1st National Jamboree: FDR Issues an Invitation to America's Scouts

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1st National Jamboree
Boy Scouts of America

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcasts his Jamboree Invitation
to America's Scouts--Walter Head, President of the Boy Scouts
of America, Dr. James E. West, Chief Scout Executive, and an
Honor Guard of Eagle Scouts

Boy Scouts of America, The National and World Jamboree in Pictures, 1937

THE PRESIDENTIAL INVITATION

"Tonight I am especially happy to renew my invitation for the Boy Scouts to hold a Jamboree here in the Nation's Capital in the early summer We were all of us greatly disappointed because the Jamboree to which 1 had invited the Boy Scouts, in 1935 had to be canceled. But now we are going ahead with plans which I am confident will result in a demonstration on the part of boyhood the like of which has never been seen before in this country. I am glad that this is going to be an encampment because it is fitting that a movement such as ours should hold its first great national demonstration in the out-of-doors.

Yes, we are planning to have a city of tents rise here in the Capital actually within the shadow of the Washington Monument. On a site only a short distance from the room from which I am speaking to you today twenty-five thousand boys will live together under canvas from June thirtieth to July ninth. It stirs my imagination and I am sure that it gives all of you a genuine thrill.

Our country was developed by pioneers who camped along the trails which they blazed all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the slopes of the Pacific. To the American people for generations camping was a way of living-it is in our very blood. I believe that this Jamboree is going to be a great success because I believe in the effectiveness of trained boyhood. Incidentally, 1 am gratified to know that there was a greater increase in Boy Scout membership in 1936 than in any previous year. And, as showing that true Scouts always rise to every emergency, 1 am glad to say that I have received gratifying reports of the practical aid they are extending in cooperating with flood relief workers in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.

Our Jamboree, besides, being an event long to be remembered by the boys who participate, will afford a practical demonstration of the principle of self-reliance which Scout work is developing in all of you. There will be gathered together a thoroughly representative group mobilized from all parts of the country, Other countries will send delegates to meet with us. Scouting is now organized in almost every civilized nation in the world. The camp here in Washington will afford an opportunity for us to extend our horizon and enlarge our friendships on the basis of the ideals expressed in the Scout Oath and Law."

Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the United States
February 8, 1937.

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