Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was founded in 1910 as an organized youth movement meant to revitalize American manhood. Based on a philosophy of “muscular Christianity,” the group created a practical program of activities meant to develop the young man's physical, mental, and moral fitness.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, devastating economic cycles, immigration, and urbanization generated anxiety among white middle-class men about the future of American manhood. Just as the military hero Lord Robert S. S. Baden-Powell created the Boy Scouts in England in 1908 to toughen young British men in physical fitness and moral character, so the men who founded the BSA worried that an increasingly urban, industrial civilization was distancing men from the positive effects of the more primitive wilderness. They also feared that the increasing influence of women in the domestic sphere and in more public roles, such as teaching, was leading to a feminization of American boyhood.

In 1910 several men gathered to create the BSA, including Ernest Thompson Seton, the founder of the Woodcraft Indians, a youth movement and organization based on Native American cultures; Daniel Carter Beard, who had founded the Sons of Daniel Boone, an organization for boys based on pioneer life; and three men with extensive experience in the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)—Edgar M. Robinson, John L. Alexander, and James E. West. Borrowing heavily from Baden-Powell's ideas, the BSA also Americanized [Page 69]the movement in its first Handbook (1911) and in the design of its uniform, ranks, badges, and programs.

The BSA bases its programs on the idea of the “patrol,” which typically consists of eight boys who form the basic friendship group in a larger “troop” of patrols. Adult men serve as scoutmasters of troops (usually sponsored by schools, religious organizations, and fraternal organizations), and boys ages eleven through seventeen fill the leadership positions in the troop and in patrols. Boys learn to lead other boys and to teach each other a range of skills, including first aid, camping, lifesaving, and other skills for living. The program also stresses character training, including service to others.

Through most of its history, the BSA has enjoyed great public support and admiration for its work. The Eagle Scout, the organization's highest earned rank, is widely recognized as a mark of fine manhood. The organization became very popular in the 1950s, especially for white middle-class boys, and the BSA's fusing of citizenship, patriotism, masculinity, and America's “public religion” (a generalized Judeo-Christian, largely Protestant, ethic) suited the culture of the Cold War. The antimilitary and antiestablishment culture of the Vietnam War era, however, began to make the BSA a more controversial organization, and by the 1980s the BSA was defending itself against a series of lawsuits. Atheists sued the BSA when they were denied membership, and girls and women sued to be admitted to the organization. The most visible controversy in the 1990s was the battle over the BSA policy of excluding openly gay men and boys from membership. In June 2000, a five-to-four split decision by the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the BSA's position that they are a private organization with the right to exclude members whose beliefs and practices differ significantly from the official philosophy and goals of the organization. The court's decision did not settle the controversy, however, and social and political organizations, such as Scouting for All, still work to get the BSA to change its policies on admitting gays and atheists. Various local governments and charitable organizations have struggled with conflicts between their own antidiscrimination rules and the special status they have accorded BSA troops.

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