America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones

by Antony C. Sutton

Overview

Breaking 170 years of secrecy, this intriguing exposé takes a behind-the-scenes look at Yale's mysterious society, the Order of the Skull and Bones, and its prominent members, numbering among them Tafts, Rockefellers, Pillsburys, and Bushes. Explored is how Skull and Bones initiates have become senators, judges, cabinet secretaries, spies, titans of finance and industry, and even U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush. This book reveals that far from being a campus fraternity, the society is more concerned with the success of its members in the postcollegiate world. Included are a verified membership list, rare reprints of original Order materials revealing the interlocking power centers dominated by Bonesmen, and a peek inside the Tomb, their 140-year-old private clubhouse.

Author Biography: Antony C. Sutton was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and an economics professor at California State University, Los Angeles. He was the author of 21 books, including Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780972020749
Publisher:	Trine Day
Publication date:	04/01/2004
Edition description:	2002 ed.
Pages:	335
Sales rank:	318,956
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

Read an Excerpt

America's Secret Establishment

An Introduction To The Order of Skull & Bones

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By Antony C. Sutton

Trine Day LLC

Copyright © 2002 Antony Sutton
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63424-154-0

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction to THE ORDER

Memorandum Number One:

Is There A Conspiracy Explanation For Recent History?

The reader anxious to get into the story of The Order should go directly to Memorandum Number Two. This section concerns methods, evidence and proof. Essential, but perhaps boring for most readers.

During the past one hundred years any theory of history or historical evidence that falls outside a pattern established by the American Historical Association and the major foundations with their grantmaking power has been attacked or rejected — not on the basis of any evidence presented, but on the basis of the acceptability of the argument to the so-called Eastern Liberal Establishment and its official historical line.

The Official Establishment History

There is an Establishment history, an official history, which dominates history textbooks, trade publishing, the media and library shelves. The official line always assumes that events such as wars, revolutions, scandals, assassinations, are more or less random unconnected events. By definition events can NEVER be the result of a conspiracy, they can never result from premeditated planned group action. An excellent example is the Kennedy assassination when, within 9 hours of the Dallas tragedy, TV networks announced the shooting was NOT a conspiracy, regardless of the fact that a negative proposition can never be proven, and that the investigation had barely begun.

Woe betide any book or author that falls outside the official guidelines. Foundation support is not there. Publishers get cold feet. Distribution is hit and miss, or non-existent.

Just to ensure the official line dominates, in 1946 the Rockefeller Foundation allotted $139,000 for an official history of World War Two. This to avoid a repeat of debunking history books which embarrassed the Establishment after World War One. The reader will be interested to know that The Order we are about to investigate had great foresight, back in the 1880s, to create both the American Historical Association and the American Economic Association (most economists were then more historians than analysts) under their terms, with their people and their objectives. Andrew Dickson White was a member of The Order and the first President of the American Historical Association.

Failure of Official History

Times have changed. The weaknesses, inconsistencies and plain untruths in official history have surfaced. In the 1980s it is rare to find a thinking reader who accepts official history. Most believe it has been more or less packaged for mass consumption by naive or greedy historians. Although an historian who will stick out his neck and buck the trend is rare, some who do are victims of an even deeper game.

Conspiracy then is an accepted explanation for many events at the intelligent grass roots level, that level furthest removed from the influence of The Order. We can cite at random the Kennedy assassination where the official "lone gunman" theory was never accepted by Americans in the street; Watergate, where a "deep throat" informer and erased tapes reek of conspiracy, and Pearl Harbor, where Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and Major General Walter C. Short took the rap for General George C. Marshall and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The revisionist historian has a double burden as well as a double task. The double burden is that research likely to question the official historical line will not get financed. The double task is that research must be more than usually careful and precise.

A non-official work is not going to be judged on its merits. The work will be judged on the basis of its acceptability to a predetermined historical standard. What this standard is we shall explore later.

Hypotheses and Method

Which brings us to methodology. In this volume we will present three hypotheses. What is a hypothesis? A hypothesis is a theory, a working theory, a start point, which has to be supported by evidence. We arrived at these three hypotheses by examining certain documents which will also be described. The official history hatchet mongers will scream that our hypotheses are now being presented as proven assertions — and whatever we write here will not stop the screams. But again, these are only hypotheses at this point, they have to be supported with evidence. They are a first step in a logical research process.

Now in scientific methodology a hypothesis can be proven. It cannot be disproven. It is up to the reader to decide whether the evidence presented later supports, or does not support, the hypotheses. Obviously no one author, critic, or reader can decide either way until all the evidence has been presented.

We also intend to use two other principles of scientific research ignored by official establishment historians.

Firstly, in science the simplest explanation to a problem is always the most acceptable solution. By contrast, in establishment history, a simple answer is usually criticized as "simplistic." What the critic implies is "The poor writer hasn't used all the facts," In other words, it's a cheap "put- down" without the necessity of providing an alternate answer or additional facts.

Secondly, again in science, an answer that fits the most cases, i.e., the most general answer, is also the most acceptable answer. For example, you have 12 events to explain and a theory that fits 11 of these events. That theory is more acceptable than a theory that fits only 4 or 5 of the events.

The Devil Theory of History

Using this methodology we are going to argue and present detailed precise evidence (including names, dates and places) that the only reasonable explanation for recent history in the United States is that there exists a conspiracy to use political power for ends which are inconsistent with the Constitution.

This is known by the official historians as the "devil theory of history," which again is a quick, cheap device for brushing facts under the rug. However, these critics ignore, for example, the Sherman Act, i.e., the anti-trust laws where conspiracy is the basic accepted theory. If there can be a conspiracy in the market place, then why not in the political arena? Are politicians any purer than businessmen? Following the antitrust laws we know that conspiracy can only be proven in a specific manner. A similar pattern of market actions is not proof of conspiracy. Just because something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and all the ducks act similarly, does not make it a duck — or a conspiracy. Under the Sherman Act a similar pattern of prices, where all prices are the same, is not proof of conspiracy. Similarity of prices can occur in a purely competitive market. Neither is similar political action necessarily a conspiracy.

Proof of conspiracy requires specific types of evidence, i.e.,:

a) there must be secret meetings of the participants and efforts made to conceal joint actions,

b) those meetings must jointly agree to take a course of action,

c) and this action must be illegal.

The Council on Foreign Relations

Widely accepted explanations of recent history based on a conspiracy theory do not present evidence that fits the above criteria. For example, the Council on Foreign Relations cannot be claimed as a conspiracy even for the period since its founding in 1921. Membership in the CFR is not a secret. Membership lists are freely available for the cost of a postage stamp. There is no proof that the entire membership conspires to commit illegal acts.

What has to be proven in any conspiracy explanation of history is that the participants have secret groupings, and meet to plan illegal actions.

Members of the CFR, when accused of being involved in a conspiracy, have protested to the contrary. And by and large they are right. Most CFR members are not involved in a conspiracy and have no knowledge of any conspiracy. And some personally known to the author are about the last people on earth to get involved in an illegal conspiracy.

HOWEVER, there is a group WITHIN the Council of Foreign Relations which belongs to a secret society, sworn to secrecy, and which more or less controls the CFR. CFR meetings are used for their own purposes, i.e., to push out ideas, to weigh up people who might be useful, to use meetings as a forum for discussion.

These members are in The Order. Their membership in The Order can be proven. Their meetings can be proven. Their objectives are plainly unconstitutional. And this ORDER has existed for 150 years in the United States.

Memorandum Number Two: The Order — What It Is And How It Began

Those on the inside know it as The Order. Others have known it for more than 150 years as Chapter 322 of a German secret society. More formally, for legal purposes. The Order was incorporated as The Russell Trust in 1856. It was also once known as the "Brotherhood of Death." Those who make light of it, or want to make fun of it, call it "Skull & Bones," or just plain "Bones."

The American chapter of this German order was founded in 1833 at Yale University by General William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft who, in 1876, became Secretary of War in the Grant Administration. Alphonso Taft was the father of William Howard Taft, the only man to be both President and Chief Justice of the United States.

What Is The Order?

The Order is not just another campus Greek letter fraternal society with passwords and handgrips, common to most campuses. Chapter 322 is a secret society whose members are sworn to silence. It only exists on the Yale campus (that we know about). It has rules. It has ceremonial rites. It is not at all happy with prying, probing citizens — known among initiates as "outsiders" or "vandals." Its members always deny membership (or are supposed to deny membership) and in checking hundreds of autobiographical listings for members we found only half a dozen who cited an affiliation with Skull & Bones. The rest were silent. An interesting point is whether the many members in various Administrations or who hold government positions have declared their members in the biographical data supplied for FBI "background checks".

Above all, The Order is powerful, unbelievably powerful. If the reader will persist and examine the evidence to be presented — which is overwhelming — there is no doubt his view of the world will suddenly come sharply into focus, with almost frightening clarity.

Before we go further we need to add a couple of important observations about The Order:

• It is a Senior year society which exists only at Yale. Members are chosen in their Junior year and spend only one year on campus, the Senior year, with Skull & Bones. In other words, the organization is oriented to the post graduate outside world. The Order meets annually — patriarchs only — on Deer Island in the St. Lawrence River.

• Senior societies are unique to Yale. There are two other senior societies at Yale, but none elsewhere. Scroll & Key and Wolfs Head arc supposedly competitive societies founded in the mid-19th century. We believe these to be part of the same network. Rosenbaum commented in his Esquire article, very accurately, that anyone in the Eastern Liberal Establishment who is not a member of Skull & Bones is almost certainly a member of either Scroll & Key or Wolf's Head.

What is the significance of the "322" in Chapter 322? William Russell imported the society from Germany and so it has been argued the 322 stands for '32 (from 1832), the second chapter, of this German organization. Possibly a chapter 320 and a chapter 321 may exist somewhere cind 323 is the designation of a room within the Skull & Bones temple at Yale.

Another interpretation is that The Order is descended from a Greek fraternal society dating back to Demosthenes in 322 B.C. This has perhaps some credibility because Bones records are dated by adding 322 to the current year, i.e., records originating in 1950 are dated Anno - Demostheni 2272.

How A Member Is Chosen By The Order

The selection procedure for new members of The Order has not changed since 1832. Each year 15, and only 15, never more, never fewer, are selected. In the past 150 years about 2500 Yale graduates have been initiated into The Order. At any one time about 500-600 are alive and active. Roughly about one-quarter of these take an active role in furthering the objectives of The Order. The others either lose interest or change their minds. They are silent drop-outs.

A Yale Junior cannot ask to join. There is no electioneering. Juniors are invited to join and are given two options: accept or reject. Apparently some amount of personal information is gathered on potential members. The following is the kind of evaluation made in the last century; we doubt it has changed too much down to the present time:

• "Frank Moore is an ideal Bones man, he is a hard worker and a man whose efforts have been more for Yale than himself. He is manager of the Musical clubs and has been active in Dwight Hall. His election will be well deserved and popular."

• "Don Thompson is a sure man whom the class wishes well for and will be glad to see go. He comes from a Bones family."

In selection emphasis is placed on athletic ability — the ability to play on a team. The most unlikely potential member of The Order is a loner, an iconoclast, an individualist, the man who goes his own way in the world.

The most likely potential member is from a Bones family, who is energetic, resourceful, political and probably an amoral team player. A man who understands that to get along you have to go along. A man who will sacrifice himself for the good of the team. A moment's reflection illustrates why this is so. In real life the thrust of The Order is to bring about certain objectives. Honors and financial rewards are guaranteed by the power of The Order. But the price of these honors and rewards is sacrifice to the common goal, the goal of The Order. Some, perhaps many, have not been willing to pay this price.

Inside The Order

Entry into The Order is accompanied by an elaborate ritual and no doubt by psychological conditioning. For example:

"Immediately on entering Bones the neophyte's name is changed. He is no longer known by his name as it appears in the college catalogue but like a monk or Knight of Malta or St. John, becomes Knight so and so. The old Knights are then known as Patriarch so and so. The outside world are known as Gentiles and vandals."

The Catalogue (or membership list — it became "Addresses" sometime in this century) of Chapter 322, however, is made with the usual "outside" names and is unique and impressive. Each member has a copy bound in black leather with peculiar symbols on the outside and inside. The symbols presumably have some meaning.

The owner's name and the single letter "D" is gilt-stamped on the outer cover of earlier issues, at least up to the mid-19th century. It then appears to have been omitted, at least on copies we have seen. Each right-hand page, printed one side only, about 6x4 inches, has the members listed for one year and surrounded by a heavy black border, thick in the early years, not so thick in recent decades. This symbolizes the death of the person named as he adopts his new name and new life upon entering The Order.

Most interesting is an entry between the decade lists of members. On the 1833 list, before the 15 founders' names, are the words "Period 2 Decade 3." Similarly, before names on the 1843 list are the words "Period 2 Decade 4." In brief, "Period" stays the same throughout the years, but the "Decade" number increases by one in each ten years. No doubt this means something to The Order, else it wouldn't be there. Another mystical group of letters and numbers is at the top of the first list of names in 1833, "P.231-D.31." The numbers increase by one in each succeeding class. In 1834, for example, the entry reads "P.232-D 32." Furthermore, the first class list of 1833 has two blank lines in place of the eleventh name on the list. This supports the argument that the society has German origins and this is the listing of the anonymous German connection.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from America's Secret Establishment by Antony C. Sutton. Copyright © 2002 Antony Sutton. Excerpted by permission of Trine Day LLC.
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Table of Contents

	An Introduction to the Order
	Authors Preface	vii
Memorandum Number 1	Is there a conspiracy explanation for recent history?	1
Memorandum Number 2	The Order. What it is and how it began	5
Memorandum Number 3	How much is known about The Order?	11
Memorandum Number 4	Who is in this secret society?	17
Memorandum Number 5	What organizations has it penetrated?	25
Memorandum Number 6	Operations of The Order	30
Memorandum Number 7	How The Order relates to the CFR and Trilaterals	36
Memorandum Number 8	The Chain of Influence: how it works	41
Memorandum Number 9	The Bundy Operation	47
Memorandum Number 10	Keeping the lid on the pot	53
	How the Order Controls Education
Memorandum Number 1	It all began at Yale	62
Memorandum Number 2	The look-say reading scam	71
Memorandum Number 3	The Illuminati Connection	77
Memorandum Number 4	The Leipzig Connection	81
Memorandum Number 5	The Baltimore Scheme	88
Memorandum Number 6	The Troika spreads its wings	92
Memorandum Number 7	The Order's objective for education	101
Memorandum Number 8	Summary	107
Memorandum Number 9	Conclusions and recommendations	110
	How the Order Creates War and Revolution
Memorandum Number 1	Created Conflict and the Dialectic Process	117
Memorandum Number 2	Operational Vehicles for Conflict Creation	124
Memorandum Number 3	Thesis: The Order Creates the Soviet Union	138
Memorandum Number 4	Antithesis: Financing the Nazis	164
Memorandum Number 5	Angola and China--the New Dialectic	175
	The Secret Cult of the Order
Memorandum Number 1	Introduction to the Cult of The Order	185
Memorandum Number 2	Organization of The Order	191
Memorandum Number 3	Ritual of The Order	200
Memorandum Number 4	Satanic aspects of The Order	207
Memorandum Number 5	Is The Order also Illuminati?	212
	Reprints of Rare Material on the Order
Item Number 1	Anonymous Skull & Bones	216
Item Number 2	Anonymous The Fall of Skull & Bones	227
Item Number 3	The Iconoclast	238
Item Number 4	Four Years at Yale "Senior Societies"	248