Setting the Record Straight: Presidential Visits to the BSA National Jamboree

In reading some comments on a Aaron on Scouting (formerly Bryan on Scouting) blog post, someone lamented that President Obama did not attend that National Jamboree while “every other President attended Boy Scout Jamborees while in office.” I was curious as to how accurate that statement was, as I’ve heard it several times prior to that comment. In doing some quick searching, I found that there is no one site that has all the information. I started a step-by-step search (each Jamboree and each President of the United States) to compile the following information, using Google search results that included BSA National’s website, Wikipedia, Youtube and various other sources. What I found is that the assertion that “Every other President attended Boy Scout Jamborees while in office” is inaccurate. It is true that President Obama has not attended a National Jamboree, but neither have several sitting Presidents of the United States (POTUS) since the BSA started holding National Jamborees.

There have been 15 different men holding the position of POTUS since the First National Jamboree. Two of those men, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Gerald R. Ford, were unable to attend a BSA National Jamboree while in office as no event occurred during their terms. Of the remaining 13 men, only 8 visited a BSA National Jamboree while in office. Below is a timeline compiling that information:

Presidents of The United States of America since the inception of the BSA National Jamboree	Year	Boy Scouts of America National Jamborees
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 32nd President of the United States of America 04-Mar-1933 – 12-Apr-1945 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1 (1935, 1937) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (1937) President Roosevelt was scheduled to attend the inaugural Jamboree in 1935, but the event was cancelled due to an outbreak of Polio. He later did open the 1937 First National Jamboree in Washington, D.C. It was the only Jamboree during his time in office, the next would not occur for 13 more years. Note: President Roosevelt was the first POTUS to have been an active Scouter before becoming President.	1933
	1934
	1935	1st National Jamboree Originally scheduled for August 21-30, 1935 in Washington, D.C. Cancelled due to outbreak of Polio.
	1936
	1937	1st National Jamboree Location: Washington, D.C. Dates: June 30 – July 9, 1937 POTUS Attended: YES Figure 1: President Roosevelt with Boy Scouts at the 1937 Jamboree
	1938
	1939
	1940
	1941
	1942
	1943
	1944
	1945
President Harry S. Truman 33rd President of the United States of America 12-Apr-1945 – 20-Jan-1953 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1 (1950) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (1950) President Truman opened the Second National Jamboree at Valley Forge in 1950. It was the only Jamboree during his time in office.Interesting note: President Truman’s middle name was the letter “S,” given to him in honor of two different relatives.
	1946
	1947
	1948
	1949
	1950	2nd National Jamboree Location: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania Dates: June 27 – July 6, 1950 POTUS Attended: YES Note: Attended by then General Dwight Eisenhower Figure 2: President Truman at the 1950 Jamboree
	1951
	1952
	1953	3rd National Jamboree Location: Irvine Ranch, CA Dates: July 17 – July 23, 1953 POTUS Attended: NO Note: Attended by then Vice-President Richard Nixon
President Dwight David Eisenhower 34th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1953 – 20-Jan-1961 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 3 (1953, 1957, 1960) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (1960) President Eisenhower was POTUS during the times of the Third, Fourth & Fifth National Jamborees in 1953, 1957 & 1960. He only attended the Fifth National Jamboree in Colorado Springs in 1960, sending his Vice President, Richard Nixon, to speak at the 1953 and 1957 Jamborees. A side note is that President Eisenhower did also attend and speak at the 1950 National Jamboree when he was General Eisenhower.
	1954
	1955
	1956
	1957	4th National Jamboree Location: Valley Forge, PA Dates: July 12 – July 18, 1957 POTUS Attended: NO Note: Attended by then Vice-President Richard Nixon Figure 3: Sub-camp photo from 1957 National Jamboree Another note: While President Eisenhower did not attend the Jamboree, two very important people to my family did. My father, Raymond L. “Cap” Walker Jr. (Eagle Class of ’59 from Newark OH Explorer Post #5, part of Licking County Council), attended as a youth member of his council’s contingent. Also, my wife’s grandfather, the Rev. H. Eugene Taylor, attended as an adult leader with the Muskingum Valley Council contingent.
	1958
	1959
	1960	5th National Jamboree Location: Colorado Springs, CO Dates: July 22 – July 28, 1960 POTUS Attended: YES Figure 4: President Eisenhower with Boy Scouts at the 1960 National Jamboree
	1961
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1961 – 22-Nov-1963 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: None Attended Jamborees while POTUS: N/A President Kennedy never had the opportunity to attend a BSA National Jamboree while in office. The Jamboree that would normally have been in 1961 was moved up to 1960 to coincide with the BSA’s 50th anniversary (similar to how the 17th National Jamboree was pushed back a year to coincide with our 100th anniversary), which was during President Eisenhower’s term. President Kennedy was assassinated before the 1964 Sixth National Jamboree in Valley Forge. Note: President Kennedy was the first POTUS to have been involved in Scouting as a youth from 1929 – 1931, where he attained the Life rank.
	1962
	1963
President Lyndon Baines Johnson 36th President of the United States of America 22-Nov-1963 – 20-Jan-1969 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1 (1964) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (1964) President Johnson did attend that Sixth National Jamboree in 1964. It was the only Jamboree during his time in office. Note on the picture to the right is that it is one of the few I could find of President Johnson with Boy Scouts. I do not believe this came from the 1964 National Jamboree. If someone has a picture of President Johnson from the 1964 Jamboree they’d like to contribute it would be greatly appreciated!
	1964	6th National Jamboree Location: Valley Forge, PA Dates: July 17 – July 23, 1964 POTUS Attended: YES Figure 5: President Johnson with a group of Scouts.
	1965
	1966
	1967
	1968
	1969	7th National Jamboree Location: Farragut State Park, ID Dates: July 16 – July 22, 1969 POTUS Attended: NO
President Richard Milhous Nixon 37th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1969 – 09-Aug-1974 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 2 (1969, 1973) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: No President Nixon was in office during the Seventh and Eighth National Jamborees in 1969 and 1973 (1973 being split into two locations). He did not attend any of those events. However, he did attend the 1953 & 1957 Jamborees while he was serving as Vice President to President Eisenhower.
	1970
	1971
	1972
	1973	8th National Jamboree Locations: Farragut State Park, ID and Moraine State Park, PA Dates: August 1 – August 7 (ID) and August 3 – August 9 (PA), 1973 POTUS Attended: NO
	1974
President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. 38th President of the United States of America 09-Aug-1974 – 20-Jan-1977 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: None Attended Jamborees while POTUS: N/A President Gerald R. Ford, to date our first and only Eagle Scout to become President of the United States, was not in office during the time of a BSA National Jamboree, having taken the office after the resignation of President Nixon and only serving a partial term in the office.
	1975
	1976
	1977	9th National Jamboree Location: Moraine State Park, PA Dates: August 3 – August 9, 1977 POTUS Attended: NO
President James Earl Carter, Jr. 39th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1977 – 20-Jan-1981 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1 (1977) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: No President Carter was in office during the time of the Ninth National Jamboree in 1977. He did not attend the event.
	1978
	1979
	1980
	1981	10th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: July 29 – August 4, 1981 POTUS Attended: NO
President Ronald Wilson Reagan 40th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1981 – 20-Jan-1989 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 2 (1981, 1985) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: No President Ronald Reagan was in office during the times of the Tenth and Eleventh National Jamborees in 1981 and 1985. He attended neither, but did send his wife Nancy to speak at the 1985 National Jamboree.
	1982
	1983
	1984
	1985	11th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: July 24 – July 30, 1985 POTUS Attended: NO President Reagan was scheduled to appear at the 1985 National Jamboree, but had to cancel his visit due to recent cancer surgery.
	1986
	1987
	1988
	1989	12th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: August 3 – August 9, 1989 POTUS Attended: YES Figure 6: President Bush addresses the 1989 National Jamboree.
President George Herbert Walker Bush 41st President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1989 – 20-Jan-1993 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1 (1989) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (1989) President George H.W. Bush attended the Twelfth National Jamboree in 1989. It was the only event during his time in office. His attendance broke a streak of five straight Jamborees without the sitting President attending. The last time a sitting President attended Jamboree was President Johnson in 1964, some 25 years earlier.
	1990
	1991
	1992
	1993	13th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: August 4 – August 10, 1993 POTUS Attended: NO
President William Jefferson Clinton 42nd President of the United States of America 20-Jan-1993 – 20-Jan-2001 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 2 (1993, 1997) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (1997) President William Clinton was in office during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth National Jamborees in 1993 and 1997. He did not attend in 1993 but did attend in 1997. Note: President Clinton was the third POTUS to have been in Scouting as a youth, where he was a Cub Scout.
	1994
	1995
	1996
	1997	14th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: July 28 – August 6, 1997 POTUS Attended: YES Figure 7: President Clinton greets Scouts at the 1997 Jamboree.
	1998
	1999
	2000
	2001	15th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: July 23 – August 1, 2001 POTUS Attended: NO
President George Walker Bush 43rd President of the United States of America 20-Jan-2001 – 20-Jan-2009 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 2 (2001, 2005) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (2005) Likewise, President Bush was in office during two National Jamborees, the Fifteenth and Sixteenth in 2001 and 2005, but only attended in 2005. Note: Like President Clinton, President Bush was also a Cub Scout for a time in his youth.
	2002
	2003
	2004
	2005	16th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: July 25 – August 3, 2005 POTUS Attended: YES Figure 8: President Bush at the 2005 Jamboree.
	2006
	2007
	2008
	2009
President Barack Hussein Obama 44th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-2009 – 20-Jan-2017 Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 2 (2010, 2013) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: No President Obama did not attend either the Seventeenth or Eighteenth National Jamborees held while he has been in office in 2010 and 2013. These were the only opportunities that President Obama had to attend a jamboree while in office. Note: President Obama was not involved with the BSA as a youth, but he was a member of the Indonesian Scout Organization where he was the equivalent of a Cub Scout.
	2010	17th National Jamboree Location: Fort A.P. Hill, VA Dates: July 26 – August 4, 2010 POTUS Attended: NO
	2011
	2012
	2013	18th National Jamboree Location: Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, WV Dates: July 15 – July 24, 2013 POTUS Attended: NO Figure 9: Middletownscouter and daughter at the 2013 Jamboree. Another note: While President Obama did not attend this event, it was visited by a head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. This event also holds a special place for me as two very important people to my family did attend. My two children, Bear Bait and Tangled, were part of the Dan Beard Council contingent (as a Boy Scout with Troop D344, and a Venturer [part of the first group ever!] with Crew F612A. I also got to be a visitor for a day, spend some time with my oldest and catch the second Arena show.
	2014
	2015
	2016
	2017	19th National Jamboree Location: Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, WV Dates: July 19 – July 28, 2017 POTUS Attending: YES Figure 10: President Trump at the 2017 Jamboree. Figure 11: Middletownscouter and family at the 2017 Jamboree. Another note: Bear Bait and Tangled were back again as part of the Dan Beard Council contingent (as a Boy Scout and Patrol Leader with Troop 2320, and a Venturer with Crew 5257. I also was able to attend a second time, this time with my wife, getting to spend time at The Summit with the kids and attend the Saturday Arena Show.
President Donald John Trump 45th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-2017 – 20-Jan-2021 Party Affiliation: Republican BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1  (2017) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: Yes (2017) President Trump attended the nineteenth national jamboree in 2017, speaking on Monday just before the second arena show.
	2018
	2019
	2020
	2021	20th National Jamboree Originally scheduled for July 21-30, 2021 at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, WV. Postponed due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. 46th President of the United States of America 20-Jan-2021 – Present Party Affiliation: Democratic BSA Jamborees while POTUS: 1 (2021 2023) Attended Jamborees while POTUS: No To date, only one National Jamboree has been held during President Biden’s term, and he did not attend.  It should be noted that the BSA did not schedule any arena shows for this event, which is where the POTUS would typically appear. NOTE:  President Biden was both a Boy Scout and Explorer as a youth, earning at least the rank of First Class.
	2022
	2023	20th National Jamboree Location: Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, WV Dates: July 19 – July 28, 2023 POTUS Attending: NO

This listing above only details IF a sitting POTUS attended the National Jamboree, but doesn’t go in depth as to what they did or said while on site.  For more details about each visit made by a sitting POTUS, I’d suggest checking out this post from Aaron On Scouting.

Analysis: What Does it Mean?

Truth be told, it is actually more common for the POTUS to not attend a National Jamboree than it is for him to show up.

8 of 13 sitting Presidents have attended a BSA National Jamboree. At 62%, that’s slightly less than two thirds of the Presidents who attended.

Of the 20 National Jamborees that have occurred (not counting the cancelled 1935 and 2021 National Jamborees, and combining both 1973 locations into one event), a sitting President of the United States of America has only attended 8 times. That’s only 40% of the time.

The longest streak of sitting POTUS visits to a Jamboree is two. This happened twice, in 1937 & 1950 (Presidents Roosevelt & Truman) and again in 1960 & 1964 (Presidents Eisenhower & Johnson).

The longest streak of Jamborees without a sitting POTUS visit is five, from 1969 through 1985 (Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter & Reagan).

The only Presidents who attended every Jamboree for which they were sitting POTUS were those who only had the Jamboree occur once during their time in office (Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, George H.W. Bush, and Trump).

The Presidents who were in office during two or more Jamborees either attended only once (Presidents Eisenhower, Clinton, and George W. Bush), or not at all (Presidents Nixon, Reagan and Obama).

President Carter is the sole POTUS who only had one Jamboree occur during his time in office and did not attend.

Not to take this too far into the political arena, but people have and will always go there, so here’s a few quick numbers. Of the 15 Presidents, 7 (47%) were from the Republican Party and 8 (53%) were from the Democratic Party. Of the 2 who could not attend a Jamboree while in office, 1 was from each party. Of the remaining 6 Republican Presidents, 4 of 6 (67%) attended a jamboree and of the 7 Democratic Presidents, 4 of 7 (57%) attended. 4 of 9 (44%) National Jamborees held during the tenure of a Democratic President were attended by that POTUS. 4 of 11 (36%) National Jamborees held during the tenure of a Republican President were attended by that POTUS. All in all, it is pretty right down the middle.

In the end, what does it all mean? That it is pretty cool to the tens of thousands of Scouts and Scouters when a sitting President of the United States of America visits a National Jamboree. But it doesn’t happen as often as everyone seems to think.

Bottom line, in the end a POTUS attending Jamboree doesn’t make or break the event, and him attending doesn’t happen as often as people like to think.

Final Note: A POTUS’s record on attending the National Jamboree is only one small portion of his record with the BSA and isn’t always an quick indicator of how Scout-friendly he was (or is). Carter was a Cubmaster, Scoutmaster and Exploring Advisor, and Reagan was very involved as an adult Scouter, but neither attended the Jamboree while they were in office. Roosevelt was a former council President (and the first POTUS to have been a Scouter).  Eisenhower was a member of the BSA’s National Executive Board. Johnson was an active Scouter in Texas, and helped establish an Explorer Post in Washington D.C. at the Capitol. Nixon attended two Jamborees as Vice-President and hosted an Explorer meeting at the capitol while he was President.  In fact, since President Roosevelt became the first POTUS to have been actively involved as a Scout or Scouter as a youth or adult, only Presidents Truman, Nixon, H.W. Bush, and Trump had no active involvement as a registered Scout or Scouter.  If you’d like to know more about the Scouting background of each POTUS, check out this post from the The Voice of Scouting website.

-Middletownscouter

[Editorial Note: 1-Mar-2021, Fixed a couple of typos, replaced President Obama’s photo with his official Portrait Gallery portrait, and President Trump’s with his official photo (no portrait has yet been announced).  Added an entry for President Biden and the postponed 2021 Jamboree.  Updated Image credits below. When another Jamboree is scheduled and held, I will update the statistical math notes as appropriate, but they have not yet been touched. Previous editorial notes have been removed.]

[Editorial Note: 30-Jul-2023, Revised for the 2023 National Jamboree.  Updated all the statistical math notes as appropriate.  Changed the name of Scouting Magazine’s blog from Bryan On Scouting to Aaron On Scouting.  Fixed some formatting errors and ensured each picture has correct alt text and is clickable to open full size.]

Image Credits
All National Jamboree Logos: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/11/06/every-national-scout-jamboree-logo-1935-2017/ through 2017, from https://jamboree.scouting.org/ for 2021 & future.
All Presidential Portraits: http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photogallery/official-portraits-us-presidents [Page now 404], or https://americaspresidents.si.edu/gallery
Photograph of President Biden: http://www.whitehouse.gov
Figure 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pres_Roosevelt_and_Boy_Scouts_in_1937.jpg
Figure 2: http://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/photogallery/20140626/park/vafo/7745CDA2-155D-451F-6710FB214B446497/7745CDA2-155D-451F-6710FB214B446497.png
Figure 3: digitized scan by Middletownscouter from the archives of Raymond L. “Cap” Walker Jr.
Figure 4: http://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/photogallery/20140626/park/vafo/773C3FCF-155D-451F-671EF55834A7DE8A/773C3FCF-155D-451F-671EF55834A7DE8A.png
Figure 5: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/jpg/factsheet_lbj.jpg
Figure 6: http://scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0409/art/as-00.jpg
Figure 7: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/PPP-PHOTOS-1997-book2/PPP-PHOTOS-1997-book2-folio-D/content-detail.html
Figure 8: http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/images/jamboree1.jpg
Figure 9: Middletownscouter
Figure 10: Middletownscouter’s oldest child
Figure 11: Middletownscouter