Posted on by Nick

Barack Obama was a (Cub) Scout!

I’ve just been on the Scout Association’s web site to look up some information on something I’m doing this weekend and I decided while I was there to look at the news section. In there was this article about Barack Obama being a Scout when he lived in Indonesia. From his age I guess he must have actually been a Cub Scout however.

So I thought the Boy Scouts of America must be making a big thing of this fact. So I went to their web site and found nothing! In fact the last news item they had was from September.

I must admit I found this quite strange. The SA are always very good at positive publicity and are quick to point out ‘famous’ ex Scouts. I also know the BSA are extremely proud to say that of the 12 men to walk on the moon, 11 were Scouts!

So are American Scouts aware that their next Leader was a Cub Scout? Or in fact George W Bush was a Cub Scout as well (I didn’t until a few minutes ago!)?

When Scoutmaster Jerry wrote this on his blog or Scoutmaster Steve started the ‘Buttons for President’ campaign, I wonder if they knew? I also wonder if Mr. Obama can live up to those values? Time will tell.

3 Replies to “Barack Obama was a (Cub) Scout!”

  2. This is what The Socuts Association in the UK is saying in its press release today:

    01-20-09

    You don’t have to be a Scout to lead a country but it helps…

    Today, Barak Obama becomes the latest in a long list of world leaders who gained their first taste of leadership at an early age as Scouts. The first US President to have been a Scout was JFK and since then eight Presidents have been either Scouts or Scout leaders.

    President Obama’s Scouting began when his family moved from his birthplace of Hawaii to Indonesia, where he joined Gerakan Pramuka; The Indonesian Scout Association. Rully Dasaad, a childhood friend of Obama’s, picks up the story, ‘He was a good hearted kid. We played together every day during that time. We joined the Scouts together, [there] we learned how to use rope for building a camp tent, went climbing and did many other things…’

    The story is the same across the political world with Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, John Major, Harold Wilson, Vaclav Havel (Czech Republic), Horst Kohler (German President) all cutting their leadership skills in the Scouts.

    President Gerald Ford said: ‘I can say without hesitation, because of Scouting principles, I know I was a better athlete, I was a better Congressman, and I was a better prepared President.’

    It’s not just Presidents that seem to have benefited from Scouting, 11 out of the 12 people to walk on the moon were Scouts including the first two people on the moon, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

    The Scout Association spokesperson, Simon Carter, said: ‘It is no coincidence so many talented people have been Scouts or Scout leaders. With over 200 exciting and challenging activities available in the UK, Scouting provides almost unlimited opportunity for young people, and the adult volunteers who support them, to push themselves and develop the skills they need for life.”
    About Scouting

    • A more comprehensive list of Scouts who have gone on to be household names or leaders in their field is included at: http://www.scouts.org.uk/cms.php?pageid=1668

    • Adventure is at the core of Scouting, and the Association passionately believes in helping their members fulfil their full physical, intellectual social and spiritual potentials by working in teams, learning by doing and thinking for themselves.

    • In January 2008, The Scout Association introduced 40 new badges, including Snow Sports and Health and Fitness badges, bringing the total number of badges available to over 200. No other youth organisation offers such a range of challenging or exciting activities, available in a safe, supervised environment.

    • Over 200 activities are offered by Scouting around the UK, made possible by the efforts of 100,000 voluntary adult leaders. This has helped make Scouting the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country.

    • The last time the Movement showed a growth of this size was in 1987, when a whole new age range, 5-8 years (Beaver Scouts) was added to the Scouting family.

    • One of the challenges that the Scout Movement faces is finding more volunteers to plug the current gap. At present there are nearly 32,000 young people on waiting lists.

    • Adults working in Scouting contribute in excess of 295 million hours of voluntary work each year to their local communities.

    • Worldwide Scouting has 28 million members both male and female and operates in nearly every country in the world.

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