[[41.3085546,-72.9302279]] | [[Yale University]] | [[American Historical Association]] | [[American Economic Association]] | [[Brown Brothers Harriman]] | [[The Russell Trust]] | [[Geronimo]] | [[Phi Beta Kappa]] | [[19th Century]] | [[Connecticut]] | [[William Putnam Bundy (1917- 2000)]] | [[William Huntington Russell]] | [[William Collins Whitney]] | [[William Averell Harriman]] | [[Stephen Schwarzman]] | [[President Taft]] | [[President George HW Bush]] | [[President Bush]] | [[McGeorge Bundy (1919-1996)]] | [[Harvey Hollister Bundy (1888-1963)]] | [[Gasper d’ Andelot Belin]] | [[Frederick McGeorge Bundy]] | [[Prescott Bush]] | [[John Kerry]] | [[James Boasberg]] | [[David Boren]] | [[James L Buckley]] | [[Jonathan Bush]] | [[Harold Stanley]] | [[William Henry Draper III]] | [[Austen Goolsbee]] | [[Briton Hadden]] | [[Pierre Jay]] | [[Robert Kagan]] | [[Charles Spofford]] | [[George Herbert Walker III]] | [[Steven Mnuchin]] | [[Alphonso Taft]] # Skull & Bones: America's Most Infamous Secret Society Skull & Bones is Yale University's oldest and most secretive society, founded in 1832. It's produced three presidents, Supreme Court justices, CIA founders, and countless corporate titans. It's also inspired more conspiracy theories than perhaps any other American institution. The truth is strange enough without the conspiracies. <center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3oQmP2qWoaE?si=Y2yeng3ow5164ehg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></center> ## The Origins William Huntington Russell founded Skull & Bones in 1832 after returning from Germany, where he'd studied and allegedly been exposed to secret societies. The official story: he and classmate Alphonso Taft (father of President William Howard Taft) created it as Yale's answer to Phi Beta Kappa, which had snubbed them. The society chose bizarre symbolism: a skull and crossbones with the number 322 below it. Various theories exist about "322"—some say it references the death of Demosthenes in 322 B.C., others claim it means "founded in 1832, second chapter" (implying a German original). The society has never confirmed anything. They built "The Tomb"—a windowless, fortress-like building on Yale's campus where members meet. No outsiders allowed. Ever. ## How It Works Every spring, Skull & Bones "taps" exactly 15 Yale juniors. That's it. Fifteen. The tapping ceremony is theatrical: a senior approaches the chosen student, taps them on the shoulder, and asks "Skull and Bones: accept or reject?" Most accept. Rejecting is rare and considered social suicide among the ambitious. Selection criteria are opaque but patterns emerge: athletic achievement, family legacy (many are children of Bonesmen), academic excellence, social prominence, and future leadership potential. It's not just smart kids—it's kids destined for power. Once tapped, members meet twice weekly inside The Tomb during senior year. What happens inside is sworn to secrecy for life. Leaked accounts describe: **Confessionals**: Members share their complete sexual histories, deepest secrets, fears, and ambitions in front of the group. This creates kompromat—mutual blackmail material that binds members together. **Rituals**: Allegedly involving coffins, robes, and theatrical performances. Some accounts mention lying in coffins recounting sexual experiences, though this is unverified. **Bonding**: Intense psychological intimacy accelerated through shared secrets and ritual. By graduation, these 15 people know each other's darkest moments. **Networking**: Connections to past members, including visits from powerful alumni who provide mentorship, job opportunities, and access. ## The Member List (The Ones We Know) This is where it gets wild. Bonesmen include: **Presidents**: William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush **Politicians**: John Kerry, both Harriman brothers (Averell and E. Roland), James Buckley **Spies**: William F. Buckley Jr. (CIA), James Jesus Angleton (CIA counterintelligence chief), multiple CIA founders and directors **Business**: Harold Stanley (Morgan Stanley co-founder), Frederick W. Smith (FedEx founder), Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone) **Media**: Henry Luce (Time, Life, Fortune founder), multiple New York Times executives **Judges**: Potter Stewart (Supreme Court), multiple federal judges The 2004 presidential election was surreal: both candidates were Bonesmen. Bush vs. Kerry. When asked about Skull & Bones in interviews, both gave nearly identical responses: "It's a secret. I wish I could say more, but I can't." They literally recited the same deflection. ## The CIA Connection This part isn't conspiracy—it's documented history. Skull & Bones became a recruiting ground for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the CIA's predecessor) during WWII and then the CIA after 1947. Why? Secret societies train people in discretion, loyalty, and operating in hierarchical networks with information compartmentalization—exactly what intelligence services need. Bonesmen already knew how to keep secrets and valued elite institutional loyalty over democratic transparency. The CIA's first decades were dominated by "The Yale Men"—Ivy League graduates, disproportionately from Skull & Bones, who saw intelligence work as patriotic duty for the right class of Americans. This was the WASP establishment running American foreign policy. ## The Power Network Skull & Bones operates like a lifetime mutual aid society. Members help each other with: **Jobs**: A Bonesman's recommendation opens doors. Always. **Investments**: Business deals flow through the network. Members invest in each other's ventures. **Political appointments**: Bonesmen appoint Bonesmen to positions of power, perpetuating the network **Legal help**: When members have problems, other members provide elite legal representation **Social access**: Want to meet a senator, CEO, or publisher? Your Bones brother can arrange it. This isn't charity—it's calculated investment. By elevating fellow members, you strengthen the network's overall power, which eventually benefits you. ## The Brown Brothers Harriman Connection The most concrete manifestation of Bones power is Brown Brothers Harriman, America's oldest and largest private bank. Founded by Bonesmen, run by Bonesmen for generations, it became the financial hub of the network. Prescott Bush (George H.W. Bush's father, himself a Bonesman) was a partner. The Harrimans (Averell and E. Roland, both Bonesmen) controlled it. This wasn't just a bank—it was the financial infrastructure of the American establishment. Through BBH, Bonesmen financed each other's ventures, managed each other's fortunes, and consolidated wealth within the network. It's how generational power perpetuates. ## The Nazi Connection (Yes, Really) Here's where it gets dark. In the 1930s, Brown Brothers Harriman, run by Bonesmen including Prescott Bush, had financial ties to German industrial companies that later supported the Nazi regime. The U.S. government seized some BBH assets in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Was this deliberate Nazi collaboration or just business that aged badly? Probably the latter—many American firms had German dealings pre-war. But it reveals how elite networks prioritize profit and relationships over ideology or patriotism when convenient. ## The Geronimo Skull Allegation The weirdest persistent rumor: Skull & Bones allegedly possesses Geronimo's skull, stolen from his grave in 1918 by Prescott Bush and other Bonesmen stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Geronimo's descendants sued Yale in 2009 demanding its return. The society denied having it. The case was dismissed. But multiple accounts from Bonesmen over decades mentioned a skull they called "Geronimo" displayed in The Tomb. Whether it's actually his remains unproven. True or not, the allegation reveals the society's mentality: trophy-collecting from conquered peoples as symbols of power. Very imperial. Very disturbing. ## Why It Matters Skull & Bones represents institutional elitism—the idea that 15 Yale seniors per year deserve preferential access to power for life based on selection by previous generations of elites. This is the opposite of meritocracy. It's aristocracy with secret handshakes. The society demonstrates how power actually works: not through democratic processes, but through private networks of mutual obligation among people who share secrets, backgrounds, and interests. Democracy is the public facade; these networks are the operating system underneath. ## The Conspiracy Theories The wildest claims about Skull & Bones: **The Illuminati connection**: Allegedly Bones is the American branch of the Bavarian Illuminati. Zero evidence. **World government plot**: That Bonesmen are engineering a New World Order. Oversimplified—they support internationalism and global capitalism, but not through coordinated conspiracy. **Satanic rituals**: Claims of occult worship. Likely exaggerated from theatrical initiations designed to bond members. **Total control**: That Bonesmen control everything. Ridiculous—they're influential, not omnipotent. Plenty of powerful people aren't Bonesmen. The real conspiracy is boring: rich kids tap other rich kids, help each other get richer and more powerful, and perpetuate class dominance across generations. No Satan required. ## The Modern Status Skull & Bones admitted women in 1991 (after lawsuit threats) and has diversified somewhat racially, though it remains overwhelmingly white and wealthy. The mystique has faded slightly in the internet age—secret societies seem more silly than scary to younger generations. But the network endures. Bonesmen still tap 15 juniors annually. They still meet in The Tomb. They still help each other. The formula works because mutual blackmail and elite networking worked in 1832 and still works today. ## The Bottom Line Skull & Bones isn't the Illuminati running the world. It's something more mundane and more insidious: a formalized old boys' network that gives 15 Yale students per year lifetime access to power, wealth, and influence based on ritual bonding and shared secrets rather than merit or democratic accountability. It's proof that despite America's democratic ideals, we've always had an aristocracy—just one that pretends not to exist, meets in secret, and denies everything. That's more antidemocratic than any conspiracy theory, because it's real, documented, and ongoing. The Tomb sits on Yale's campus today, windowless and silent, training the next generation of America's unofficial ruling class. And we pretend that's normal. <center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xVfuAtMnaek?si=UTIgIuRxD9gDqLD-" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>