WILLIAM SHATNER: Washington, DC.
October 13, 1792.
Lower the stone.
WILLIAM SHATNER: A group of Freemasons
perform a sacred ceremony in which they
lay the first stone used in the construction
of the White House.
The large stone is intended to be the foundation
of the southeast corner of the building
and is referred to as the cornerstone.
When the White House cornerstone was dedicated,
there was corn, wine, and oil poured on top of it.
It's the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment,
and the oil of joy.
And that really expresses the hopes of the Masons involved
for the success of not only that building,
but what it represents, the system of government,
and by extension, the nation.
Wine, please.
WILLIAM SHATNER: It's believed that as part of the ceremony,
the Freemasons placed objects of great importance
in a time capsule that was put inside a compartment
located within the cornerstone.
For centuries, historians have wondered
what the Founding Fathers may have hidden
in the White House cornerstone.
LANCE GEIGER: We know that the Freemasons
put time capsules in other buildings and monuments.
And since this was the cornerstone of the president's
house, that they might have put something very important
in there.
One of the things that has been speculated
is that they would have had some alternate versions of founding
documents of America, like a version of the Constitution
that also included in it the Masons'
vision of how the nation was supposed to proceed.
WILLIAM SHATNER: An alternate version
of the Constitution placed in the cornerstone
of the White House?
But what reason is there to think
that this document existed?
Something that often gets lost in the shuffle
in the whole history of the revolution
is that the Constitution and the republic it created
wasn't the first iteration.
So what actually came out of the revolution
were the Articles of Confederation,
which, from 1781 to 1789, were actually
what governed the new country.
But the Articles of Confederation didn't work,
and so they came up with the Constitution.
But it's plan B.
The other thing you have to take into account
is there were contentious factions
among the Founding Fathers.
They did not all get along.
There were bitter arguments between them.
And so was there an alternative Constitution?
That's certainly quite possible.
LANCE GEIGER: Legally, a different version
of the Constitution wouldn't mean anything.
The Constitution we have is the one that
was ratified by the states.
Historically, it could be utterly fascinating.
It could be earth-shattering in terms
of our understanding about what the intent was for the nation.
The thing is, we don't know.
So you can see why people want to find a cornerstone.
It's because they want to know what's in there
and what that would mean.
WILLIAM SHATNER: But if there might have been
an alternate version of the Constitution hidden
in the White House cornerstone, then it naturally begs
the question, why hasn't anyone checked
to see if it's really there?
Well, as it turns out, people have tried to do just that.
But curiously, the cornerstone of the White House
has never been found.
LANCE GEIGER: The cornerstone was supposed
to be in the southeast corner of the White House
in the ceremony it was reported on,
and then that cornerstone has never been seen since.
It seems to have just kind of disappeared from history.
So it leaves you the question, where is it?
WILLIAM SHATNER: For more than 200 years,
historians have speculated as to where the cornerstone
of the White House is located.
In fact, when the White House was completely
gutted for renovation work during the 1940s,
President Harry Truman took the opportunity
to order a thorough search for the elusive cornerstone.
ARTURO DE HOYOS: When Truman had the White House rebuilt
or refurbished in the 1950s, they found a lot of stones
with Masonic emblems on them.
And being an active Freemason, in fact, he
was the Grand Master of Masons in Missouri,
he had one of these stones sent to each of the grand lodges.
We have one at the House of the Temple in Washington, DC.
It's a stone that has a Masonic mark on it.
But for the cornerstone, who knows?
LANCE GEIGER: Truman very much searched for that cornerstone,
and they've never found it.
If the cornerstone is still there,
it has never been discovered.
But maybe it's hidden somewhere and could still be found.