In the chilling depths of the Cold War, a clandestine fraternity rose to influence: “Stimson’s Kindergarten”. The mighty force behind it? Henry Stimson, a man who cast an ominous shadow over America’s political landscape, extending his influence far and wide to current members and like-minded allies of the Order, including President George Bush.
It was the World War II era that served as Stimson’s battleground for grooming his successor generation of young WASP warriors. Warriors that would become the kingpins of American policymaking throughout the Cold War era and beyond.
Stimson’s influence was more sinister than just his towering lifetime of achievements, it was embedded in the indoctrination of the Skull & Bones philosophy. This philosophy was a potent concoction of wielding power, alliances, and patronage that enabled the Order to extend its influence beyond its tiny, select membership.
One might ask, who were these potent individuals of the “Stimson Kindergarten”?
John J. McCloy, Robert Lovett, Harvey Bundy, Dean Acheson, and Gen. George C. Marshall were among the leading members. Not all Skull & Bones members or Yale graduates, but all injected with the lethal philosophy of the Order, and all ready to shape the course of American history.
This notorious group, christened as the “Stimson-Marshall-Acheson Circle“, were the puppet masters behind America’s Cold War containment policy against the Soviet Union and Communist China. They orchestrated America’s involvement in the Korean War, directed the postwar reconstruction programs in Germany and Japan, and even, for good measure, decided the fate of military figures like Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
In the heart of this conspiratorial quagmire stands Averell Harriman, a Skull & Bones member, responsible for convincing President Truman to dismiss MacArthur. Despite the Order’s historical domination by moderate Republicans, Harriman, a liberal imperial Democrat, stood as one of its most active figures. It’s a testament to the pervasive influence of the Order, able to make strange bedfellows of Harriman and fellow Bonesman, Republican Sen. Prescott Bush Sr.
Stimson’s death in 1950 didn’t halt the Order’s machinations.
Instead, he left behind a formidable cadre of political offspring guided by members of his secret society, Skull & Bones. It was through the shaping of postwar government agencies that the Order was able to extend its tentacles of power and influence, creating an unbroken chain of control.
The National Security Act of 1947 was a masterstroke that transformed Stimson’s War Department into the Department of Defense. It also led to the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA), institutions that would become breeding grounds for members of the Order.
The CIA would emerge as a hub for Skull & Bones initiates, who fondly referred to themselves as “spooks,” originally a Yale term for a secret society member. It’s rumored that within the secretive corridors of the CIA, there exists a “Bones club“, promoting the intelligence careers of members of the Yale secret society.
Stimson’s legacy even infiltrated the CIA through Yale graduates who joined the OSS during World War II. Yale Skull & Bonesman and Stimson “Kindergartener” William Bundy assumed a senior post at CIA during the 1950s, and Yale graduates Richard Bissell, Cord Meyer, and Yale professor Sherman Kent followed suit.
Beware, bureaucratic standing isn’t a real measure of power within the CIA. Often, individuals in relatively insignificant positions wield tremendous clout. Look no further than U.S. Ambassador to Beijing, James Lilley, a member of Skull & Bones and a career CIA man, being suggested to replace William Webster as Director of Central Intelligence.
In this covert game of chess, it isn’t about the pieces you have but the moves you make.
Stimson and his “kindergarten” played the board masterfully.
In the world of secret societies and Cold War politics, it’s not just about winning the game; it’s about rewriting the rules.
From these shadowy corridors of power, the Order continues to wield its influence, imprinting the world with the indelible mark of Stimson’s Kindergarten.
