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BOYS STATE HISTORY
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What is American Legion Boys State?
As a program of The American Legion, Boys State developed
from the concept that youth should be offered a better perspective of the
practical operation of government; that the individual is an integral part
and commensurately responsible for the character and success of his
government. As such, it is an activity of high educational value, born out
of a need for youth training in practical citizenship.
American Legion Boys State is easily classified as a
leadership action program where qualified male high school juniors take
part in a practical government course designed to develop in the young
citizens a working knowledge of the structure of government and to impress
upon them the fact that government is just what they make it.
How and Why Boys State Started
Boys State was born of a desire to counter the Fascist
inspired Young Pioneer Camps of the 1930s, where boys of high school age
were being taught that democracy had outworn its usefulness and should be
replaced by a new form of government, namely Fascism.
The Boys State program was formulated in the minds of
Legionnaires Hayes Kennedy and Harold Card, both educators and both
members of The American Legion of Illinois. It was their desire to start a
counter movement within the ranks of American youth that would develop a
better understanding of our system of government, and to instill in our
youth a desire to preserve it. The format for Boys State was laid out by
Harold Card and fashioned from a method employed by him in earlier years
to properly police and organize a Boy Scout camp. Shorthanded on staff, he
permitted the boys to govern themselves, hold an election and elect a
mayor and a city council. Appointments were made to cover positions like
police, fire, health and sanitation officials. Harold Card quickly found
that the boys became so enthused in carrying out their 'city' duties, they
almost neglected their Scout assignments. The boys were learning by
doing.
The first Boys State was conducted at the Illinois State
Fairgrounds, Springfield, Illinois, in June, 1935. Now, 61 years later,
the program is still providing that opportunity to young men . . . to
learn by doing, and through this time well over one million young men have
experienced American Legion Boys State. Though Fascism no longer poses a
threat in today's world, our way of life is still threatened by forms of
government alien to our democratic ideals, and by apathy among our own
citizens. The American Legion continues to sponsor and to conduct Boys
State in the belief that young citizens who are familiar with the
operation of our system of government will be better prepared to uphold
its ideals and maintain it for future .
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