Bohemian Grove

Bohemian Grove is an 2,700-acre (11 km²) campground located at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, belonging to a private San Francisco-based men's art club known as the Bohemian Club. In mid-July each year, Bohemian Grove hosts a three-week encampment of some of the most powerful men in the world.

File:Reagon-nixon.jpg

Ronald Reagan, Glenn T. Seaborg and Richard Nixon at the Bohemian Grove

Introduction

The Bohemian Club's all male membership includes many artists, particularly musicians, as well as many prominent business leaders, government officials (including some U.S. presidents), and senior media executives. As a measure of the club's exclusivity, it is reported the waiting list for membership is from 15 to 20 years, though a fast track, three-year membership process is possible, but two current members must sponsor the prospective member. An initiation fee of $25,000 as of 2006 is required in addition to yearly membership dues. Elected members are allowed to prorate the initiation fee into equal annual payments until they reach the age of 45.

After 40 years of membership the men earn "Old Guard" status, giving them reserved seating at the Grove's daily talks, as well as other perquisites. Members may also invite guests to the Grove although those guests are subject to a rigorous screening procedure. Guests come from across America and overseas. Californian guests are generally limited to attendance at the "Spring Jinxes", in June, preceding the main July encampment.

The Grove motto is "Weaving Spiders Come Not Here", which implies that outside concerns and business deals are to be left outside. However, there is demonstrable evidence of political and business deals having been developed at the Grove. The Grove is particularly famous for a Manhattan Project planning meeting that took place there in September 1942, which subsequently led to the atomic bomb. Those attending this meeting, apart from Ernest Lawrence and military officials, included the president of Harvard and representatives of Standard Oil and General Electric. Grove members take particular pride in this event and often relate the story to new attendees.

History

Bohemian Grove was established over time, shortly after the founding of the Bohemian Club in 1872. For several years, the members of the Club camped together at various locations, including the present Muir Woods, Samuel P. Taylor State Park, and a separate redwood grove near Duncans Mills, down the Russian River from the current location. Regular July encampments similar to those held today began in 1899.

The first parcel of the grove was purchased from Melvin Cyrus Meeker who developed a successful logging operation in the area. Gradually over the next decades, members of the Club purchased land surrounding the original location to the perimeter of the basin in which it resides. This was done to secure the rights to the water, so that its water supply would not be affected by uphill operations.

Not long after the Club's establishment by newspaper journalists, it was commandeered by prominent San Francisco-based businessmen, who provided the financial resources necessary to acquire further land and facilities at the Grove. They still retained the "bohemians" however — the artists and musicians — who continued to entertain international members and guests.

The Grove itself consists of redwood trees over 1,500 years old. It is a spectacular nature preserve, untouched by logging, and containing many elevated walkways. This traditional "purity" underpins the "Cremation of Care" ceremony (see below).

Past attendees

See also

The Bohemian Club is a private club; only active members of the Club (known as "Bohos") and their guests may visit the Grove. These guests have been known to include politicians and notable figures from countries outside the US. Particularly during the midsummer encampment, the number of guests is strictly limited due to the small size of the facilities and membership in the Bohemian Club does not necessarily confer the right to attend the annual encampment. Nevertheless, up to 2,900 members and guests have been reported as attending some of the annual encampments.

Members and guests of the most prestigious camp, Mandalay include: Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Stephen Bechtel, Jr., Thomas J. Watson, Jr. (IBM), Phillip Hawley (Bank of America), William Casey (CIA). and Ralph Bailey (DuPont). A less prestigious camp (Hillbillies)includes A. W. Clausen (World Bank), Walter Cronkite, and William F. Buckley.

Facilities

The primary activities taking place at the Grove are varied and expensive entertainment, such as an elaborate Grove Play (known as "High Jinx") and musical comedies ("Low Jinx") — where female roles are played by men in drag — produced by the members and associate members of the Club. Thus, the majority of common facilities are entertainment venues, interspersed among the giant redwoods.

There are also sleeping quarters, or "camps" scattered throughout the grove, of which it is reported there were a total of 118 as of 2007. These camps, which are frequently patrilineal, are the principal means through which high-level business and political contacts and friendships are formed. For senior corporate executives, the camps are said to be the pinnacle of socio-political networking in the US.

According to Joel van der Reijden (see External Links below for a full list of camps and substantive details on the past affiliations of the camps' members), the pre-eminent camps are:

• Hill Billies (Big Business/Banking/Politics/Universities/Media);
• Mandalay (Big Business/Defense Contractors/Politics/U.S. Presidents);
• Cave Man (Think Tanks/Oil Companies/Banking/Defense Contractors/Universities/Media);
• Stowaway (Rockefeller Family Members/Oil Companies/Banking/Think Tanks);
• Uplifters (Corporate Executives/Big Business);
• Owls Nest (U.S. Presidents/Military/Defense Contractors);
• Hideaway (Foundations/Military/Defense Contractors);
• Isle of Aves (Military/Defense Contractors);
• Lost Angels (Banking/Defense Contractors/Media);
• Silverado squatters (Big Business/Defense Contractors);
• Sempervirens (Californian-based Corporations);
• Hillside (Military — Joint Chiefs of Staff)

• Grove Stage — it is an amphitheater with seating for 2,000 used primarily for the Grove Play production, on the last Friday of the midsummer encampment. The stage extends up the hill side, and is also home to the second largest outdoor pipe organ in the world.
• Field Circle — a bowl-shaped amphitheater used for the mid-weekend, "Low Jinx" musical comedy, as well as for variety shows.
• Campfire Circle — has a campfire pit in the middle of the circle, surrounded by carved redwood log benches. Used for smaller shows in a more intimate setting.
• Museum Stage — a semi-outdoor venue with a covered stage. Lectures and small ensembles shows.
• Dining Circle — seating approximately 1500 diners simultaneously.
• Club House — built in 1903, it is the site of the Manhattan Project planning meeting held in 1942 (see above).
• The Owl Shrine and the Lake — an artificial lake in the middle of the grove, used for the noon-time concerts and also the venue of the "Cremation of Care", that takes place on the first Saturday of the encampment. It is also the location of the daily (12.30pm) "Lakeside Talks." Professor G. William Domhoff (see below) states these significant informal talks (many on public policy issues) have been given over the years by entertainers, professors, astronauts, business leaders, cabinet officers, CIA directors, future presidents and former presidents; these have been the subject of ongoing controversy, as the transcripts of these talks are rarely released to the public (though have been known to be used for such mundane purposes as reading for the lecturer's graduate students).

Camp Valets

Camp valets are responsible for the operation of the individual camps. The "head" valets are akin to a general manager's position at a resort, club, restaurant, or hotel.

Symbolism and rituals

Since the founding of the club, the Bohemian Grove's symbol has been an owl, and a forty-foot concrete owl symbolizing knowledge stands at the head of the lake in the Grove and, since 1929, has served as the site of the yearly "Cremation of Care" ceremony. The club's motto, Weaving Spiders Come Not Here, is taken from the second scene of Act 2 from A Midsummer Night's Dream; it signifies that the Grove is limited to exchanges about mutual concerns and is characterized by the term "the Bohemian Spirit."

The Club's patron saint is John of Nepomuk, who legend says suffered death at the hands of a Bohemian monarch rather than disclose the confessional secrets of the queen. A large wood carving of St. John in cleric robes with his index finger over his lips stands at the shore of the lake in the Grove, symbolizing the secrecy kept by the Grove's attendees throughout its long history.

Cremation of Care

The Cremation of Care was devised in 1893 by a member named Joseph D. Redding, a lawyer from New York. G.W. Domhoff, a sociologist, obtained access to the Bohemian Club's records and membership and was able to conduct extensive research about the organization and their activities. He was able to detail the Cremation of Care ceremony, along with the High and Low Jinx and other ceremonies and plays of the Club.

The ceremony involves the poling of a small boat across a lake containing an effigy of Care (called "Dull Care"). Dark, hooded individuals receive the effigy from the ferryman which is placed on an altar and at the end of the ceremony, is set on fire. This "Cremation of Care" symbolizes that within the Bohemian Grove members leave behind the "dull cares" of conscience, hence the imagery of human sacrifice, which would normally occasion the reproach of conscience.

The ceremony takes place next to a 45-foot (14 m) high concrete owl statue, symbolizing knowledge. During the ceremony, the voice of the former-newsman Walter Cronkite, a member of the Bohemian Club, is used as the voice of The Owl. Music and fireworks accompany the ritual, for dramatic effect.

The ritual was also performed in 1913 at the world famous "Red Rocks" Amphitheater, along with a ceremony entitled "The arrival of the goddess of prosperity".

Alex Jones infiltrated the Bohemian Grove in 2000 and filmed the final portion of the ceremony for his film Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove. The grove and Jones' investigation were also covered by Jon Ronson in Channel 4's four-part documentary, Secret Rulers of the World.

Protests and controversies

With its combination of wealth and power, Bohemian Grove's secrecy has been a target for protest for many years. The Bohemian Grove Action Network of Occidental, California organizes protests and has aided journalists who wish to penetrate the secrecy surrounding the encampment. Over the years, individuals have infiltrated the Grove then later published video and claimed accounts of the activities at Bohemian Grove.

On July 15, 2000, Austin, Texas-based filmmaker Alex Jones and his cameraman, Mike Hanson, became the first people to infiltrate the Grove successfully and make it out with documented evidence. With a hidden camera, Jones and Hanson were able to film the Cremation of Care ritual. The footage was the centerpiece of Jones' documentary, Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove. Jones claims that the Cremation of Care is an "ancient Canaanite, Luciferian, Babylon mystery religion ceremony," and that the owl statue is Moloch, although ancient descriptions of Moloch suggest a human figure with the head of a bull rather than an owl.

Also filmed for The Order of Death was Jones' return to the entrance of the Bohemian Grove in 2005 where he filmed a protest organized by the Bohemian Grove Action Network that took place at the Grove's entrance on Bohemian Highway, only to discover a majority of the protesters engaging in an "occult counter-ritual", supposedly a counter-ritual against the "Cremation of Care".

A British journalist, Jon Ronson of Channel 4, documented his view of the ritual in his book, Them: Adventures With Extremists. Ronson felt it was a startling, immature, and bizarre way for world leaders to spend their summer vacations, but did not see evidence of covert Satanism. According to his description of the account it was nothing more than a fraternity-esque ritual, and the only reason one could see it as Satanic was if one was looking for Satanism in it to begin with.

Actor/writer Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons), who has attended at least one Bohemian Club event, wrote and directed The Teddy Bears' Picnic, a parody of the Bohemian Grove conspiracy.

Quotations

• (President Bill Clinton to a heckler): "The Bohemian club! Did you say Bohemian club? That's where all those rich Republicans go up and stand naked against redwood trees right? I've never been to the Bohemian club but you oughta go. It'd be good for you. You'd get some fresh air".

• "The club, which holds two-week outings outside San Francisco at the Bohemian Grove, where members run about in the woods naked, includes many former Republican officials...Editor's Note [from NY Times]: A brief article on June 11 reported the resignation of David Gergen, from the all-male Bohemian Club in California after his appointment as counselor to President Clinton. The article said the club holds two-week outings every summer at which 'members run about in the woods naked.' Although similar assertions have appeared in various newspapers over the years, The Times should have cited evidence or attribution to support that description of what the members do at the outings, or should have omitted it. Richard K. Arnold, a spokesman for the club, says it is not true." The New York Times

• "The Bohemian Grove, that I attend from time to time — the (inaudible) and the others come there — but it is the most faggy goddamn thing that you would ever imagine. The San Francisco crowd that goes in there, it's just terrible. I can't even shake hands with anybody from San Francisco." — President Richard M. Nixon, Bohemian Club member starting in 1953 (Domhoff, p 15); [1]

• "If I were to choose the speech that gave me the most pleasure and satisfaction in my political career, it would be my Lakeside Speech at the Bohemian Grove in July 1967. Because this speech traditionally was off the record it received no publicity at the time. But in many important ways it marked the first milestone on my road to the presidency." — President Richard Nixon again, in a more mellow mood, in his Memoirs (1978), cited by Domhoff below. (The rule that sitting presidents are not allowed to attend the Grove was sparked by a media clamour to cover a Lakeside Talk that Nixon wanted to give in 1971, but was forced by the directors of the Grove to withdraw).

• "The mood is reminiscent of high school. There's no end to the pee-pee and penis jokes, suggesting that these men, advanced in so many other ways, were emotionally arrested sometime during adolescence"  — Philip Weiss, Spy Magazine journalist, who infiltrated the Grove in 1989[2][3].

Further reading

• For a definitive look at the history of the Grove and the composition of Bohemian Club members and their social, business and political affiliations, updating Domhoff's book (below), see: A Relative Advantage: Sociology of the San Francisco Bohemian Club by Peter Martin Phillips, current Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University in California. Phillips attended the Grove and conducted scores of interviews with attendees in his research.[4]
• Domhoff, G. William, The Bohemian Grove and Other Retreats: A study in ruling class cohesiveness, Harper and Row, 1974.
• Field, Charles K. , The Cremation of Care, 1946, 1953
• Fletcher, Robert H., The Annals of the Bohemian Club, Hicks-Judd, 1900
• Hanson, Mike, Bohemian Grove: Cult Of Conspiracy, iUniverse Inc, 2004
• Hoover, Herbert, Memoirs, Vol 2: The Cabinet and the Presidency, Macmillan, 1952. Hoover was a prominent figure in the Grove's history and coined the phrase: "The Greatest Men's Party on Earth".
• Ickes, Harold L. , The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, Vol 1. The First Thousand Days, 1933-36. Simon and Schuster, 1953. Ickes was Secretary of the Interior during the New Deal.
• Isaacson, Walter, Kissinger: A Biography, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992, (updated) 2005. Contains a brief reference to his attendance at the Grove and fame for his performances in various skits.
• Maupin, Armistead, Significant Others, Chatto and Windus, 1988. A fictionalised account of the grove, as described from the point of view of one of the major characters in this the fourth of the 'Tales from the city' series. Sympathetic and well informed, it includes an accurate description of the cremation of care ceremony. .
• McCartney, Laton, Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story: The Most Secret Corporation and how It Engineered the World, Ballantine Books, Updated edition,1989. For the remarkable network of links between the Californian-based and privately-owned Bechtel Corporation and members of Reagan's Cabinet, along with their Camp membership in the Grove.
• Nader, Ralph, The Big Boys, Pantheon, 1987. Contains a chapter on high-level businessmen and the tightly-held secrecy of their Club membership.
• Nixon, Richard, RN : The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, 1978.
• Quigley, Carroll, Tragedy And Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, G. S. G. & Associates, Incorporated, 1975. The seminal book by the history professor of Georgetown University that serves as the basis for many current conspiracy theories and studies of socio-economic elites.
• Santilli, Armand, The Boys at Bohemian Grove, Xlibris Corporation, 2004
• Schmidt, Helmut, Men and Powers : A Political Retrospective, Random House, 1990. He states in his memoirs that Germany had similar institutions, some of which included such rituals as Cremation of Care, but that his favorite was the Bohemian Grove.
• Shultz, George P., Turmoil and Triumph: Diplomacy, Power and the Victory of the American Ideal, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.
• van der Zee, John, Power at Ease: Inside the Greatest Men's Party on Earth, Harcourt Brace Javonovich, 1974. The author waited tables at the Grove in the summer of 1972. The book has a comprehensive history of the Grove and an extensive bibliography.
• Warren, Earl, The Memoirs of Chief Justice Earl Warren , Madison Books, 2001. A frequent attendee, Warren mentions the Grove in his reminiscences.
• Watson, Thomas J. Jr., & Peter Petre, Father, Son & Co. : My Life at IBM and Beyond, Bantam, 2000. A rare glimpse by a top IBM CEO of an insider's business perspective on the Grove.
• interpretation of the ceremony was reported by the British journalist Jon Ronson in his book Them: Adventures with Extremists

See also

• Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference — Annual meetings held over five days in early July in Idaho of top media/communications/IT business leaders/CEO's. Known also as Allen & Company conferences for its investment bank founder, regular attendees have included Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Rupert Murdoch.
• Pacific-Union Club — An elite San Francisco-based club whose membership interlinks with the Bohemian Club and Grove.
• Rancheros visitadores — Annual meetings held in Santa Barbara in May.

Other international gatherings of high-level business/political/media officials:

• World Economic Forum — Annual meetings, mostly held in Davos, Switzerland
• Bilderberg Group — Annual meetings, rotated through the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia
• Trilateral Commission — Annual meetings, rotated through the U.S., Europe, and Asia

External links

• Social Cohesion & the Bohemian Grove: The Power Elite at Summer Camp By G. William Domhoff, the current Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has attended the Grove.
• A Relative Advantage: Sociology of the Bohemian Grove, A Doctoral Dissertation by Peter Phillips, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology/Director of Project Censored, Sonoma State University.
• Article on the Bohemian Grove by Joël van der Reijden 2005 (Project for the Exposure of Hidden Institutions) Contains a detailed timeline on the history of the Club and Grove, an analysis of the possible origins of the Cremation of Care ritual, a list of known "Camps", and Club membership and attendees of the Grove.
• An Elite Alliance March 2006, article on former NASA head and current LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe's participation in the Bohemian Grove.
• Sonoma County Free Press: Bohemian Grove Action Network The protest group BGAN was formed in 1980 by Mary Moore and is still operative; it has employee contacts inside the Grove and has been given selected Grove Camp Membership (2004) and Guest (1979) lists.
• Kerry Richardson Index of Bohemian Grove Reportage Web site of a Santa Rosa, California based photographer and researcher; contains both text and photographs of camp attendees.
• Masters of the Universe Go to Camp: Inside the Bohemian Grove Spy Magazine journalist Philip Weiss infiltrated the Grove in 1989.
• Free Press International: Bohemian Grove Contains articles and names of attendees.
• FAIR: The Story People Magazine Won't Let You Read An account of a People Magazine journalist who infiltrated the Grove only to be evicted by his boss, a Time-Warner executive.
• "Downtime: Constructing Leisure" See a site-related installation by the collective Bureau d'études that focuses on the history and impact of the Bohemian Club and its annual retreat at the Grove.
• Bureau d'études installation view Gallery view of the Bureau d'études Bohemian Club project (4th slide).
• Ralph Nader interview on the Bohemian Grove On Sonoma County Radio Station KSRO with Pat Thurston, in July, 2005 (audio files).
• Old Bohemia, New Bohemia Compares Bohemian Grove and Burning Man, Forbes Magazine.
• Sacramento News & Review article
• Rotten Library Entry on the Bohemian Grove
• On The Right Mentions Newt Gingrich, National Review.
• Transcript Of US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld at the tribute to Milton Friedman: He regrets missing the 2001 birthday lunch that Ed Feulner hosted every year on the road to Bohemian Grove.
• Alex Jones interview Goes into detail about how he managed to infiltrate the Grove in July, 2000.
• Archive of Bohemian Grove material
• Research Material : Bohemian Grove & Club Tidbits Contains excerpts from various articles/books on the Grove.
• Information page on Bohemian Grove and The Cremation of Care
• Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Article on Bohemian Grove that mentions the ceremony
• David Gergen interview on Bohemian Grove
• Map Drawing Who Rules America
• Picture Worship A former British topless model has become the extraordinary obsession of members.
• Alex Albrecht talks briefly about visiting the Grove 30 minutes into Diggnation 105 [5]