Respect from a past US President for Freemasons and their Rites

News stories bringing the history of Essex Freemasons alive to a modern audience

Bearing a Letter of Introduction from the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of Missouri, Excellent Companion Mike Martin of Oriental-Rabboni Chapter No. 78 visited Patriotic Royal Arch Chapter No. 51, the oldest in Essex, for the Installation of Tony Terry as First Principal on 24th September 2024.

In his Letter of Introduction, the Grand Secretary in Missouri, Donald MacCormick, conveyed that Mike Martin is in Good Standing and has received all the Degrees of Royal Arch which are Mark Master Mason, Past Master, Most Excellent Master and the Holy Royal Arch Mason.

In England in the late eighteenth century William Preston began to bring order and management to English Masonic rituals. In 1797 Thomas Webb in America took Preston’s three Craft degrees and added the Royal Arch, Royal and Select Masters and Knights Templar to create one system known as the York Rite. Webb travelled widely and organised governing bodies at local, state and national levels.

Developed from an earlier set of degrees that had originated in France known as Écossais, the Scottish Rite system was formally established in 1801 at Charleston, South Carolina, with a Supreme Council to regulate its 33 degrees.

Over time, to get acceptance by the well-established Craft Grand Lodges, both the York and Scottish Rites acknowledged the jurisdictional Masonic authority of Grand Masters. In return, the Grand Masters agreed not to interfere with the internal affairs of the two Rites. As in English Masonry, the third Craft degree was accepted as the most important lesson with additional higher or ‘side’ degrees providing an elaboration of the truths contained in the three Craft degrees.

Active in both the York and Scottish Rite degrees, US President Harry S Truman served as Grand Master of Missouri in 1940 – 1941. Truman became President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945. Elected for a full term in 1948, Truman’s many achievements included helping establish the United Nations, ending racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces and instigating the Marshall Plan.

Despite all these achievements and much more, after his Presidency, Truman often said, “The greatest honour that has ever come to me in my life, is to be the Grand Master of Masons in Missouri.”  This not only speaks volumes about a Past Grand Master but also about the respect he had for all Freemasons and their Rites.

Photos

Top: Colchester’s Patriotic Chapter Officers with Mike Martin from St Louis L-R: Peter Harris, Lloyd Sargent, Tony Terry, Geoff Pearce, Jonathon Hazelton and Mike Martin of Oriental-Rabboni Chapter, St Louis, Missouri together with a Letter of Introduction from the Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of Missouri

Left: Grand Master Harry Truman, painted by Greta Kempton

Right: Grand York Rite of Missouri Royal Arch record card for Harry S Truman recording his Mark, Past, Most Excellent and Royal Arch degrees plus a notation for 50 years’ service and an entry under Remarks: ‘President USA, 1945 – 1952’