Secret societies are part of pop culture, from “The Da Vinci Code” to conspiracy theories of a new world order to Hollywood movies. This year, they are also part of an election between President George W. Bush and Democratic nominee Sen. John F. Kerry.
Both candidates belong to Skull and Bones, a secret society at Yale University, although neither has revealed much to the public about their lifetime memberships.
“It’s so secret, we can’t talk about it,” Bush told Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in a February interview this year.
Although only 15 juniors are initiated every spring, Skull and Bones has an impressive list of members, according to Alexandra Robbins, a Yale graduate and author of “Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power” (2002). Robbins interviewed more than 100 Skull and Bones members for her book on the club.
Three presidents — William Howard Taft, the current President Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush — are members, along with several congressmen, Supreme Court justices and Cabinet secretaries. There are several “Bonesmen,” in the Bush administration including William Donaldson, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bonesmen also hold powerful positions in the private sector, such as Henry Luce, founder of Time magazine, and Olympic swimming gold medalist Don Schollander.
The presidential election is the first “Bones v. Bones” election in history, and for conspiracy theorists it proves the society’s influence. But the high number of successful and powerful Bonesmen is just an example of patronage, Robbins said.
“Skull and Bones is an institutionalized superiority complex designed to get members into positions of power and to have those members hire other members,” she said in an e-mail interview. “It’s not so much conspiracy as cronyism.”
Bonesmen meet in the “tomb,” an almost windowless building in the center of the Yale campus. The skull of Apache chief Geronimo, rumored to be stolen by President Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush and his Bonesmen brothers, is stored there, Robbins said. The Inner Temple, Room 322, is the most secretive room, according to the Skull and Bones secrecy oath and instructions for initiation.
The number 322 is revered by members because the Greek orator Demosthenes died in the year 322 B.C.and was replaced in the Pantheon with Eulogia, the goddess of eloquence. The society, founded in 1832, pays homage to the goddess.
Before joining, Skull and Bones hopefuls are subjected to an elaborate initiation ritual, Robbins said.
“There is a devil, a Don Quixote and a Pope who has one foot sheathed in a white monogrammed slipper resting on a stone skull,” Robbins said in a “60 Minutes” piece. “The initiates are led into the room one at a time. And once an initiate is inside, the Bonesmen shriek at him. Finally, the Bonesman is shoved to his knees in front of Don Quixote as the shrieking crowd falls silent. And Don Quixote lifts his sword and taps the Bonesman on his left shoulder and says, ‘By order of our order, I dub thee knight of Eulogia.'”
