Theodore Roosevelt And His Bear

by Midnight Freemasons Contributor

Todd E. Creason

In 1902, President Teddy Roosevelt was invited by the Governor of Mississippi, Andrew Longino, on a bear hunting trip.  Roosevelt was known as a keen hunter, and quite a competition broke out amongst the hunters in the party. But while many of the competing hunters had already managed to kill a bear, Roosevelt hadn't.  There was obvious concern about how that might appear--the new President and great hunter coming home empty handed.

Roosevelt's guide and several of his attendants were able to track down a bear, and tied the exhausted animal to a tree.  They brought the President to the site where they had the bear tied up, expecting him to shoot the bear and therefore save his reputation.  But Roosevelt refused to shoot the badly beaten and exhausted animal.  He said simply is was unsportmanlike, and he wouldn't do it.

Radar and his Teddy Bear

The story soon got out, and cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew a famous cartoon of Roosevelt and his bear that became very popular.  In many Berryman cartoons to follow, the little bear (drawn to look smaller and cuter) was always present somewhere in the cartoon.

The public, however, didn't see Roosevelt's actions that day in Mississippi as a sign of weakness at all--but a sign of strength and character.  It actually bolstered his reputation as a moral man, and a decision maker.

Not long after the incident, and the popularity of the cartoons, a man named Morris Michtom got the idea for a new toy--a stuffed "Teddy Bear."  It soon became hugely popular, and has remained so to this day.  And while not fond of being called "Teddy," Roosevelt himself seemed to enjoy having the popular bears named after him.  He gave away many of them during his campaign as he ran for another term as President.

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and continues to be a regular contributor.  He is the author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series.  He is member of Homer Lodge No. 199, and a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL).  He is a member the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, the York Rite Bodies of Champaign/Urbana (IL), the Ansar Shrine (IL), Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, and Charter President of the Illini High Twelve in Champaign-Urbana (IL).

Teddy Roosevelt "Get on the Horse!"

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

R.W.B Michael H. Shirley

I’m not much of a shopper, but I’m married to one. My wife and I can go into a store selling nearly anything and I’ll be done looking and ready to go before she’s made it past the first display. But we both love antique malls, and there our styles complement each other: she’ll look at every item, while I’ll do five laps to see if something catches my eye. Sometimes she’ll see something I’ve missed and show it to me as I run past, and sometimes I’ll find something I think she’ll like and go get her to accelerate her shopping experience. It works for us, we have fun, and occasionally we find something we have to have.

Recently, we found ourselves in a consignment and antique shop, and as I was preparing for my customary laps, she pointed at a framed photograph of Theodore Roosevelt and said, “What do you think of this?” It looked like a page cut from a magazine, behind rough glass in a homemade wooden frame, showing a grinning Roosevelt on horseback, looking too alive and vital to just be a record of a moment in 1906. I bought it, took it home, and hung it in my library. 

Theodore Roosevelt has never been a particular hero of mine, although he’s fascinating to even the most casual observer. I’ve never been particularly taken with his career, although I’m grateful for his championing of national parks. Even among Masonic presidents, he’s not at the top in my personal pantheon (Harry Truman stands there alone). But in that picture he embodies a Masonic quality better than any other public figure of whom I’m aware: doing things with great joy. From his sickly childhood to his early death, Theodore Roosevelt believed in doing things. Whether it was hunting big game, exploring the Amazon, reforming the New York police, organizing a volunteer company to fight in Cuba, using the presidency as a bully pulpit, or just getting on horseback for a vigorous ride, he was never still. He lived each day as if there weren’t enough hours to do all that needed to be done. “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind,” he wrote, “but great actions speak to all mankind.” He was a truly joyful man of action, and his life spoke loudly to anyone who paid attention. As it still does.

So now that picture hangs on my wall, where Brother Roosevelt, still seemingly alive over a century later, reminds every day me that I have things to do, that the opportunity to do them is to be seized, and that I should do it all joyfully. Roosevelt loved all forms of exercise, but it was on horseback that he seemed most fully alive. It might be a metaphor for his remarkable life, and it reminds me daily of his example. That picture tells me to get on the horse, take the reins in my hands, and ride. 



R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley is the Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master for the Eastern Area for the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. & A.M.  He is the Past Master of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and Leadership Development Chairman for the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He's also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He's also a member of the newly-chartered, Illini High Twelve No. 768 in Urbana-Champaign. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.

Could A Freemason Be President Today?

by Midnight Freemasons contributor

SK Robert Johnson

 President Teddy Roosevelt--WAS a Freemason

In the chaos that ensues in Washington and all around the world around election time, there are feelings and ideas being challenged, debated and argued. Freemasonry holds the idea that no two things separate men like religion and politics and thus, those topics are generally forbid in lodge. This post does not seek to win the favor of the reader in a political party nor sway any opinion of the sort, but rather examine the idea that if a known Freemason ran for the presidency of the United States of America, would he win?

President Lincoln--NOT a Freemason

The answer, I fear is no. Why not? My first thought was that a Freemason could not secure the backing of any one religion, simply because Freemasons are open to all faiths and thus there is that taboo of being a part of an organization which has many faiths under one roof. I believe this would be a cause of lost votes. For instance, and I am in no means purposely picking on them, but if the Catholic Church did not back the candidate because he was a Freemason, then logically the followers of Catholicism may not vote for that candidate in the same respect. I am equally as sure that the number of folks that think we're out to rule the world, would make up at least a small percentage of lost votes as well.



I believe if a Freemason stood in front of the United States of America and said what he believes in, good and true Masonic ideas, he could win. But alas, that is assuming of course that the people vote for ideals and not for popularity. Being a Freemason is in itself unpopular with much of today's culture. The young know little about us, except for our vague and mysterious mentions in comic books, television shows or movies. The elderly certainly know of it, but are passing away. The average person just doesn't care. They seem so wrapped up in the day to day droll that they fail to realize they are playing a game that doesn't matter (wrapped up in the pursuit of the material).



President Truman-WAS a Freemason
PGM in Missouri

 How did former Freemasons become presidents? Well to make a long answer short, people cared about the right thing to do. And at those times, a Freemason was in the pool of eligible candidates. It just so happens that Freemasons are always in the business of doing the right things, the honorable things, and the hardest things. And in those days that's what Americans wanted. Today is a different day, it is a race to collect the most money, and if they get enough, they can stand on the soap box and spout their mighty plans and ideas. If those ideas resonate with the populous, then they gain ground on their opponent, forcing the other opponent to gain ground by dishonoring the other in television commercials and social media campaigns. The people are only concerned with themselves instead of their once mighty and world respected country.

President Obama--NOT a Freemason

One day, I hope to wake up in America, open my front door and look out onto my glistening green grass, hear my wooden sailboat wind chime and take a good clean breath, bend over and pick up my newspaper and see the face of a Freemason as the president. The headlines would read, “The housing market matches the wage of the average American worker”, “Unemployment to a record low”, “We landed on the moon again!”, “US Steel in high demand”, “Tech giant to open US Manufacturing plant”.

But until then, I'll open my front door, look out at my dehydrated lawn and then over at my neighbor Gary's nuclear Green chemlawn, take a hit of my inhaler shake my head at the number of bank owned property signs across the street, close the door, sit on the couch and eat my bologna sandwich while I read the news on my $900.00 Chinese made iPad. 

~RJ

RWB, Robert Johnson is the Managing Editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. He currently serves as the Secretary of Waukegan Lodge No. 78 where he is a Past Master. He also serves as the District Deputy for the 1st N.E. District of Illinois. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts weekly Podcasts (internet radio programs) Whence Came You? & Masonic Radio Theatre which focus on topics relating to Freemasonry. He is also a co-host of The Masonic Roundtable, a Masonic talk show. He is a husband and father of four, works full time in the executive medical industry and is also an avid home brewer. He is currently working on a book of Masonic essays and one on Occult Anatomy to be released soon.

Freemason Wisdom: Theodore Roosevelt

Bro. Teddy Roosevelt

"I am a part of everything 
that I have read."

~Theodore Roosevelt
Matinecock Lodge No. 806, New York

For the next year, we're going to be buffeted from all sides by what will most likely be one of the ugliest Presidential campaigns in American history--well over a billion dollars will be spent trying to gain your vote. It doesn't matter what side of the political fence you sit on, candidates are going to try to tell you how you should feel about every issue under the sun.  They will tell your their side of the story, and cleverly leave out the other side of the issue.  They don't want you to form your own opinion, they want you to blindly support their position.

Too many times we shelter ourselves from the world by foolishly believing there is a right and a wrong side of just about every issue--and too many of us stubbornly refuse to listen to any idea that falls outside our ideological belief system, beliefs we've often formed without educating ourselves fully on the subject.  We say things like "I don't subscribe  to that way of thinking."  Or, "I don't read newspapers like that."  Some of our greatest leaders, like Teddy Roosevelt, were voracious readers.  They didn't limit themselves to reading just books, newspapers, and articles that agreed with their particular belief system--they sought to understand other points of view and beliefs as well.  They sought solutions to difficult problems by understanding the whole issue well enough to know what those things were that both sides could come to agreement on.

Those days seem to be gone--America has never been more divided.  We can't even seem to agree on the things we've traditionally agreed upon anymore.  The reason for this divide is that we're allowing other people to think for us.  

Take a little time, and examine those things you strongly believe in.  Where did you get those ideas?  Are you sure those beliefs are founded in your personal beliefs, or were they formed by listening to somebody else's agenda.  You can't be a well-rounded individual, by only understanding one side to every issue. It doesn't mean you have to change the way you feel about an issue--it just means you've taken it upon yourself to educate yourself fully in an issue before adopting a position.  We allow others way too much responsibility in deciding how we should feel about things--we listen to our preachers, or our teachers, or our elected leaders, or the news media, or our political party instead of deciding how we feel about it.  

Perhaps Ayn Rand put it best, when she wrote, "The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap."

~TEC

Freemason Wisdom: Teddy Roosevelt On Living Life

Teddy Roosevelt

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."

~Theodore Roosevelt

Matinecock Lodge No. 806, Oyster Bay, NY

We all know that person--the one that lives their life safely along the sidelines, never afraid to tell those playing in the game what they did wrong and what they should do next, but completely unwilling to put themselves out there.  That person at the family picnic that never fails to point out your age looking down their nose at you while you're jumping on the trampoline with the kids.  It's that person that will give you twenty reasons why you shouldn't do something unconventional, and then when you're successful at it, they'll just say you were "lucky". 

Many of us life by the the credo "better safe than sorry."  But many of the men I've researched and written about over the years think very differently about that.  They believe it's better to be sorry than safe.  That no good thing ever comes without risk.  That it's better to try and fail than never succeed at anything.  They understand that life if very short, and it's better to get to the end of it with bumps and bruises, than get to the end of it with regrets. 

It's amazing what can be accomplished when you believe you can't fail. 

~TEC

Excerpted from A Freemason Said That?  Great Quotes from Famous Freemasons edited by Todd E. Creason. 

Joseph Stalin: Freemason Or Not?

All Freemasons???

I ran across this photo with the caption "Churchill, Roosevelt, & Stalin: Freemasons." It is well known and accepted that both Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt were Freemasons.  Churchill was a member of Studholme Lodge No. 1591, England and Roosevelt was a member of Holland Lodge No. 8, New York.  So the question is whether Joseph Stalin, the Premier of the Soviet Union who allied with the United States and Great Britain during World War II was also a member of the fraternity. 

Since the 1950s, Stalin has frequently been cited as a Freemason. However, there is no record that Stalin was a Mason. It would not have been possible for Stalin to join a regular lodge even if he had desired admission. As a condition for membership, Masons must profess a belief in a Supreme Being, and Joseph Stalin was an avowed athiest.  

~TEC

A Dark Day In History: Coffee Rationing Began In 1942

Many things were in high demand when America entered into WWII after Pearl Harbor, and to make sure there was enough, many items were rationed, including sugar, butter, gasoline, rubber, meat, etc.

But without a doubt--people weren't very happy when coffee became one of those items in high demand during the war.  The rationing of coffee began in November 1942, in order to make sure our G.I.s fighting in the war had enough.  Roosevelt even gave up his morning cup and switched to milk (or so the story goes.)  Coffee drinking Americans over the age of fifteen could get a pound of coffee every five weeks--that's barely a cup a day. 

There were a lot of tricks to stretch that out--they reused coffee grounds making a watery brew they called "Roosevelt's coffee."  They used less and percolated it longer.  They also mixed the coffee with chicory or a grain based coffee substitute called Postum to stretch the supply out further. 

However, it didn't last long.  Coffee was the first item to come off rationing--the coffee crisis was over by September 1944 although the government jacked the price up on coffee substantially to reduce the demand, and made it well known that if supplies ran short, coffee could very well be rationed again.  But that didn't prove to be necessary. 

I wonder which event during the Roosevelt years was more popular--the lifting of Prohibition in 1933, or ending the coffee rationing in 1944?

~TEC

Freemason Wisdom: Teddy Roosevelt

"The human body has two ends on it; one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants."

~Theodore Roosevelt

Matinecock Lodge No. 806

Oyster Bay, NY

Excerpted from A Freemason Said That: Great Quotes from Famous Freemasons by Todd E. Creason (2009)