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Skull and Bones Updated to Bush and Kerry, January 10, 2005
By     William Hare
This review is from: America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones
Antony Sutton in writing “America’s Secret Establishment” two decades ago set in motion the analytical wherewithal for tracing its activities beyond his death. Sutton may be dead, but the important questions he raised about Skull and Bones and this secret society’s impact on U.S. and world political and economic policies become more paramount with each passing year.

The 2004 presidential election was the first in history to pit two members of Yale University’s super secretive Skull and Bones society against each other. In this case the word “against” may well prove to be a figure of speech. To quote the legendary British author Lewis Carroll, the 2004 race may well be proven historically to be, despite its feints and dodges in an effort to attain legitimacy, “a battle between Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”

Some scrutinizing individuals, mindful of Sutton’s work in this and other works indicating that often the left theoretically represented by the Democrats and the right theoretically represented by the Republicans are merely two wings of the same bird, representing the same establishment while going through the motions of seemingly democratic competition. These individuals were scoffed at in the same manner as those who were skeptical of the Warren Commission Report following its release, being denounced as “conspiracy buffs.” The mainstream media denounces those who continue to pursue evidence of cheating in the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, Florida, New Mexico and elsewhere as “spreadsheet conspiracy theorists.”

While belittling skeptics who wondered if democracy might well be seriously jeopardized by two Skull and Bones candidates vying for the presidency, it is insightful to note what occurred when Bush, seeking a four year extension after his highly controversial “victory” four years earlier against Al Gore by a one vote margin in the U.S. Supreme Court, was asked about Skull and Bones. “I can’t say anything about that,” Bush responded with a nervous expression in contrast to his widely reputed swaggering manner.

Sutton acknowledges that he had inside sources providing his information on Skull and Bones. An established element is that members are sworn to secrecy. The question should be asked: Does the vow of secrecy presumably taken by both Bush and Kerry supersede any implied covenant with the American people to operate on its behalf as part of what is labeled a democratic nation? Do Skull and Bones pledges of secrecy apply to the “new democracy” Bush and his neoconservative operatives led by Dick Cheney purport to be building in Iraq and throughout the Middle East?

Sutton’s conclusions dovetail with those of other courageous authors seeking to pierce the Skull and Bones veil of secrecy. As Sutton notes, prospective pledges are contacted in their junior years and, if accepted, belong to the organization only one year at Yale as seniors.

Contrasting Skull and Bones with other fraternal organizations, Sutton points out the important distinction of obtaining pledges for only the final critical year at Yale, whereas fraternities are known for seeking pledges as freshmen. Sutton’s point is well taken, that the reason for concentrating on seniors is the focus on their lives beyond Yale. As John Huston, playing a corrupt corporate magnate who controls Los Angeles in the 1974 film “Chinatown” replies in response to a question from private detective Jake Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson, as to why he is so power hungry when he is able to buy anything he could ever reasonably want: “The future, Mr. Gittes, the future!”

The future appears to have been well taken care of by the coalescing of Skull and Bones members. Sutton explains that the organization follows the dialectical line of reasoning of German philosopher Hegel, in which 1) thesis and 2) antithesis are ultimately integrated into 3) synthesis. He points out that this is what makes otherwise contradictory behavior explainable, such as major Wall Street brokerage firms such as Brown Brothers-Harriman, where George W. Bush’s grandfather Prescott worked alongside famous Democratic Party name Averell Harriman as needed funds were supplied to both Hitler’s Third Reich and Stalin’s Soviet Union.

Follow Sutton’s line of reasoning and fill in the blanks. It makes the seemingly politically incomprehensible emerge as highly plausible and chillingly prescient.

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By     Mary Whipple
This review is from: Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power
Describing Yale as “an institution that presents itself far less as an academic school than as a social game,” author Robbins delves into the history of the university itself in an effort to explain the evolution of its secret societies–Skull and Bones, in particular–and to rationalize their continuing existence. Quoting documents from the archives, she cites religious zealotry, student rankings by social status and family background, a veneration of tradition, and the promotion of ultra-conservative values at Yale in the 19th century as factors in the development of these societies during that time. Literary, debating, and drama societies, open to all students, evolved and disbanded during these years, but the secret societies survived, providing in the absence of a residential college system, a bonding experience which fulfilled unmet social needs.

Skull and Bones is highly selective, tapping only fifteen seniors each year, but the networks members forge among themselves, with faculty who were members, and with powerful alumni endure for a lifetime. Bushes, Buckleys, Bundys, Rockefellers, Tafts, and others have formed and exploited their secret society networks in government and foreign policy, the CIA, finance, and business. Robbins firmly debunks, however, the rumors of an “international mafia,” a real estate cabal, neo-Nazi philosophy, and the notion that this is the “most powerful secret society the world has ever known.”

Herself a member of a “kindred Yale secret society,” Robbins can hardly be expected to represent the point of view of the 90% of the campus which is not tapped for secret societies, which, now admitting women and minorities, seem to be trying to represent the college’s demographics more fairly. She never really deals with the inherent elitism (or tokenism) which the selection process represents, however, and I disagree with her contention that secret societies are necessary in our lives: “The secret society–like the power of the elitist, old-school colleges…–survives because people like to believe that seemingly random events are orchestrated by someone or something in control…they need causality in much the same way as they need a God. People’s need for the Skull and Bones conspiracies to elucidate an underlying order is similar to the need for religion to explain death and purpose.” As long as people believe this, secret societies will endure. Mary Whipple

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