Do billionaires kids ever join Boy Scouts?

[SpEdScouter]

This came up with Trump asking why his son Baron isnt a scout and I wonder, do wealthy parents have their kids in scouting?

 

Now I have known of a couple of millionaires who's sons have been in but truly billionaires?

[Sentinel947]

This came up with Trump asking why his son Baron isnt a scout and I wonder, do wealthy parents have their kids in scouting?

 

Now I have known of a couple of millionaires who's sons have been in but truly billionaires?

I woulda thought Michael Bloomberg for sure, but he never had a son. 

[qwazse]

I've asked myself the same thing.

[UncleP]

By accident I was doing some historical research on line, and came across some information regarding Howard Hughes.  He was not a billionaire (just a small boy), but his family was rich.  His father wanted him to associate with regular boys, so he saw sent to Dan Beard's camp in Pennsylvania.  I think this might have still been under Beard's old organization "Sons of Daniel Boone".   Apparently, young Howard took camp very seriously.  He voluntarily turned in a badge (Buckskin Badge) that he had received, because he violated the rules by eating some candy.

 

Below is a narrative I found on line about Howard Hughes' experience at the camp (apparently helicopter mothers are nothing new):

 

In 1916, when Howard jr. was 11, this unhealthy bond between mother and son was disrupted for the first time when he boldly asked to attend a boys camp in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. It’s founder was the much loved and well respected Daniel Carter Beard ( a former US army rough rider and co-founder of the Boys Scouts of America). The camp was sort of a survival school for eastern preppies who had been pampered since birth.To his mother, Allene, Beard wrote of Howard jr., “He is an interesting little chap…he shows no sign of homesickness at all and seems very happyâ€.

 

Allene would send her many letters of concerns for Howard jr.’s health and safety to Beard even if there wasn’t a single real cause for alarm.  After nearly 6 weeks away from home, Howard jr. became sun-bronzed and sturdy and even boated on Lake Teedyuskung with the camp’s first-timers or “tenderfoots†, and camped out overnight. He even learned to make fires without matches, fry up a breakfast of bacon and flapjacks and excelled in bird studies in “scoutcraftâ€. But Allene just couldn’t leave her son alone and she wrote her pitiful letters again telling Beard of her fear for the polio virus. Against, Beard’s protests Allene took her son out of the camp, to Howard jr.’s disappointment ,embarrassment and humiliation.

[desertrat77]

They probably weren't billionaires' sons, but definitely well to do:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Alamos_Ranch_School

 

(Going from memory as the hour is late)...the Los Alamos Ranch School didn't have many students, but they were well connected if memory serves.  BSA uniform was the uniform of the day.  Shorts were worn year-round, even in the winter.   Lots of outdoor activities.  Graduates had to earn at least First Class before receiving their diploma.

 

The ranch was selected by the Army during WWII as a secret base for designing the atomic bomb.  Some of the original school buildings remain.

 

There are other links out there with information. 

[gumbymaster]

The Marriott Family are supporters of the Scouting Movement, with at least some of their family having been very involved as youth members.

 

Ross Perot was a scout (before wealth), I am not sure if his sons were.

Edited July 26, 2017 by gumbymaster

[mashmaster]

The Marriott Family are supporters of the Scouting Movement, with at least some of their family having been very involved as youth members.

 

Ross Perot was a scout (before wealth), I am not sure if his sons were.

The Marriott family is LDS so I am assuming they attended scouts as a church family function.

 

Bill Gates was a scout: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/301319031304897016/ Dad wasn't a billionaire but family was well off.

[AltadenaCraig]

According to Wikipedia:  "In the 1920s [Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.] made huge profits from reorganizing and refinancing several Hollywood studios".  In 1929, by then presumably a titan, his son joined and would go on to become our first President who was a Boy Scout:

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/11/22/remembering-john-f-kennedy-the-first-president-to-have-been-a-boy-scout/

[Ankylus]

I do believe my oldest son's first patrol leader was the son of a billionaire. The father was at the time a CEO of a major corporation you would know the name of and is now currently CEO of another very large corporation. He was also on the national Board of Directors for the Boy Scouts of America as well as a couple of other Fortune 50 companies. The mother is from a wealthy family and went to Punahou School with President Obama. If they weren't billionaires, then I don't know any.

 

There were, in fact, several millionaires' children in that troop.

 

And there is a troop where this city's wealthiest elite go to church and school. That troop has 256 scouts in it. I am willing to bet you can find at least one in that troop.

 

I am willing to bet it happens more than we know of if only because there are lots of billionaires and their families who fly below the radar. They're not all Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians. The general public just isn't much interested in the wholesome kid going off to scout camp.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Ankylus

[krikkitbot]

I've heard that Ted Turner's daughter was a Venturer and that she went on a Philmont trek with bodyguards who were poorly outfitted for the outdoors.

[ALongWalk]

The Marriott Family are supporters of the Scouting Movement, with at least some of their family having been very involved as youth members.

 

Ross Perot was a scout (before wealth), I am not sure if his sons were.

There is a statue of one of the Marriots in his Scout uniform with Eagle rank at the Summit. It is in the Action Point area.