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Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ) is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 160 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces and has initiated more than 228,000 men between 1848 and 2007. There are over 142,000 living alumni. Chartered house corporations own more than 120 houses valued at $50 million. There are nearly 100 recognized alumni clubs across the U.S. and Canada.
The fraternity was founded by six undergraduate students: Robert Morrison, John McMillan Wilson, Robert Thompson Drake, John Wolfe Lindley, Ardivan Walker Rodgers, and Andrew Watts Rogers, who are collectively known as The Immortal Six. Phi Delta Theta was created under three principal objectives: "the cultivation of friendship among its members, the acquirement individually of a high degree of mental culture, and the attainment personally of a high standard of morality". These cardinal principles are contained in The Bond of Phi Delta Theta, the document to which each member, known as Phis or Phi Delts, pledges on his initiation into the fraternity.
Among the most well-known members of the fraternity are Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, Baseball Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig, actor Burt Reynolds, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Chief Justice of the United States Frederick M. Vinson, and Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.
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