Which U.S. presidents were confirmed Freemasons and what lodges did they belong to?
Executive summary
Fifteen U.S. presidents are commonly listed as Freemasons if you count Lyndon B. Johnson (initiated but not raised); most reputable masonic and journalistic lists put the number at 14 or 15 and note Gerald Ford as the last president with undisputed membership [1] [2]. Sources disagree on fringe cases (Thomas Jefferson, James Madison) and on later honorary or contested entries such as Ronald Reagan (honorary) and a 2025 Prince Hall declaration about Joe Biden that some sources frame as disputed [3] [4].
1. Which presidents appear on the mainstream lists — a concise roll call
Multiple masonic and mainstream outlets consistently name roughly 14 presidents as actual members, with a fifteenth (Lyndon B. Johnson) sometimes counted despite never completing the three degrees; lists typically begin with George Washington and run through Gerald Ford as the most recent undisputed Mason [1] [2] [5].
2. Why numbers differ: initiation versus completion, honorary status, and documentation
Discrepancies arise because some men were only initiated (LBJ), some were granted honorary or appendant-body honors (Ronald Reagan received honorary Scottish Rite/Shrine recognitions but is not generally treated as a lodge member), and some historical attributions lack documentary proof (Jefferson and Madison are frequently listed in error) — historians and museum-of-freemasonry accounts emphasize relying on documentary evidence rather than tradition [1] [4] [3].
3. Gerald Ford and the 'most recent undisputed' label
Freemasonry-focused reporting and reference pieces identify Gerald Ford as the latest U.S. president with clear, undisputed, lodge membership; broad reference articles repeat that no president since Ford has been an active Freemason [2] [3].
4. Notable contested or special cases — Reagan, LBJ, Jefferson, Madison, Biden
- Ronald Reagan: widely reported as not a Freemason in the sense of lodge membership; he accepted honorary Masonic awards and was connected to Masonic bodies but is not listed as a lodge brother in authoritative Masonic records [4].
- Lyndon B. Johnson: initiated in 1937 but never progressed beyond the Entered Apprentice degree; some compilers include him and some do not [1] [6].
- Thomas Jefferson and James Madison: frequently and wrongly alleged to have been Masons; the Museum of Freemasonry and other documentalists say there's no reliable documentary evidence to confirm their membership [1].
- Joe Biden: one source in your set (Wikipedia snapshot) reports a 2025 Prince Hall Grand Lodge of South Carolina declaration calling him a “Mason at Sight,” and flags the acceptance as disputed; other sources in the set do not corroborate or detail whether Biden formally accepted membership [3]. Available sources do not mention firm lodge records for Biden beyond that report [3].
5. Which lodges did presidents belong to — patterns, examples, and limits of available reporting
Detailed lodge affiliations are often listed in specialized Masonic sites and profiles (for example, Polk’s initiation at Columbia Lodge No. 31 in Tennessee, McKinley’s Eagle Lodge No. 431 in Canton, and Taft’s Kilwinning Lodge association), but coverage varies by president and by source; museum and grand-lodge write-ups provide the fullest on-record lodge names [1] [7] [6]. Comprehensive single-source lists of each president and exact lodge names are present in some Masonic blogs and organizational histories but are not uniformly reproduced across the general-interest articles in your set [7] [8].
6. How to read these lists: agendas, evidence, and journalistic caution
Masonic organizations, popular histories, and click-driven lists have different incentives: masonic sites may emphasize fraternal lineage; mainstream outlets may simplify for readers; conspiracy-minded pages may overstate connections. The Museum of Freemasonry and reputable histories privilege documentary proof and thus exclude uncertain claims [1] [5]. Treat any single online list cautiously and look for primary lodge records or grand-lodge proceedings when possible [1] [7].
7. Practical takeaway and next steps for verification
If you need a definitive name-by-name, lodge-by-lodge roster: consult grand-lodge records or the Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania and cross-check with the Museum of Freemasonry’s documentary approach; general lists in journalism and freemasonry blogs agree on roughly 14 confirmed members and one borderline case [1] [5] [7]. For disputed modern cases (Reagan, Biden), reliance on primary lodge statements or official grand-lodge minutes is required; available sources in this packet either deny Reagan’s lodge membership or describe it as honorary [4] [3].
Limitations: this analysis relies only on the sources you provided; some claims (such as exact lodges for every listed president or confirmation of Biden’s acceptance) are either variably reported or absent from these sources and thus flagged here as contested or "not found in current reporting" where applicable [3] [1].