Great Freemasons: Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973)

Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.
Eddie Rickenbacker

Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was America's most successful fighter ace in the war. He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the longtime head of Eastern Air Lines.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker


(Kilwinning Lodge 297, Detroit)

Great Freemasons: Henry A. Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965)

The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.
Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965), from Democracy Reborn (New York, 1944), edited by Russell Lord


Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States (1941–1945), the Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), and the Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946). In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Wallace
(Capital Lodge 110, Des Moines, Iowa)

Great Freemasons: A.E. Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942)

BEHIND the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvellous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practised at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed.
A.E. Waite

Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer R. A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._Waite

(Marylebone Lodge 1305, London)

Great Freemasons: Gene Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998

I`m not a good actor, a good rider or a particularly good singer, but they seem to like what I do, so I`ll keep on doing it as long as they want.
Gene Autry


Orvon Grover Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was also owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Autry

(Catoosa Lodge No. 185, OK)

Great Freemasons: George W. Peck

Gents—If you have made up your minds that the world will
cease to move unless these "Bad Boy" articles are given to
the public in book form, why go ahead, and peace to your
ashes. The "Bad Boy" is not a "myth," though there may be
some stretches of imagination in the articles. The
counterpart of this boy is located in every city, village
and country hamlet throughout the land. He is wide awake,
full of vinegar, and is ready to crawl under the canvas of a
circus or repeat a hundred verses of the New Testament in
Sunday School. He knows where every melon patch in the
neighborhood is located, and at what hours the dog is
chained up. He will tie an oyster can to a dog's tail to
give the dog exercise, or will fight at the drop of the hat
to protect the smaller boy or a school girl. He gets in his
work everywhere there is a fair prospect of fun, and his
heart is easily touched by an appeal in the right way,
though his coat-tail is oftener touched with a boot than his
heart is by kindness. But he shuffles through life until the
time comes for him to make a mark in the world, and then he
buckles on the harness and goes to the front, and becomes
successful, and then those who said he would bring up in
State Prison, remember that he always was a mighty smart
lad, and they never tire of telling of some of his deviltry
when he was a boy, though they thought he was pretty tough
at the time. This book is respectfully dedicated to boys, to
the men who have been boys themselves, to the girls who like
the boys, and to the mothers, bless them, who like both the
boys and the girls,

Very respectfully,
GEO. W. PECK

George Wilbur Peck (September 28, 1840– April 16, 1916) was an American writer and politician who served as the 17th Governor of Wisconsin.

Peck was born in 1840 in Henderson, New York, the oldest of three children of David B. and Alzina P. (Joslin) Peck. In 1843, the family moved to Cold Spring, Wisconsin. Peck attended public school until age 15, when he was apprenticed in the printing trade. He married Francena Rowley in 1860 and they had two sons.

Peck became a newspaper publisher who founded newspapers in Ripon and La Crosse, Wisconsin. His La Crosse newspaper, The Sun, was founded in 1874. In 1878 Peck moved the newspaper to Milwaukee, renaming it Peck's Sun. The weekly newspaper contained Peck's humorous writings, including his famous "Peck's Bad Boy" stories.

In the spring of 1890 Peck ran for mayor of Milwaukee. A Democrat, Peck was elected despite a Republican majority in the city. The state's Democratic leaders took notice and made Peck the party's nominee for the 1890 gubernatorial race. Peck won the election, beating the incumbent William Hoard, and resigned as Milwaukee's mayor on November 11, 1890. He was reelected as governor in 1892, defeating Republican John C. Spooner, but lost a third term to William Upham in 1894. He ran again in 1904 but lost to the incumbent Robert M. La Follette, Sr.

Peck died in 1916 at age 75 of Bright's disease and was buried at Forest Home Cemetery. After his death, his "Peck's Bad Boy" writings became the basis for several films and a short-lived television show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wilbur_Peck

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25487/25487-h/25487-h.htm

(Wisconsin Lodge No. 13, Wauwatosa, WI)

Great Freemasons: Sam Ervin (September 27, 1896 – April 23, 1985)

When people fear surveillance, whether it exists or not, they grow afraid to speak their minds and hearts freely to their government or to anyone else.
Sam Ervin

Samuel James "Samy" Ervin, Jr. (September 27, 1896 – April 23, 1985) was an American politician. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A native of Morganton, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer", and often told humorous stories in his Southern drawl. During his Senate career, Ervin was a legal defender of the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation, as the South's constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights. Unexpectedly, he became a liberal hero for his support of civil liberties. He is remembered for his work in the investigation committees that brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954 and especially his investigation in 1972 and 1973 of the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation in 1974 of President Richard Nixon.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ervin


(Catawba Valley Lodge 217, Morganton, NC)

Great Freemasons: James Cash Penney, Jr. (September 16, 1875 – February 12, 1971)

No serious-minded man should have time for the mediocre in any phase of his living.
James Cash Penney

James Cash Penney, Jr. (September 16, 1875 – February 12, 1971) was an American businessman and entrepreneur who, in 1902, founded the J. C. Penney stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cash_Penney

(Initiated into Wasatch Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, on April 18, 1911. A member of both the Scottish and York Rites, Penney was coroneted a 33rd Degree on October 16, 1945, and received the Gold Distinguished Service Award by the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in Kansas City, Missouri in 1958.)

Beaumont and Fletcher

He never is alone that is accompanied with noble thoughts.
Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure (1647).

(Art by Alex Ross)

Great Freemasons: William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930)

Next to the right of liberty, the right of property is the most important individual right guaranteed by the Constitution and the one which, united with that of personal liberty, has contributed more to the growth of civilization than any other institution established by the human race.
William Howard Taft, Popular Government: Its Essence, Its Permanence and Its Perils, chapter 3 (1913)



William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft


( Kilwinning Lodge 365, Ohio)

Pope John Paul II

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth- in a word, to know himself- so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
John Paul II, Fides Et Ratio: On the Relationship Between Faith and Reason: Encyclical Letter of John Paul II

Great Freemasons: John J. Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948)

“No commander was ever privileged to lead a finer force; no commander ever derived greater inspiration from the performance of his troops.”
― John J. Pershing

John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. Pershing is the only person to be promoted in his own life time to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies (a retroactive Congressional edict passed in 1976 promoted George Washington to the same rank but with higher seniority). Pershing holds the first United States officer service number (O-1). He was regarded as a mentor by the generation of American generals who led the United States Army in Europe during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing


(Lincoln Lodge 19, NE)

Black Elk on Peace

The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes from within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.
Black Elk in The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (1953).

(Art by Freddie E. Williams.)

Great Freemasons: Arnold Palmer (born September 10, 1929)

The road to success is always under construction.
Arnold Palmer

Arnold Daniel Palmer (born September 10, 1929) is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Palmer


http://www.arnoldpalmer.com/
(Loyalhanna Lodge 275, Latrobe, Pennsylvania)

Great Freemasons: George Henry Dern (September 8, 1872 – August 27, 1936)

Football is too all-absorbing. During the season we had no time to think of anything else but the winning of the pennant. … I am heartily in favor of college football, if not carried to such an extreme.
George Henry Dern (September 8, 1872 – August 27, 1936)


George Henry Dern was an American politician, mining man, and businessman. He is probably best remembered for co-inventing the Holt–Dern ore roasting process, as well as for his tenure as United States Secretary of War from 1933 to his death in 1936. He also served as the sixth Governor of Utah for eight years, from 1925 to 1933. Dern was a progressive politician who fought for tax reform, public education, and social welfare. He was an exceptional public speaker, able to captivate and entertain his audience, whether they were Progressives, Democrats, or Republicans.

He was also the grandfather of actor Bruce Dern and great grandfather of actress Laura Dern.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dern

(Interestingly, even if he had a reputation as a speaker, I could find no quotes by him other than the one shared about football)

(Here is his impressive Masonic record: He was initiated in Wasatch Lodge No. 1 F. & A. M., of this city, April 16, 1897; passed April 23rd and raised May 7, 1897. He was Master of that Lodge in 1902.

In Grand Lodge he served as Grand Lecturer for the years 1910 and 1911; was elected Senior Grand Warden January 18, 1911; Deputy Grand Master January 17, 1912; and Grand Master January 22, 1913. He was a member of the Board of Custodians in Grand Lodge 1916 to 1919, and 1924 to 1934; of the Committee on Grievance and Appeals, 1920 to 1923, and of the Committee on Jurisprudence 1925 to August 27, 1936.

In York Rite he received the Chapter Degrees in Utah Chapter No. 1, R. A. M., February 2, 1898, and was Knighted in Utah Commandery No. 1 Knights Templar, March 22, 1898.

In the A. & A. S. Rite he received the degrees from the 4th to the 32nd inclusive, in Utah Consistory in November, 1904; served as presiding officer in the Lodge of Perfection; Council of Kadosh and Utah Consistory. October 16, 1923, he was advanced to the rank and decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honor and on October 21, 1927, he was invested with the Thirty-third Degree and proclaimed an Inspector General Honorary and an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction.

He was created a Noble of the Mystic Shrine in El Kalah Temple, Salt Lake City, March 28, 1898, and served that organization as Illustrious Potentate for the year 1929.)
http://www.utahgrandlodge.org/pgm/pgm-george-henry-dern.html

Taylor Caldwell (September 7, 1900 – August 30, 1985)

A wise man distrusts his neighbor. A wiser man distrusts both his neighbor and himself. The wisest man of all distrusts his government.
Janet Miriam Holland Taylor Caldwell

Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950)

I have often been asked how I came to write. The best answer is that I needed the money. When I started I was 35 and had failed in every enterprise I had ever attempted.
Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950)

(Portrait by Reed Crandall)

Ayn Rand (February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982)

All the reasons which made the initiation of physical force evil, make the retaliatory use of physical force a moral imperative.
Ayn Rand

(Art: Batman and The Question by Gabriel Hardman)

Dag Hammarskjöld (29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961)

Our work for peace must begin within the private world of each one of us. To build for man a world without fear, we must be without fear. To build a world of justice, we must be just. And how can we fight for liberty if we are not free in our own minds? How can we ask others to sacrifice if we are not ready to do so?... Only in true surrender to the interest of all can we reach that strength and independence, that unity of purpose, that equity of judgment which are necessary if we are to measure up to our duty to the future, as men of a generation to whom the chance was given to build in time a world of peace.
Dag Hammarskjöld, in UN Press Release SG/360 (22 December 1953).

(Art by Alé Garza)

F.A. Hayek

Great Freemasons: Harry Houdini

I knew, as everyone knows, that the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place some one is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death.
Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz in Budapest, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was an American stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini

(Initiated in St. Cecile Lodge, N.Y., July 17, 1923, he was Passed and Raised July 31 and August 21, and in 1924 he entered the Consistory. Immensely proud of his Masonic affiliation, he gave a benefit performance for the Valley of New York, filling the 4,000 seat Scottish Rite Cathedral and raising thousands of dollars for needy Masons. In October 1926, just weeks prior to his untimely death, he became a Shriner in New York's Mecca Temple.)