity and Islam. ... Wolfs Head Society (W.H.S.), incorporated in 1883 as The Third Society by the Phelps Trust Association, is the third oldest secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. ...

Architecture

• Main building, attribution in dispute. Possibly Alexander Jackson Davis (1803–1892) or Henry Austin (1804–1891). (1856: first wing; 1903: second wing; 1911: addition of relocated Davis-designed Neo-Gothic towers at rear garden. Front and side facades brownstone Egypto-Doric style.)
• Evarts Tracy and Edgerton Swartwout, Tracy and Swartwout, New York. (1912, Bones' adjacent "secret garden" described as an "Oxfordesque cloister".) [3] Evarts was not a Bonesman, but his paternal grandmother Martha Sherman Evarts and maternal grandmother Mary Evarts were the sisters of William Maxwell Evarts (S&B 1837).

Architectural historian Patrick Pinnell includes an in-depth discussion of the dispute over the identity of the architect in his 1999 history of Yale's campus. Pinnell relates how first the left-side block (1856), then forty-seven years later the right-side block, and ultimately the gothic towers salvaged from A. J. Davis' 1851–53 Alumni Hall on Old Campus were added at the time of the creation of their cloister. The salvage is also mentioned at [4]. The Federal Customs House (now Federal Hall, New York City, with Ithiel Town, 1833 – 42 Alexander Jackson Davis (A.J. Davis) (New York City July 24, 1803 – January 14, 1892) was the most successful and influential American architect of his generation. ... Henry Austin (December 4, 1804—December 17, 1891) was a prominent and prolific American architect based in New Haven, Connecticut. ... Neo-gothic architecture is an American branch of the Gothic revival style that was imported from England in the 1830s. ... This article is about the building material and the dwelling. ... Egyptian Revial mausoleum of Maj. ... Tracy and Swartwout was a prominent New York architectural firm headed by Evarts Tracy and Edgerton Swartwout, responsible for commissions, including the Beaux Arts Missouri State Capital. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... Cloister of Saint Trophimus, in Arles, France A cloister (from latin claustrum) is a part of cathedral, monastic and abbey architecture. ... William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818–February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman. ... The Old Campus is the complex of buildings at Yale University that houses incoming freshmen from 10 out of 12 Yales residential colleges. ...

Pinnell speculates whether the re-use of the Davis towers was evidence of an architectural "filial piety" suggesting that Davis did the original building; conversely, Austin was responsible for the atmospherically similar brownstone Egyptian Revival gates, built 1845, of the Grove Street Cemetery, on the opposite side of campus. Also discussed by Pinnell is the tomb's aesthetic place in relation to its neighbors, including the Yale Art Gallery. (p.42, "Yale University" 1999 Princeton Architectural Press ISBN 1568981678 [5].) Additional data at [6]. New Hampshire landscape architects Saucier & Flynn designed the wrought-iron fence that currently surrounds a portion of the complex in the late 1990s.[7] This article is about the building material and the dwelling. ... Egyptian Revial mausoleum of Maj. ... Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground in New Haven, Connecticut is located in the center of the Yale University campus. ...

Bonesmen

Main article: List of Skull and Bones members

Skull and Bones 1947, with George H.W. Bush just left of clock

Judy Schiff, Chief Archivist at the Yale University Library, has written : "The names of (S&B's) members weren't kept secret, that was an innovation of the 1970s, but its meetings and practices were. The secrecy seems to have attracted fascination and curiosity from the start. The first exposé of Skull and Bones, published in 1871 by Lyman Bagg in his book Four Years at Yale, noted that "the mystery now attending its existence forms the one great enigma which college gossip never tires of discussing." [8] Skull and Bones entry from the 1948 Yale Banner. ... Image File history File links Skull_and_Crossbones_c1947,_GHW_Bush_left_of_clock. ... Image File history File links Skull_and_Crossbones_c1947,_GHW_Bush_left_of_clock. ...

At least during some periods, the membership of the organization was not considered a secret. Membership in each class was published, apparently by the organization itself, in the New York Times. The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Notwithstanding that resourceful researchers could assemble member data from these original sources, renewed attention may have been paid to leading families in Skull and Bones because in 1985 an anonymous source leaked rosters to a private researcher, Antony C. Sutton, who wrote a book on the group titled America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. This leaked 1985 data was kept privately for over 15 years, as Sutton feared that the photocopied pages could somehow identify the member who leaked it. The information was finally reformatted as an appendix in the book Fleshing out Skull and Bones, a compilation edited by Kris Millegan, published in 2003. ^{[citation needed]} Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Many influential figures have been in Bones and influential families have often had multiple members over successive generations, much like other societies at Yale. Bonesmen include U.S. Presidents such as George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and William Howard Taft, Supreme Court Justices, and U.S. business leaders.^{[citation needed]} George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born... For other persons named William Howard Taft, see William Howard Taft (disambiguation). ...

Both 2004 Presidential Nominees—Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and now two-term President George W. Bush — were members of Skull and Bones. The nominees were interviewed separately by Meet the Press's Tim Russert. When asked about the organization both declined to give any details.^[2]. John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts, in his fourth term of office. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... Meet the Press (MTP) is a weekly television news show produced by NBC. It started as a radio show in 1945 as American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press, originating from WRC-AM in Washington. ... Timothy John Russert, Jr. ...

Bones and the U.S. Intelligence Community

In May, 2007, CIA historians publicly released an article that rebutted inaccurate but enduring beliefs that Skull & Bones was an incubator of the U.S. Intelligence Community. [[9]] The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...

The CIA article noted that movies such as The Good Shepherd perpetuated in the public mind the notion that entry into CIA's upper echelons hinged on membership in Bones. Referring to characters depicted in the film, CIA historians pointed out that CIA Counter-Intelligence chief James Jesus Angleton attended Yale, but was not a Bonesman. Richard Bissell (Bay of Pigs) declined the offer of a Tap to join (he was an Elizabethan Club member, although his brother was a Bonesman). Richard Helms (DCI 1966–1973) attended Williams College. Allen W. Dulles (DCI 1953–1961) attended Princeton. Recent former CIA Director Porter Goss, Yale '60, was a member of Book and Snake, and Goss and classmate John Negroponte, the first Director of National Intelligence, who was a member of the Elihu secret society, were both in the Fence Club, Yale's name for the Psi Upsilon fraternity. The Good Shepherd is a nautical novel by CS Forester, the author of the novels about fictional Royal Navy officer Horatio Hornblower. ... This article is about the CIA official. ... Richard Mervin Bissell Jr. ... The Elizabethan Club is a social club at Yale University named for Queen Elizabeth I and her era. ... Richard Helms, Director of Central Intelligence, 1966-1973 Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. ... Allen Welsh Dulles (April 23, 1893 – January 29, 1969) was an influential director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1953 to 1961 and a member of the Warren Commission. ... Porter Goss Porter Johnston Goss (born November 26, 1938) is an American politician and the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency . ... Book and Snake member list showing current CIA Director, Porter Goss, and former Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, as 1960 inductees. ... John Dimitri Negroponte (born July 21, 1939 in the United Kingdom) (IPA ) is an American (of Greek origin) career diplomat. ... Elihus colonial-era building, on a basement constructed earlier, in the early 1600s. ... Psi Upsilon (ΨΥ, Psi U) is the fifth oldest college fraternity, founded at Union College in 1833. ...

While Bones may not in actuality have been the cradle for future CIA operatives, or the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the predecessor to the CIA), it is accurate to note that a disproportionate number of Yale graduates have led and staffed the intelligence community; for example, George H.W. Bush, Director of the CIA, January 30 1976–January 20, 1977, was indeed a Bonesman. It is said that Yale also lent the term 'spook' (designating a secret society member) as a colloquial term for anyone in espionage. (For more on Yale graduates' and faculty influences on the formation of the intelligence agencies, see the book Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939–1961 by historian Robin W. Winks.) The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency and was the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Special Forces, and Navy SEALs. ...

Asset Management & Financial Associations

The Russell Trust Association is the corporate parent for the Skull and Bones society. The Russell Trust Association is the business name for the New Haven, Connecticut based Skull and Bones society, incorporated in 1856. ...

In 1943, by special act of the Connecticut state legislature, its trustees were granted an exemption from filing corporate reports with the Secretary of State, which is normally a requirement. Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Largest metro area Hartford Area  Ranked 48th  - Total 5,543[2] sq mi (14,356 km²)  - Width 70 miles (113 km)  - Length 110 miles (177 km)  - % water 12. ...

From 1978 onward, business of the Russell Trust Association was handled by its single trustee, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. partner John B. Madden, Jr. Madden started with Brown Brothers Harriman in 1946, under senior partner Prescott Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush's father. Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... The Russell Trust Association is the business name for the New Haven, Connecticut based Skull and Bones society, incorporated in 1856. ... Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Prescott Sheldon Bush (May 15, 1895 – October 8, 1972) was a United States Senator from Connecticut and a Wall Street executive banker with Brown Brothers Harriman. ... George H. W. Bush - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

See also

• List of collegiate secret societies
• Secret society
• List of conspiracy theories

There are numerous collegiate secret societies at American and Canadian colleges and universities. ... For the Europe album, see Secret Society (Europe album). ... This is a list of conspiracy theories; it contains alleged conspiracies that are not accepted by mainstream academics. ...

References

1. ^ Sutton, Antony C. America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. 2003.
2. ^ Meet the Press[1]

Meet the Press (MTP) is a weekly television news show produced by NBC. It started as a radio show in 1945 as American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press, originating from WRC-AM in Washington. ...

Further reading

• Millegan, Kris, ed. Fleshing Out Skull and Bones: Investigations into America's Most Powerful Secret Society. Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2003. ISBN 0-9720207-2-1
• Sutton, Antony C. America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones. Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2003. ISBN 0-9720207-0-5
• Begin, Jeremy. Fighting for G.O.D. (Gold, Oil, and Drugs). Walterville, OR: Trine Day, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9777953-3-8
• Tarpley, Webster, et al. George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography. Washington, D.C.: Executive Intelligence Review, 1992. ISBN 0-943235-05-7. Available free on the web: http://www.tarpley.net/bushb.htm
• Robbins, Alexandra. Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Back Bay Books, 2003. ISBN 0-316-73561-2
• "Whose Skull and Bones?," Kathrin Day Lassila '81 and Mark Alden Branch '86, Yale Alumni Magazine, May/June 2006
• "Geronimo's family calls on Bush to help return his skeleton." The Independent, June 1, 2006.
• Skull & Bones Society: A rare look inside Skull and Bones, the Yale secret society and sometime haunt of the presumptive Republican nominee for President, by Alexandra Robbins

The LaRouche Movement is an international political and cultural movement which promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Skull and bones

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Apaches accuse Prescott Bush of robbing Geronimo's grave

• Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Website
• Yale Old Campus, Skull and Bones Tomb. opens in Google earth
• Skull and Bones property: Deer Island opens in Google earth
• Deer Island photos & information at NewRuins
• The New American Article on the Skull and Bones Society, and its political influences
• How the Secret Societies Got That Way (Yale Alumni Magazine)
• Video of the April 23, 2001 ABC News segment: Behind the Closed Doors of a Secret Society - ABC News' Dan Harris reports on covertly shot footage that exposes the "Bonesmen" of Skull & Bones as they perform occult rituals at "The Tomb" in New Haven. The video - shot with nightvision technology and a microphone - was secretly captured with a hidden camera on the evening of April 14, 2001 by New York Observer reporter Ron Rosenbaum. (This video is hosted by YouTube.com)
• Audio and transcript the April 23, 2001 ABC News segment: Behind the Closed Doors of a Secret Society - ABC News' Dan Harris reports on covertly shot footage that exposes the "Bonesmen" of Skull & Bones as they preform occult rituals at "The Tomb" in New Haven. The video - shot with nightvision technology and a microphone - was secretly captured with a hidden camera on the evening of April 14, 2001 by New York Observer reporter Ron Rosenbaum. Link has additional pertinent information, as well.