TR and Scouting

TR was an enthusiastic proponent of the Scouting movement. Theodore Roosevelt was no longer President of the United States when the Boy Scouts of America was started in 1910.    He was a troop committeeman of Troop 39, Oyster Bay, N.Y., and  the first council commissioner of Nassau County Council .  As a former President he was elected an Honorary Vice-President of the Boy Scouts of America and the first and only  designated  "Chief Scout Citizen."  For many years after his death in 1919, several thousand Scouts and leaders in the New York area made annual pilgrimages to his grave in Oyster Bay. One early Scout leader, Julian Salomon, said, "The two things that gave Scouting great impetus and made it very popular were the uniform and Teddy Roosevelt's jingoism."

The National Council, Boy Scouts of America, chartered the Nassau County Council, Boy Scouts of America in 1917.  In September 1997, the council changed its name from the Nassau County Council to recognize and honor Theodore Roosevelt, its founder and first Council Commissioner.

TR wrote a letter to James E. West, one of the early leaders of the Scouting movement, extolling the need and practical application of citizenship that Scouting brought to youth.

" The same qualities that mean success or failure to the nation as a whole mean success or failure in men and boys individually.  To be helpless, self-indulgent, or wasteful will turn the boy into a mighty poor kind of man just as the indulgence in such vices by the men of a nation means the ruin of a nation.  Any boy is worth nothing if he has not got courage, courage to stand up against the forces of evil and courage to stand up in the right path.  Let him be unselfish and gentle, as well as strong and brave.  It should be a matter of pride to him that he is not afraid of anyone and that he scorns not to be gentle and considerate to everyone, especially to those who are weaker than he is.  If he doesn't treat his mother and sisters well, then he is a poor creature no matter what else he does; just as a man who doesn't treat his wife well is a poor kind of citizen no matter what his other qualities may be.  Let the boy remember he must have knowledge, he must cultivate a sound body and a good mind and train himself so that he can act with quick decision in any crisis that may arise.  Mind, eye, muscle all must be trained so that the boy can master himself and thereby learn to master his fate. "