Howard Homan Buffett is Born

Today in Masonic History Howard Homan Buffett is born in 1903.

Howard Homan Buffett was an American politician.

Buffett was born on August 13th, 1903 in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended public schools before attending he University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1925. After graduation he tried to take a job in the family grocery business. When he was not able to find a job there he opened a small stock brokerage firm.

From 1939 to 1942, he served on the Omaha Board of Education. In 1942 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives where he served 4 non-consecutive terms. In his first election he was considered the Republican Party sacrificial lamb due to the overwhelming popularity of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Despite this obstacle, he won the Republican nomination and then the general election. He failed to be re-elected in 1948 and returned to Congress in the 1950 election. Four things stood out for him while in Congress. He opposed the Truman Doctrine, of which he said:

Even if it were desirable, America is not strong enough to police the world by military force. If that attempt is made, the blessings of liberty will be replaced by coercion and tyranny at home. Our Christian ideals cannot be exported to other lands by dollars and guns. Persuasion and example are the methods taught by the Carpenter of Nazareth, and if we believe in Christianity we should try to advance our ideals by his methods. We cannot practice might and force abroad and retain freedom at home. We cannot talk world cooperation and practice power politics.

He opposed the Marshall Plan, because he felt it harmed the American economy. He opposed the the Korean War and worked to have the Senate Armed Services Committee to declassify the testimony of CIA head Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter. The testimony, in Buffett's opinion, showed the United States was responsible for the Korean War.

The final thing he was known for in Congress was his political philosophy. He worked to maintain a high level of ethics while in Congress. He turned down any junket offered to him. During his first term when Congress voted themselves a pay raise, he refused to accept the new pay amount stating he had been elected at the lower salary.

During the 1960's he opposed the Vietnam War for many of the same reasons he opposed the Korean War and the Truman doctrine. He also opposed the draft and called on Congress to cancel the draft. In an article he wrote for the New Individualist Review he said:

When the American government conscripts a boy to go 10,000 miles to the jungles of Asia without a declaration of war by Congress (as required by the Constitution) what freedom is safe at home? Surely, profits of U.S. Steel or your private property are not more sacred than a young man's right to life.

He passed away on April 30th, 1964.

He is the father of American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist Warren Buffett.

Howard Buffett was a member of Covert Lodge No. 11 in Omaha, Nebraska. It is reported he was a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Masonic Jurisdiction, in Omaha. He was also a member of Tangier Shrine Temple, also in Omaha.

This article provided by Brother Eric C. Steele.