Five Secret Societies of Wealth and Power

In the world of the affluent, membership in elite circles can make or break where ones stands is society. Membership can equate to power, and the relationship between power and money is unarguably closely connected. College fraternities and sororities are one of the first examples that spring to mind when considering an exclusive membership club. And if we’re considering the exclusivity factor, what could be more secretive and elite than Yale University’s Skull and Bones?

The legend of the Skull and Bones earned quite a bit of attention when former President George W. Bush was in office, due to the fact that he was tapped to become a member during his time at Yale. Often, students tapped for membership have demonstrated their leadership abilities on campus, and as such, the Bones have quite an impressive list of alumni, incuding President George H. Bush, Senator John Kerry, and Barack Obama’s economic adviser Austan Goolsbee.

Competing with Skull and Bones as well as Princeton’s Ivy Club, over at Harvard University is the male-only Porcellian Club, fouded in the 1790s. In the ultimate statement of the importance of wealth and success to club members, legend alleges that members procure their first million by the age of 40. Other stories claim that if not successful in that goal, the Club will gift them the sum. Famous and powerful alumni include Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Kennedy reported it as one of the greatest disappointments of their life not to be invited to join the Porcellian Club.

At Oxford University, the Bullingdon Club is the elite club for wealth and power. It is said to be a dining group and is intentionally outrageously exorbitant in order to restrict the invitation-only membership to only those who are considered the most affluent. While it was origins date back to more than 200 years ago when it was a club for cricket and hunting, today the club has quite the reputation for alcohol-induced destruction of private property. Alumni members include most notably David Cameron, George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Edward VII, Edward VIII, Frederick IX of Denmark, and Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

A conversation about secret societies would not be complete without also considering the Illuminati. History indicates that the underground organization was originally founded on May 1, 1776 during the Age of Bavarian Enlightenment. In more modern day times, when one speaks of Illuminati, it is often in reference to a collective of the world’s most powerful men and women who allegedly attempt to control world events in the hopes of one day dictating the New World Order. The secret society of the Illuminati is often closely associated with conspiracy theories believing that the clandestine group includes alumni such as Winston Churchill, David Rockefeller, and powerful families with surnames like Bush and Rothschild. In Dan Brown’s novels The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, Galileo Galilee is depicted as the founder of the Illuminati movement as a way to revolt against the power of the Catholic Church.

Freemasonry is an obscure fraternal organization that is believed to have evolved over centuries dating back to the late 16^th century. Their language and symbols are closely linked with the work of ancient-day stone masons and has been quoted as being, “a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.” While the Masonic Temples of the Freemasons are not quite so secret or obscure, their rituals and what goes on behind closed doors is. They have been referred to in pop culture including in the 2004 Disney film National Treasure.