Famous Freemasons in American History
Freemasonry's roster of American members reads less like a fraternal roll call and more like a shorthand for the country's founding mythology — presidents, generals, inventors, justices, and astronauts, all sharing the same initiatory ritual. Fourteen U.S. presidents were Freemasons, a figure that accounts for nearly one-third of all who have held the office. This page maps the most significant of those figures, examines what lodge membership meant in their historical context, and draws distinctions between men whose Masonic lives were central to their identities and those for whom the lodge was more of a social formality.
Definition and scope
"Famous Freemason" is a phrase that gets applied broadly — sometimes too broadly. The accurate scope covers men who were formally initiated into a recognized Masonic lodge, progressed through at least the three degrees of Blue Lodge Freemasonry, and whose membership is documented by lodge records, grand lodge archives, or contemporaneous correspondence.
George Washington is the benchmark case. Initiated at Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 in Virginia on November 4, 1752, he rose to Master Mason and later served as the first Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 (now Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, which still operates in Alexandria, Virginia). His Masonic Bible — the one placed on the altar at his 1789 inauguration and used again at the inaugurations of Warren G. Harding and Dwight D. Eisenhower — is preserved at St. John's Lodge No. 1 in New York City. That's not a peripheral detail. Washington actively corresponded with lodges throughout his life, attended lodge meetings when military campaigns permitted, and was buried with Masonic rites in 1799.
The broader history of Freemasonry in America shows the fraternity establishing its first chartered lodges in the 1730s, making it one of the oldest continuous civil institutions in the country. By the time of the Revolution, lodge halls served as one of the few neutral spaces where men of differing political temperaments could meet, deliberate, and build trust across colonial lines.
How it works
Understanding why so many prominent Americans became Masons requires understanding what lodge membership offered that other institutions didn't. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the lodge was simultaneously a philosophical school, a professional network, and one of the rare venues where men engaged in structured moral self-examination. The three-degree system — Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason — uses allegory and ritual to communicate principles of integrity, craftsmanship, and brotherhood.
For men operating in public life, the fraternity offered something practical: a ready-made network of trusted contacts in every major city and territory. Benjamin Franklin, initiated in 1731 at St. John's Lodge in Philadelphia, leveraged that network extensively during his diplomatic missions to France. French Masonic lodges — particularly the Lodge of the Nine Sisters in Paris — provided Franklin access to Enlightenment intellectuals including Voltaire. Franklin eventually served as Venerable Master of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters from 1779 to 1781.
Paul Revere served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts from 1794 to 1797, a position that placed him at the administrative center of American Masonry during a period of intense national consolidation. The grand lodge system that Revere helped shape remains the governance structure for Masonic lodges across all 50 states.
Common scenarios
The roster of documented Masonic members in American public life clusters into four recognizable patterns:
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Founding-era statesmen and military officers — Washington, Franklin, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and the Marquis de Lafayette (an honorary member of American lodges). Lodge membership in this cohort was often intertwined with Revolutionary organizing.
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19th-century presidents — Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt were all raised Master Masons. Jackson's membership at Harmony Lodge No. 1 in Nashville was a defining piece of his frontier-era political identity.
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Military commanders — Ulysses S. Grant was raised in Miners Lodge No. 273 in Galena, Illinois, in 1861. Douglas MacArthur was affiliated with Manila Lodge No. 1 in the Philippines. Both received the Scottish Rite degrees; Grant later served as Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Scottish Rite.
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20th-century figures from science, entertainment, and public service — John Glenn was a Mason, as was Buzz Aldrin (Montclair Lodge No. 144, New Jersey), who carried a Masonic flag to the lunar surface during Apollo 11 in 1969. Irving Berlin, Clark Gable, W.C. Fields, and Thurgood Marshall (Prince Hall Mason) all held Masonic membership.
Thurgood Marshall's membership is worth singling out. Prince Hall Freemasonry — established when African American Masons were denied admission to predominantly white lodges — represents a parallel institutional history that runs through the full scope of American Masonic practice. Marshall's lodge, like all Prince Hall affiliated lodges, traces its charter to the African Lodge No. 459, warranted by the Grand Lodge of England in 1784.
Decision boundaries
Not every man associated with Masonic mythology was actually a Mason. Thomas Jefferson was not a Freemason — no lodge record documents his initiation, and historians at Monticello have repeatedly confirmed the absence of evidence. Abraham Lincoln was never initiated, though he applied for membership at Tyrian Lodge in Springfield, Illinois, and withdrew the petition, reportedly concerned that joining during an election year would appear politically calculated.
The distinction between documented members and probable or rumored members matters because the connection between Freemasonry and the Founding Fathers has accumulated considerable mythological weight. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 9 are documented Masons — not the majority that popular accounts sometimes imply. Of the 39 signers of the Constitution, 13 held Masonic membership according to lodge records and grand lodge research compiled by the Masonic Service Association of North America.
The homepage of this reference provides the broader institutional context for how Freemasonry operates as a fraternal body distinct from its famous membership rolls. Famous members illuminate the fraternity's reach; they don't define its purpose.