"Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D. Institute for Human Resources (904) 428-9609 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] TO: List RE: F& A Masons July 5, 1994 American Heritage Forbes Inc. Mr. Richard Snow, Editor 60 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10011 Dear Richard: It was very kind of you to forward my letter (attached) to Mark Carnes. He was kind of enough to write to me. My reply is attached. I'm afraid this kind of study is part of the problem. He skips from the founding of the modern Masons in the late 17th century quickly to the case that increased Anti-mason feeling in the 1820's. In another article on Rumford, the often quoted remark by Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the native American men of genius; Jefferson, Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Frenchman Napoleon had a were "many-sided". The Royal Academy and modern science shared beliefs in "natural law" and right reason with the politics of liberation as they were understood in the age of reason. I am shy about saying more. Maybe you should do your own research. I studied Rumford for my masters in Modern History at the University of London (LSE) in the early 60's. The fact that he was a spy for General Gage was just being revealed. It was reported that the information of Rumford was used to organize a raid on a store of arms at Concord that let to serious conse quences, a shot heard around the world. The group that had the arms (minutemen) was a lodge. Rumford corresponded with John Q. Adams in Greek and Masonic code. He was interested in how he would be received in America, even though he was a officer in the British Army on the other side. His ex-wife and granddaughter tried to make him into a patriot, which he may have been but for the British Empire. The facts of the role of Freemasonry in the American Revolution remain out of sight. Dr. Carnes is part of the problem in that he does not take it seriously. It just another boys club. Like the odd fellows. He knows nothing of the Sufi roots. He knows nothing of how character can be shaped by practice. Last Letter: Many years ago I meet a high ranking Freemason in upstate New York. I followed his activities for several days, including the settling of disputes. He showed me the code-books used to translate the hieroglyphic messages used in interlodge communica tions. The gentleman had a correspondence with ranking members in Latin America, Europe, and even in the Soviet Union under Stalin. He told me that he knew Franklin Roosevelt, who was also a 33'rd. degree Mason. He said FDR picked another ranking member, Harry Truman to be vice-president because of the trust they had developed as lodge members. He said Roosevelt and Truman had a wide reaching masonic correspondence with critical actors in this country and abroad. My father reported meeting with Truman while he was having an official Masonic portrait painted. I have always thought the issue of the Freemason's was an interesting one. A review of the role of the mason's in American History reveals the influential role of the Free and Associated Masons (F & A to separate them from stone masons) in our history. The research quickly demonstrates the importance of the lodges from the time of the revolution to the age of television. The Committees of Public Safety and Correspondence were critical in the organization of the American Revolution. These committees carried out their activities in Masonic code. Samuel Adams's lodge was the home base of the "Indians" of the Boston Tea Party. Ben Franklin, along with Otis of Conn., was the "Founding Father" of the American Blue Lodges. Franklin's financial connections in the publishing trade led to important alliances with Huguenot, Dutch and English Freemasons. (Franklin's printing empire included 37 newspapers. He was the first media mogul.) The secret private loans made by the French to George Washington, at a critical time, were under-written by the Masonic connection. These loans kept the revolution alive. In Washing ton's Army the battle-field lodges were vital in the War for Independence. After the war, the patriotic lodges were a major source of political and business connections. The George Washington Lodge, near D.C. and Franklin's Philadelphia lodge represent a long republican tradition and contain many documents vital to our history. The influence of Freemasons has shaped American Political thought more than any other element. The United States was a child of the 18th century enlightment. The "Age of Reason" was best reflected and promoted by the Masons. The Anti-Mason movements of the 1830's were a reaction to the importance of the secret society in the new republic. Andrew Jackson's masonic connections were openly exploited. Until the age of Television the lodges offered the major path to political and sometimes business power. Lodge connections were vital in building the linkages, what is now called networks, of successful careers. Most important today is not the "unknown History" of the F&A Mason in the USA. The facts can be easily learned, if anyone wants to look for them. See the list below from the LUIS system of the Florida Universities libraries. The interesting question is why all this is still not featured in textbooks and summaries of American history? The underlining ideas of republican govern- ment among liberals and deist in the 18th century were structured by the "rationalism" of Masonic thought and ritual. It seems to me impossible to grasp the concept of the American Republic in the 18th century without understanding the development of this intellectual tradition. The tie to the first, middle class phase, of French Revolution is direct and compelling. The central idea was the power of reason over ancient "superstition" especially the established churches and kings. Members of the aristocracy, however, were important in the movement in Europe. The House of Hanover sponsored lodges. After the French Revolution there was a backlash where all the excesses were blamed on Masons. Boliviar's conections to American, British and Spanish leadership were increased by his Masonic connections. Membership became a crime in the reactionary states of the Holy Alliance in the 19th century, as it was in Spain under Franco and the traditional church. For some Catholics, the Mason's represent all the evils of the modern secular world. The Italian lodges were powerful and secret. There is some connec tion to Opus Dei (God's Work ) and other progressive movements in Latin America and Spain. The rise of modern science gave the power of natural law to understand and control events. Science gave man power over nature and themselves. (There is a weak SUFFI relationship, "In the world but not of the world", ideas of mind control and mystic practices in some Masonic tradition) The authority of science gave the revolutionaries the faith that they could establish a new order on earth. State-craft should be "rational" and logical like other natural sciences. These ideas are the foundation of the rebellion of the American Colonies, the industrial revolu tion, the advancement of science and technology, the rise of popular government, and most aspects of the modern world as it emerged from the middle ages. I. Newton's math and mystic beliefs were the foundation of the Royal Society's scientific and political actions. Franklin is the perfect model of the new modern man and Free-mason, even free thinker, with a situational ethic hidden by moralistic statements. He was a scientist of great originality. The Blue Lodges grew out of the Royal Society and the science and mysticism of Isaac Newton. Franklin was a republican, a printer and the first postmaster. All his activities were central to the Freemason's movement. His contribution to constitution law began with the Albany convention. The freedom of the press and the spread of knowledge by the post office was essential to the establishment of self-governing states. The American model was used in the low countries, England, in France, and then spread all over Europe by the French Revolution. The Mason's were important in Latin America's independence movement (Bolivar had Masonic alliances with VanBuren and wig politicians in Great Britain, as well as in the Spanish Government itself). In 19th century Russia, Tolstoy describes the importance of Masons to the idea of republican and liberal government, even revolution. The majority of the members of the Constitutional congress were Masons (if not all), the corner-stone of the Capitol, Washington D.C., was laded in Masonic garb, on the great seal that you see on our money is the eye in the pyramid, a masonic symbol. Every President until John Kennedy was a ranking Mason. As many have pointed out, the lodges offered a system of political connections and networks absolutely necessary for politicos and some business until the age of mass communications. Therefore, important parts of American History cannot be understood without knowledge of the Freemasons. The question I ask is -- " why is it not there in our Textbooks and in the area of general knowledge like any other aspect in our history?" One does not have to believe in Masonic conspiracies in the past or present. The role of the lodges has been almost all for the good. The George Washington Lodge in Arlington Virginia is a monument to American History. The 250 years of the Philadelphia lodge was a reminder of our traditions. Why are Masons left out of our History? I really would like to know if anything I believe is wrong. The issue of Bernard Fay should not confuse the issue. Fay was a French Catholic Anti-Mason convicted of War Crimes. The Mason were hunted by Hitler, membership could mean death. Fay wrote, in the 1930's, a never-the-less sound book about American Mason's and the revolution. I really would like to know if local Masonic pressure keep publishers from including "any" mention of the history of the lodges in this country. What mention there is focuses on the Anti-mason movement, the Nativism, Know-nothing activity of the 1830's to 50's. I understand the Textbooks are written to be sold. Would colleges and universities ban books that included the role of the Freemasons? I doubt it. School boards might. Maybe American Historian all copy each other and just don't know. The issue is a good one and won't go away. Thank you, Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D. Dear Professor Carnes; It was very kind of Richard Snow, Editor of the American Heritage to forward my letter about the Freemasons to you. I agree with the concept of your letter but I don't believe we have solved the lack of interest in the "ubiquity of Masonry..in the past." Of course, as you point out the lodges preformed different functions in different social setting. There is the lack of a official central governing body. The high ranking members do maintain contact and the lodges are chartered and inspected. The organization is not much different from the Episcopal Church. The lodges have as much in common as do members of a religious domination. They have a common ritual supported by a active press and official visits from regional and national leadership. The lodges contribute to area and national funds and feel part of an international brotherhood. The clear and important role in the organization of the American Revolution is the central point I make. That Grant and Tolstoy were fellow members is not the issue. I do not argue for a "fathers of Zion" theory. I only point out that it is difficult to understand large parts of American History without the philosophical understanding of Free-Masonry in the 18'th century and American politics in the 19'th century. I have personal knowledge of the FDR Truman link and the documents are in the George Washington lodge in