Karma

 

Karl Braun, born in 1850 in Fulda, Germany was Educated at the University of Berlin, graduating with a PhD in physics. In 1897, he built the first cathode-ray tube (more commonly known as a CRT), which became the seminal tool for developing television and computer terminals. He also discovered and patented a method of transmitting a directional signal that eventually led to the development of radar and other innovations in radio and television technology. In 1909, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Marconi for that work. He was revered in his native country as a true pioneer in electronics.

In 1959, when his hometown of Fulda opened a new school building, they named it the Karl Ferdinand Braun High School. However, prior to its opening, some local citizens discovered Braun was a Freemason. With that, they demanded a different name for the school. Wanting to avoid a dispute, city fathers abandoned the plan to name the school after their native son, and began a search for a new honoree.

After a lengthy search, a committee recommended Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom Stein, a 19^th century Prussian statesman. Von Stein developed an early distaste for the pettiness of diplomacy and went to England to research commerce and mining. In 1795 he was appointed president of the Westphalian chambers, which dealt with commercial mining in Prussia. In 1804, He was appointed Trade Minister, where he introduced reforms that streamlined the nation's trade. His reforms were not universally popular however. He pushed hard for additional reforms in letters to Prussian King Frederick William III, who became irritated and eventually dismissed Stein as "an insolent, obstinate and disobedient official."

While the King was busy being distracted by his irritabilities, Napoleon overran the country. When Napoleon suggested Stein for the office of Foreign Minister, William, still the king, had no choice but to appoint him.

With the king functioning as a figurehead, this gave Stein immense power. He began implementing reforms and issued an Edict of Emancipation which abolished serfdom throughout the country.

When Stein, however, called for a national uprising in Germany, Napoleon turned against him and forced Stein into exile. There, he eventually aligned with Russia. When The Russians defeated Napoleon, Stein was able to return to Prussia as administrator of the liberated territory, where he continued to press for reform until his death in 1831, at the age of 73.

With a resume like that it was an easy decision to honor Stein by naming the school after him and kick the dreaded Freemason Karl Braun to the curb. Today, the Stein School in Fulda has grown into a large campus consisting of a high school, middle school and gymnasium for the entire community – the same one that rejected Braun because of his Masonic ties. Well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

There is, however, an epilogue to this account.

Upon further research, we find that Braun, although a brilliant and productive scientist, was never a Freemason.

What's more, a little digging has turned up the fact that Stein was, in fact, a Freemason. That's right. Brother Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom Stein was a member of "Joseph of the Three Helmets" Lodge at Wetzlar, Germany.

Karma: I'm not really sure how you define it, but I know it when I see it.

Gerald Ford — A Profile In Courage

 Author's note: This is in no way meant to be a political post. It is an account of events that occurred nearly a half century ago with no intent to imply any relationship to events of today.

The 1956 Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage, is a series of biographies of eight United States senators who endured criticism and personal loss after unpopular acts they each thought were the right thing to do. Among those accounts are courageous votes of Masonic Brothers Thomas Hart Benton and Sam Houston, both of whom opposed extending slavery into the US territories, and subsequently lost elections because of their actions.

Such politicians taking action against the majority views of their constituents in spite of the consequences are a rare breed. Another of our Masonic Brothers, Gerald Ford, falls into that category.

Living in an intensely divided nation today, it is hard to imagine a time when the mood of the country, short of the Civil War era, may have been more politically separated or rancorous, but the Vietnam/Watergate era of the early to mid 1970s clearly qualifies for that.

In 1968, Richard Nixon, after losing a close presidential race to John Kennedy in 1960, made the political comeback of the century. He won the presidency with a promise to end the unpopular Vietnam War. Instead, he expanded the war, even taking it into countries neighboring Vietnam. With those actions, war protests, which had been going on for years, hit a new level of intensity.

At the same time, Nixon's acerbic Vice President, Spiro T. Agnew, who himself had been intensifying the divisions in the country, came under fire for corrupt practices while Governor of Maryland. After a two-year acrimonious battle, Agnew pleaded nolo contendere to felony tax evasion, was fined, and placed on probation. With that, Agnew resigned the vice presidency and President Nixon selected long-time Republican congressman Gerald Ford to succeed him.

With all that going on, the 1972 presidential elections saw Nixon's re-election. Subsequently, his involvement in and cover-up of the 1972 break-in at Democratic headquarters gradually came to light, in what has now become known as the Watergate Affair.

So with the Vietnam War in full swing, war protests raging, the vice-president battling accusations of corruption, and Watergate grinding on, the US went through a three-year period of political meltdown. Nixon's involvement in Watergate, his lies and attempts to cover up his actions finally brought him down. Leaders of his own party convinced him there were sufficient votes in both Houses of Congress to impeach and convict, leading him to resign the presidency before that happened. Brother Ford took office on August 9, 1974.

Ford took charge in the midst of all the political turmoil, wanting to put it in the past. Some of his first words to the country were, "Our national nightmare is over." But it wasn't. The country would now have to turn its attention to a laundry list of charges being brought against former President Nixon. The aftermath of his actions could have lasted for months, possibly years, through indictments, trials, endless rehashing of events, and a plethora of incessant and merciless windbags debating it all.

Ford saw it as his responsibility to end the turmoil and get the nation back to some semblance of normalcy. With that, he granted Richard Nixon a "full, free, and absolute pardon." Political opponents and even members of Ford's Republican party leveled a firestorm of criticism at the new president. They accused him, among other things, of making a deal with Nixon that would lead to Ford becoming president. That was not the case. The only deal Ford made was that Nixon had to admit guilt. Nixon accepted the pardon and withdrew to his home in San Clemente, removing himself from further involvement in the political arena.

Historians agree Brother Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon was one of the main reasons contributing to the fact he lost the 1976 presidential election to Jimmy Carter. Ford simply said he knew the aftermath of Nixon's actions could go on and on, and he knew he was the only one who could end it.

John Kennedy, along with Ted Sorenson, wrote Profiles in Courage. Had they written it today, they might have included more than senators, and they may well have included Gerald Ford.

In fact, in a sense, he was included. In 1989, the Kennedy family established the "Profiles In Courage Award" in order to recognize the kind of political courage emphasized in the book. Then, in 2001, they named Ford the recipient of the honor, "for his courage in making a controversial decision of conscience to pardon former President Richard M. Nixon."

Brother Gerald Ford, 33°, was a member of Malta Lodge No. 465, Grand Rapids Michigan.