quotations of - Antony Sutton - from his book
"America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones", 1983
"The Order [a secret society also known as Skull & Bones] is the only fully documented example we have of a secret society within the U.S. establishment.
… The Yale Senior society system is unique to Yale University. There is nothing like it elsewhere in the United States or for that matter in the entire world.
… There are three senior societies at Yale - Skull & Bones, Scroll & Key and. Wolfs Head. Each year 15 male Yale juniors are tapped for admission.
… Skull & Bones was founded in 1933 and has initiated 15 members each year since 1933… Every year during commencement week 15 Yale juniors receive an invitation "Skull & Bones. Accept or reject?" Those who accept, presumably the greater number, are invited to attend the Bones Temple on campus to undergo an initiation ceremony.
… The Yale campus student is well aware that the senior society system is geared to the affluent outside world, to the world after graduation. Money and connections flow from membership.
… In effect the societies are the source of a vast establishment network, a formalized "old boy" network that effectively shuts out the newcomers and the non-Yale-talented from the halls of power. Because these are senior societies, the emphasis is not on campus activities but on post graduation ambitions. That is the fundamental difference to all other campus societies in the U.S..
… Each annual class of new initiates forms a club consisting of 15 members. Initiates are called Knights in the first year and thereafter Patriarchs."
"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 American chapter of this German order was founded in 1833 at Yale University.
… The Order is not just another campus Greek letter fraternal society with passwords and handgrips, common to most campuses. Chapter 322 is a secret society whose members are sworn to silence. It only exists on the Yale campus.
… The Order is powerful, unbelievably powerful."
"During the 150-year interval since 1833, active membership in "The Order" / "Skull and Bones" has evolved into a core group of perhaps 20-30 families.
… First we find old line American families who arrived on the East coast in the 1600s, e.g., Whitney, Lord, Phelps, Wadsworth, Allen, Bundy, Adams and so on.
Second, we find families who acquired wealth in the last 100 years, sent their sons to Yale and in time became almost old line families, e.g., L Harriman, Rockefeller, Payne, Davison."
"The membership list of about 2500 initiates into The Order/Skull and Bones has very obvious features:
Members are all males and almost all WASPS (White Anglo Saxon Protestant). In great part they descended from English Puritan families, their ancestors arrived in North America in the 1630-1660 period.
These Puritan families either intermarried with financial power or invited in sons of money moguls, e.g., Rockefellers, Davisons, and Harrimans, whose sons became members of The Order."
"There is a group within the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) which belongs to a secret society, sworn to secrecy, and which more or less controls the CFR.
… These members are in 'The Order' [Yale Skull and Bones]. Their membership in The Order can be proven. Their meetings can be proven. Their objectives are plainly unconstitutional. And this Order has existed for 150 years in the United States."
"The Order / Skull and Bones in Britain go through Lazard Freres and the private merchant bankers. Notably the British establishment was also founded at a University - Oxford University, and especially All Souls College at Oxford. The British element is called "The Group."
The Group links to the Jewish equivalent through the Rothschilds in Britain (Lord Rothschild was an original member of Rhodes "inner circle"). The Order in the U.S. links to the Guggenheim, Schiff and Warburg families.
… The core of The Order, like the core of "The Group" in England, comprises about 20 families. In the U.S. case they are mostly descendents from the original settlers in Massachusetts. New wealth did not enter The Order until the mid-19th century and until recently, has never dominated The Order."
"The Order / Skull and Bones has penetrated or been the dominant influence in sufficient policy, research and opinion-making organizations that it determines the basic direction of American society."