Obama refuses to sign Eagle certificates

[bacchus]

I would think an Eagle certificate from a 1-term president would be more valuable than one from a 2-term president, just due to the fewer number of them...

[acco40]

If you search hard enough you can find a hand written note by President John F. Kennedy that he wrote to his father when he was a Scout (Troop 2, Bronxville N.Y.) asking for a raise in his allowance. It is priceless. Remember, he wrote this when he was 12 years old! If you wish, send me a line and I can email you a pdf of the letter itself. (Not a hoax.)

 

A Plea for a raise

By Jack Kennedy

 

Dedicated to my

Mr. J. P. Kennedy

 

 

 

Chapter I

 

My recent allowance is 40. This I used for areoplanes and other playthings of child- hood but now I am a scout and I put away my childish things. Before I would spend 20 of my .40 allowance and In five minutes I would have empty pockets and nothing to gain and 20 to lose. When I a a scout I have to buy canteens, haversacks, blankets, searchlidgs [searchlights] poncho things that will last for years and I can always use it while I cant use a cholcalote marshmellow sunday with vanilla ice cream and so I put in my plea for a raise of thirty cents for me to buy scout things and pay my own way more around.

 

Finis

 

John Fitzgerald Francis Kennedy(This message has been edited by acco40)

[OldGreyEagle]

I became an Eagle Scout in 1969, that means my Eagle card has the name of Richard M Nixon on it, that has caused me pause many times

[prairie]

For every President there will be a faction who would wish his name not appear on there Eagle certificates.

Why not have them signed by Theodore Roosevelt, the only President who actually cared about the movement itself?

[bacchus]

I think you mean Ford, the only president who was an Eagle himself.

[NJCubScouter]

Why not have them signed by Theodore Roosevelt, the only President who actually cared about the movement itself?

 

To take nothing away from Teddy Roosevelt, a great President (at least for his time, and a few of the things he did were not so great, but anyway...) who did indeed promote Scouting -- What is your basis for saying that other Presidents did not care about the Scouting movement? Maybe they did not make as big a show of it as he did, but that hardly means anything, as he was the master showman among all Presidents.

[Bando]

Anybody who still thinks this is true should go take a gander at the NESA booth at Jamboree this week, featuring actual certificates with Obama signatures. Myth: Busted.

[NJCubScouter]

But Bando, why let facts get in the way of a good political narrative?

[Miki101]

Theodore Roosevelt, the first and only Chief Scout Citizen of the BSA, was the only modern president to actually live completely the values taught within the founding principles of BSA. No other president (Ford's close but not with regard to the pull that TR had with the American people) has had such a clean and integrity-driven life as he.

 

I suggest that this is why prairie made that statement. You should refer to the book "We Are Americans, We Are Scouts," which lays TR's case out pretty well, if I do say so myself...

 

David C. Scott

[oldisnewagain1]

...I suggest that this is why prairie made that statement. You should refer to the book "We Are Americans, We Are Scouts," which lays TR's case out pretty well, if I do say so myself...

 

Might we also find references to TR in "The Scouting Party Pioneering and Preservation, Progressivism and Preparedness in the Making of the Boy Scouts of America"?

 

(also by the same fine gentleman)

[Miki101]

My Dear ONA1,

 

You certainly would. Thanks for making the connection between the books!

 

And in "The Scouting Party" TR pops-up again and again as a source of encouragement for James E. West, not only as a supporter of the strenuous Scouting life, but also as BSA's strongest and vocal proponent for becoming the national service organization that it is today. BSA always had that angle, given to us from BP's original vision, but TR forced the issue when BSA was waffling between pacifism and preparedness during WWI. TR won. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[Miki101]

..."most strongest"...where's my editor?

 

Right here!

 

You're welcome. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[prairie]

I hang my head in shame, yes, Gerald Rudolph Ford did care a great deal about Scouting and if I had Eagled it would have been his signature on mine.

 

TR had the advantage of being a world figure when Scouting blossomed and supporting a movement that dovetailed so well with his own ideals would be 2nd nature for him.

 

Somehow when I made that post all I could remember was the type of politician who displays "dog and pony show" kind of support.

[Woapalanne]

Had I made Eagle, Dwight Eisenhower's signature would have been on the certificate. Ronald Reagan's is on my son's.

[CalicoPenn]

Jimmy Carter's signature is on mine.

 

Say what you will about their politics or presidency but I would challenge the assertion that "No other president (Teddy Roosevelt) ... has had such a clean and integrity-driven life as he" and suggest that both Jimmy Carter, who is the only President to also have been a Scoutmaster, and Gerald Ford, the first President to earn Eagle Scout, have had as clean and integrity driven lives, if not more so, than TR.

 

BTW - there have only been 5 Presidents who have also been Boy Scouts: John F. Kennedy, Gerald R. Ford, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

 

Please note that last name on the list.