It all begins at Yale – Skull & Bones – In 1823, Samuel Russell, a child of the Wall Street banking establishment, founded “Russell & Company” the largest opium smuggling operation in the world. Russell and Company was based in Connecticut, and in addition to Chinese tea and silk, specialized in acquiring opium in Turkey and smuggling it to China (16).
In 1830, Russell and Company bought out their primary competitor, the Perkins (Boston) syndicate and thus established Connecticut as the epicenter of the illegal opium trade. Because of the incredible wealth generated, and through his connections to Wall Street, Russell’s company (and thus Connecticut) became an epicenter of illegal and secret political power (16).
The grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Warren Delano, Jr., served as Chief of Operations, at Russell and Company, and later became a partner (16).
In 1831, William Huntington Russell, half-brother to Samuel, left the United States and Yale college, to spend a year studying in Germany (17). Germany was in a fever, the epicenter of “new ideas” and a scientific revolution in psychology, philosophy, and educational reform. In the new Germany, children were being educated according to the “scientific method.” They were taught what to think and how to think it, as well as total obedience to the state.
William Huntington Russell wanted to learn first hand, “The “Scientific Method” and the ideas and philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel held the Chair in Philosophy at the University of Berlin from 1817 until his death in 1831.
In Germany, the scientific method, and the Hegelian dialectic were being applied to every aspect of human endeavor: through reason and the application of the scientific method, it was possible to create a pre-determined synthesis and thus the most desirable predetermined outcomes (1).
Russell was particularly impressed with the concept of “thesis versus anti-thesis” and Hegel’s historical dialectic: the state is absolute, individuals are granted their freedoms based on their obedience to the state, controlled conflict, by an intellectual elite, can produce a pre-determined outcome.
Russell, being a child of the Wall Street banking elite, quickly realized the implications. Hegel’s philosophy and the “Scientific Method” could be applied to banking: Through controlled conflict, it was possible to create a synthesis in the form of incredible financial wealth. Those engaged in this conflict would require financing.
Controlled conflict, when conducted in secret, would be good for business. Indeed, secrecy is mandated when the dialectic is applied to the creation of “opposing forces” who are to be manipulated into engaging in a “controlled conflict.” Secrecy is also necessitated so that the opposing forces do not realize that the same banks are providing funds to both of those in conflict.
Of course, William Huntington Russell was not the first to realize the necessity of secrecy for the purposes of applying Hegel’s dialectic to banking and commerce. Banking requires secrecy, particularly when it comes to laundering incredible sums of money acquired through criminal enterprise and the drug trade.
Long before he arrived in Germany, Russell had learned the value of secrecy. What he wanted was to learn first hand was the Hegelian scientific method. So, it is not surprising that after he enrolled at the University of Berlin, Russell became a member of a secret society which also incorporated Hegelian ideas.
Russell joined the secret order of “Skull and Bones” (17). The membership of the Berlin order of Skull and Bones came from the privileged class, the aristocracy, and the families of bankers and the moneyed elite. Russell fit fight in and formed a warm and close relationship with many of its members.
When it came time for his to return to America and Yale college, Russell sought and obtained permission to form an American chapter of the secret German Society of Skull and Bones: chapter 322, The Brotherhood of Death (17,18).
Russell returned to the United States and Yale College in 1832. Russell, along with his very close friend, Alphonso Taft (the father of William Howard Taft who became President of the U.S. and then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), and 13 other children of the Wall Street elite, established and became the founding members of “The Order of Scull and Bones,” later changed to “The Order of Skull and Bones.”
The Order of Skull and Bones was to be a super secret society for the elite children of the Anglo-American Wall Street banking establishment (17,18). Its purpose: To generate incredible wealth and power for its members.
Presumably, the Order of Skull and Bones exists only at Yale. As detailed in Antony C. Sutton’s superbly researched 1986 text, America’s Secret Establishment (17): “Those on the inside know it as The Order. Others have known it for more than 150 years as Chapter 322 of a German secret society. More formally, for legal purposes, The Order was incorporated as The Russell Trust in 1856. It was also once known as the ‘Brotherhood of Death.’ Those who make light of it, or want to make fun of it, call it ‘Skull & Bones’, or just plain ‘Bones’.”
The Order of Skull and Bones, however, is certainly not a college fraternity fun-house.
Rather, the purpose of Skull and Bones is the application of skull duggery, piracy, and the scientific method to the creation of power, wealth, and the inducement of controlled conflict between opposing individuals, businesses, and states.
The Order of Skull and Bones is also geared to promote the mutual success of its members in the post-collegiate world. Hence, only those of the incoming senior class become members (17,18) and membership is retained for life.
Each year fifteen juniors are selected by the graduating seniors to be initiated into next year’s group. New members are reportedly given a large sum of money, and a clock – the significance of which is to remind them that the Order of Skull and Bones is timeless.
As detailed by Antony Sutton (17) it is the “timeless” nature of this secret brotherhood which provides it with continuity and thus the capacity to build up both vertical and horizontal “chains of influence.”
These multi-generational chains of influence ensure the success of its members in their varied schemes, be it drug smuggling or the creation and financing of controlled conflict for the purposes of acquiring power and incredible wealth.
Prescott Bush, George H.W. Bush, and his son, George W. Bush, are alumni of Yale and members of Skull and Bones (17,19).
Notes:
1). Phenomenology of Spirit; Philosophy of History; Science of Logic; The Philosophy of Right; by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
16). Karl Meyer, “The Opium War’s Secret History,” New York Times, 6/28/1997; Jack Breeching, “The Chinese Opium Wars,” Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1975.
17). Anthony Sutton, “America’s Secret Establishment: An introduction to The Order of Skull & Bones” Liberty House, New York. 1986.
18). Ron Rosenbaum, “The Last Secrets of Skull and Bones,” Esquire Magazine, September, 1977; Peggy Alder-Robohm, “Skull and Bones – Bush’s Boy’s Club,” Covert Action Quarterly No. 33, 1990; John Schrag, “Skeleton in His Closet,” Willamette Week, September 19- 25, 1991; David W. Dunlap, “Yale Society Resists Peeks Into Its Crypt,” New York Times, 11/4/88.
19). Peggy Alder-Robohm, “Skull and Bones – Bush’s Boy’s Club,” Covert Action Quarterly No. 33, 1990; John Schrag, “Skeleton in His Closet,” Willamette Week, September 19-25, 1991.
Source: bibliotecapleyades
