7 minute read
Masonic Presidents
by Ymelda Rivera Laxton, Assistant Curator, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library
George Washington
(1732-1799) 1st President
Presidential Term: 1789-1797
George Washington was initiated into Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1752. In 1788, Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in Virginia, composed largely of Revolutionary War officers, applied for a charter from the Grand Lodge of Virginia and petitioned Washington to be their founding Master, a position he held for nearly two years, from April 1788 to December 1789. Washington was the first and only United States president to also serve as leader of a lodge while in office.
Washington is arguably the most recognizable and famous Freemason in American history. Many printmakers produced work celebrating Washington's Masonic career; other artists created memorial folk art to commemorate Washington’s legacy.
Between 1880 and 1910, an unknown artisan fashioned this glass plate into a collage portrait of George Washington as a Mason using paper cigar bands and paper cut-outs of him.
Cigar Band Plate, 1890-1920. United States. Gift of Milton and Berry Walter, 2005.006
In the early 1900s, individuals started to create folk art using cigar bands and colorful prints. “Cigar band art,” as this craft was described, was used to decorate ceramics, glassware, and jewelry. Washington’s posture and the regalia he wears suggest the print at the center of the plate was modeled after Currier & Ives’s 1868 print, Washington as a Freemason.
James Monroe
(1758-1831) 5th President
Presidential Term: 1817-1825
In 1775, James Monroe affiliated with Williamsburg Lodge No. 6 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Tradition relates that Monroe was also affiliated with a military lodge, possibly St. John’s Regimental Lodge No. 1, though evidence of this is unclear.
Andrew Jackson
(1767-1845) 7th President
Presidential Term: 1829-1837
Andrew Jackson was a member of Harmony Lodge No. 1 in Nashville, Tennessee. Seven years before he was elected president, Jackson served as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee from 1822 to 1824. He was an Honorary Member of Federal Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Washington, D.C., and Jackson Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M., Tallahassee, Florida.
James Knox Polk
(1795-1849) 11th President
Presidential Term: 1845-1849
In 1820, James K. Polk was initiated into Columbia Lodge No. 21 or 31 in Columbia, Tennessee. Polk received the Mark Degree at Lafayette Chapter No. 4, Nashville, in 1825.
James Buchanan
(1791-1868) 15th President
Presidential Term: 1857-1861
In 1817, James Buchanan was initiated into Lodge No. 43, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Buchanan also served as a District Deputy Grand Master in the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.
Andrew Johnson
(1808-1875) 17th President Presidential Term: 1865-1869
Another Tennessean, Andrew Johnson was initiated into Greeneville Lodge, No. 119 in Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1851. Historians have noted that Johnson was also a Knight Templar, a Royal Arch Mason, and a Scottish Rite Mason. In this hand-colored carte-devisite, Johnson stands for a portrait in his Knights Templar regalia.
President Andrew Johnson, 1860-1866. C.C. Giers, Nashville, Tennessee. Special Acquisitions Fund, 85.38.32.
The photograph is part of a series of portraits of Tennessee Knights Templar made by photographer and Freemason Carl Casper Giers (1828-1877) in the 1860s. The portraits may have been taken at one of the annual conclave meetings of the Grand Commandery of Tennessee in Nashville.
James Abram Garfield
(1831-1881) 20th President
Presidential Term: 1881
In 1861, James Garfield was initiated into Magnolia Lodge No. 20 of Columbus, Ohio. Because of his Civil War service, Garfield did not receive the Master Mason degree until 1864. It was conferred by Columbus Lodge No. 30 of the same city. Committed to Freemasonry, Garfield also became a member of the Knights Templar, the Royal Arch, and the Scottish Rite. In 1881, only months after being elected, an assassin killed Garfield. Masons across the United States publicly mourned his death.
Urn, 1882. United States. Grand Lodge of Massachusetts of Masons Collection. Photograph by David Bohl.
Grand Master Samuel Crocker Lawrence of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts wrote to Garfield’s widow, Lucretia (1832-1918), asking for a lock of Garfield’s hair, “…to be handed down as a sacred relic to future generations of Masons in this state.” The Grand Lodge commissioned this gold urn for this relic. The vessel is engraved: “This urn incloses [sic] a lock of the hair of President Garfield presented Feb. 1st 1882 to Lucretia R. Garfield. Brother James Abram Garfield President of the United States Born November 19th 1831 Died September 19th 1881.”
William McKinley
(1843-1901) 24th President Presidential Term: 1897-1901
William McKinley became a Mason in 1865 while serving as a Union officer during the Civil War at Hiram Lodge No. 21 in Winchester, Virginia. He was a founding member of Eagle Lodge No. 431 in Canton, Ohio. The lodge changed its name to William McKinley Lodge No. 431 after McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
Theodore Roosevelt
(1858-1919) 25th President Presidential Term: 1901-1909
In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was initiated into Matinecock Lodge No. 806 in Oyster Bay, New York. A few months later, William McKinley was assassinated, and Roosevelt became president. Roosevelt continued to attend lodges and Masonic ceremonies throughout his presidency. In this 1907 photograph of a cornerstone laying at Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Roosevelt stands at the center, wearing the apron pictured here.
Theodore Roosevelt at cornerstone laying for Provincetown Pilgrim Monument, 1907. Provincetown, Massachusetts. Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts Collection, GL2004.7560.
Masonic Apron, 1907. Rose Lipp, Boston, Massachusetts. Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts Collection, GL2004.7560.
Photograph by David Bohl.
William Howard Taft
(1857-1930) 26th President
Presidential Term: 1909-1913
In 1909, at a special ceremony in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Grand Master of Ohio, Charles S. Hoskinson, made soon-to-be-President William Taft a “Mason at sight.” Taft later affiliated with Kilwinning Lodge No. 356 in Cincinnati, the same lodge that his father had joined.
Warren Gamaliel Harding
(1865-1923) 28th President
Presidential Term: 1921-1923
The fourth president and Freemason from Ohio, Harding was initiated into Marion Lodge No. 70, in Marion, Ohio, in 1901. He became a Master Mason in 1920, one year before being elected president. In 1921, the Scottish Rite Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction elected Harding to receive the 33rd Degree at their annual meeting in Cleveland.
Due to illness and his schedule, Harding was unable to attend the meeting. He died in office in 1923, before receiving the degree. The photograph below, highlighted with watercolors, shows a 33rd Degree jewel crafted for Harding by Boston jewelers Frederick T. Widmer (1877-1955) and Kenneth R. Park (1908-2008). Widmer and Park designed a myriad of awards, commemorative badges, and officer jewels for Masonic and fraternal organizations throughout the United States.
Jewel Design for Warren G. Harding, 1921-23. Frederick Theodore Widmer and Kenneth Robert Park, Boston, Massachusetts. Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts Collection, GL2004.10961.4.Photograph by David Bohl.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(1882-1945) 31st President
Presidential Term: 1933-1945
In 1911, Franklin Roosevelt was initiated into Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York City. He remained an active Mason throughout his life. His three sons, Elliott (1919-1990), Franklin Jr. (1914-1988), and James (1907-1991) were also Masons and members of Architect Lodge No. 519 in New York City.
Roosevelt expressed this sentiment in a speech to members of Architect Lodge No. 519 on the day his sons, Franklin and James, were raised as Master Masons.
Harry S. Truman
(1884-1972) 32nd President
Presidential Term: 1945-1952
Harry Truman was initiated into Belton Lodge, No. 450 in Belton, Missouri, in 1909. Dedicated to Freemasonry, Truman helped to organize Grandview Lodge No. 618, also in Missouri, and filled the role as its first Worshipful Master. He later served as the Grand Master of Masons in Missouri in
1940. Truman was also a member of the Knights Templar, Royal Arch, and Shrine, and was a 33° Scottish Rite Mason. Truman was the first recipient of the Gourgas Medal.
Gerald Rudolph Ford
(1931-2006) 38th President Presidential Term: (1974-1977)
In 1949, Gerald Ford was initiated into Malta Lodge No. 465 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was raised a Master Mason by Columbia Lodge No. 3 in Washington, D.C. in 1951. Ford continued his lifelong commitment to Freemasonry and joined the Saladin Shriners in Kentwood, Michigan, in 1959. In 1962, he was made a 33° Scottish Rite Mason and Honorary Member of the Supreme Council A.A.S.R., NMJ. Ford is pictured above with Barnett Samuels, Potentate Fred Spencer, and Recorder Harvey B. Leggee (1901-1989), members of Aleppo Temple in Wilmington, Massachusetts, in the 1970s.
Gerald Ford with Aleppo Temple Shriners, 1973-75. Boston, Massachusetts. Gift of Richard D. Leggee. A2008\53\1.
If you would like to see more examples of the photographic portraits in the museum’s collection, visit our website, srmml.org/collections/online-collections/. If you have questions about a photograph in your or your lodge’s collection, please drop a line to hstelling@srmml.org.
