Franklin D. Roosevelt unexpectedly died April 12, 1945, and his Vice President, Harry S. Truman, succeeded him to the presidency. When Harry Truman took the Oath of Office three years later, on June 20, 1949, as the 33rd President of the United States, there was additional historical significance.

At that inauguration, four of the members of the 81st Congress in attendance would later become President – John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford. Three of them (Johnson, Nixon, and Ford) would, like Truman, first serve as Vice President.

Of those names mentioned, Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson (EA only), and Ford were Masons.

Emessay Notes June 2013