What happened to the Boy Scouts? A history lesson amid a big name change.
What happened to the Boy Scouts? A history lesson amid a big name change.
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Boy Scouts will change name to Scouting America
The Boy Scouts of America announced its plan to rebrand to Scouting America, beginning in February 2025.
The Boy Scouts of America was founded 115 years ago Saturday by Chicago publisher William D. Boyce — but the organization has changed quite a bit in the past century, including a name change that takes effect Saturday.
The organization aimed to teach young boys how to be good citizens and leaders with adventure-focused activities like camping trips, community service projects and merit badge challenges. But it also has seen decades marred in controversy over sexual abuse scandals and concerns about discrimination.
On Saturday, the national group officially rebranded, calling itself Scouting America to reflect its recent inclusion of both boys and girls.
The organization's new name comes after it permitted girls to join Cub Scots and Boy Scouts in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The group dropped "boy" from its name in 2018, and announced its plans to rebrand to Scouting America last spring.
Scouting America currently has more than 1,000,000 members, 20% of whom it says are young girls.
Roger Krone, CEO of Scouting America, told USA TODAY that the organization's changes are aimed at keeping up with the "youth of today."
Here's a look back at the organization's history:
Early history
Scouting America can thank a foggy London evening for its founding more than a century ago.
On a trip to the city in 1909, William D. Boyce allegedly got lost when a young boy came up and offered to guide him. When Boyce offered the boy a tip, he refused to take it, saying that it was against his code as a scout.
Boyce reached out to the founder of the British Boy Scouts, Robert S. Baden-Powell, and decided to start up a similar organization in the U.S.
He incorporated the group in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8, 1910.
Sexual abuse scandal
The scouts' history included controversies, among them sexual abuse scandals and concerns about discrimination.
Beginning in the 1990s, reports began surfacing about sexual misconduct perpetrated by scout troop leaders. The book "Scout's Honor: Sexual Abuse in America's Most Trusted Institution" detailed close to 2,000 molestation accusations against scoutmasters.
But the full extent of the sexual misconduct inside the Boy Scouts of America wouldn't be made public for more than a decade. A 2010 settlement requiring the organization to pay $18.5 million to a former scout abused by one of his leaders also mandated that the scouts release 14,500 pages of secret "perversion files" on suspected child molesters from 1959 to 1985.
The documents detailed some cases where pedophiles were kept out of leadership positions with the organization, and others where local Boy Scout leaders and community members were complicit in concealing the abuse.
In 2020, the organization filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy so that it could reorganize to compensate more than 80,000 men who had filed claims asserting that they had been sexually abused by troop leaders. The organization exited bankruptcy in 2022 and created a $2.4 billion fund to pay the settlements.
Inclusion controversies
The organization has changed its membership qualifications multiple times in its history.
The last Boy Scout troop did not officially integrate until 1974, 20 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional. That year, the NAACP sued a Utah troop affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that banned Black members.
In 1978, the organization adopted a policy prohibiting gay children and adults from becoming members and leaders. The Boy Scouts said in a statement at the time that 'Homosexual conduct' was 'inconsistent with the requirements in the Scout Oath that a Scout be morally straight.'
The blanket ban was in place for more than three decades, until the Boy Scouts allowed gay youth and gay adults to join in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Although, it still allows church-sponsored troops to maintain exclusion based on sexual orientation.
Today, Scouting America says on its website that it serves boys and girls through single-gender dens in the Cub Scout program, allows older children seeking to earn the rank of Eagle Scout to join single-gender troops and offers some co-ed programs.
'It is the philosophy of Scouting to welcome all eligible youth, regardless of race, ethnic background, gender or orientation, who are willing to accept Scouting's values and meet any other requirements of membership,' the website states.
Girl Scouts of the United States of America remains a separate organization from Scouting America. It does not accept boys and serves transgender youth on a "a case-by-case basis."
"If the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, then Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe," it says on its website.
Famous members
More than 130 million Americans have participated in the organization's scout programs. Here's a look at some of the most famous alumni.
Former President's Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
Athletes including Michael Jordan, Hank Aaron, Nolan Ryan and Joe Theismann
Celebrities including Harrison Ford, Jack Black, Jon Bon Jovi, Chris Pratt, Jay Leno, Steven Spielberg and Jimmy Buffett
Historical figures including civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and journalist Walter Cronkite
Contributing: Greta Cross, USA TODAY
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