George Washington
1732–1799
Initiated 1752 in Fredericksburg Lodge, Virginia. Charter Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22. Laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in Masonic regalia, September 18, 1793.
By Their Fruits
Notable Brethren
A short, illustrative roll of Freemasons who shaped their times. The list is not a boast — it is a quiet testimony to the kind of life the Craft has long encouraged.
Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790
Initiated in St. John's Lodge of Philadelphia in 1731. Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania, 1734. Printed the first Masonic book in America.
Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens)
1835–1910
Initiated in Polar Star Lodge No. 79, St. Louis, in 1861. America's great storyteller frequently invoked Masonic principles in his speeches and letters.
Theodore Roosevelt
1858–1919
Initiated in Matinecock Lodge No. 806, Oyster Bay, New York, in 1901. As President, he visited many Lodges and wrote often of the Craft's value.
Buzz Aldrin
b. 1930
Master Mason, Montclair Lodge No. 144, New Jersey. The second man to walk on the Moon — Apollo 11, July 20, 1969 — carried a Masonic banner to the lunar surface.
Harry S. Truman
1884–1972
Past Grand Master of Missouri (1940). The 33rd President of the United States held the Craft as one of the great civilizing forces of his life.
John Wayne
1907–1979
Master Mason, Marion McDaniel Lodge No. 56, Tucson, Arizona. 32° Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner.
Henry Ford
1863–1947
Raised in Palestine Lodge No. 357, Detroit, Michigan, in 1894. Industrial pioneer and 33° Scottish Rite Mason.
Sam Houston
1793–1863
President of the Republic of Texas; Master Mason of Cumberland Lodge No. 8, Tennessee. Famous for his observation that "Freemasonry is the only fraternity that produces men of character."
A President in Regalia
Harry S. Truman, 33°
Harry S. Truman of Missouri served as Past Grand Master of his state in 1940 and was honored as a 33° Scottish Rite Mason. The 33rd President of the United States held Freemasonry as one of the great civilizing forces of his life and rarely failed to acknowledge what he owed to the Brethren.
"I have received more from Masonry than I have given to it. I am profoundly grateful."
A Larger Number
Founders, Presidents, Astronauts, Authors
Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, at least nine were Masons. Of the 39 signers of the Constitution, thirteen. Of the 46 men who have served as President of the United States, fourteen are documented members of the Craft.
The list of notable Masons across the centuries is long: Voltaire, Mozart, Goethe, Kipling, Sibelius. Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson, James Polk. Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, John Glenn. J. Edgar Hoover and Norman Vincent Peale. Cecil B. DeMille and Roy Rogers. "Sugar Ray" Robinson and Arnold Palmer. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Irving Berlin. Houdini.
Most Masons, of course, never become famous — and that is the point. The Craft has always been less interested in producing celebrities than in producing the kind of quiet, reliable, decent men who hold a town together. We count many such Brothers in our own roll.
In lodge no man is better than another, except as his character, his conduct, and his industry make him so.
— Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President & Master Mason