First National Jamboree


The First National Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America took place in 1937. Originally scheduled to take place in 1935 to celebrate their silver jubilee, an outbreak of polio in Washington, D.C. and the neighboring states, caused it to be canceled and pushed back, finally taking place from June 30 to July 9, 1937. Twenty-five thousand scouts attended the event taking place on the National Mall at the foot of the Washington Monument using equipment loaned by the United States Army. Scouts from all around the United States arrived by train, while representatives of several foreign countries' scouting groups traveled by boat and even by foot. The event was celebrated by the entire city with Federal buildings being opened for visits, Mount Vernon offering daily visits, and many local residents volunteering their time. U.S. President Roosevelt took part in the celebration and a special message from Lord Baden-Powell was broadcast from London to the scouts during the jamboree calling for International Friendship. It was a display of American patriotism with American flags on display; the event took place in the American capital in front of the White House during the week of the 4th of July.

Background

Cancellation of 1935 event

In 1935, a Jamboree was scheduled to take place from August 21 to August 30, 1935, in Washington, DC. 25,000 scouts were expected to attend. However, the area was seeing an increase in cases of "Infantile paralysis" with 20 new cases reported in Virginia on July 31, 1935. Federal and State officials gathered to evaluate the situation and decide whether to cancel the Jamboree. It is finally decided that the event should be canceled to protect the health of the scouts. By then preparations for the events were well on the way and it was not until August 8, 1935, that they halted by President Roosevelt. A year's postponement was called for rather than a cancellation. The President had personally been affected by Polio 14 years earlier. The cost of the event for 1935 was estimated to be $650,000 and would be covered by insurance, including refunding the scouts their $25. However, many scouts from overseas were already on their way. The disassembling of the 1400 tents already set up would be overseen by the US Army who had loaned the tents left over from World War I. In the end, the insurance paid $250,000 to the National Council to be used for the next Jamboree.

Radio address by President Roosevelt

On February 8, 1936, President Roosevelt made a radio address to the Boy Scouts promoting scouting and appealing to older scouts. At the end of his message, he announced that the jamboree would take place in the early summer of 1937.

Breakfast with Congressional leaders

Ahead of the First National Jamboree, a breakfast took place on May 21, 1937, at the Senate restaurant gathering Senators and Representatives along with Boy Scout leaders.
In attendance were:
All in attendance were or had been associated with the Boy Scouts of America. Speeches were made on the importance of scouting and the scout salute was made next to official Jamboree poster.

Official poster

The Lithography by Howard Chandler Christy which would be used as the Jamboree Poster was presented in May 1937. The poster featured a Boy Scout in a brown uniform with a yellow neckerchief with his hat in his left hand sitting on grass at the edge of a cliff. Behind were the founding fathers with George Washington's hand on the boy's right shoulder along with the United States Capitol. Behind them all was a flying American flag. Next to the Scout is an open book with "1787-1937" written on the left page and "The Constitution of the United States of America" written on the right page.

1937 First National Jamboree

The first national jamboree was held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. occupying 350 acres for ten days from June 30 to July 9, 1937, attended by 25,000 Scouts. Region campsites were set up around the Washington Monument and Tidal Basin.

Logistics

Most arrived by train coming in Union Station. Most of the railroads had agreed to reduce their fares to 1 cent per mile in coach for scouts and their leaders when traveling in parties of 10 or more. An additional 25 cents would be charged to transport their camp gear several city blocks from the train station to the Mall. On June 29 alone, 64 special trains arrived in the city just for the Jamboree. The first group of 5,000 Scouts mostly from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia arrived on June 26. The last group arrived in the evening of June 29 from Santa Rosa, California.
The US Army provided most of the equipment for the Jamboree:
  • 3,901 tents
  • 400 mattresses
  • 20,000 cots
  • 20,000 bed sacks
  • 16,000 blankets
  • 29,000 canteens,
  • 195 Army field ranges
  • 125 flags
  • 9,000 meat platters
  • 1,600 rakes
  • 3,200 shovels
  • 1,000 hand axes
  • 854 sterilizing bags
  • 40 field telephone unites
  • 900 coffee pots
  • 1,632 of each for butcher knives, cook spoons and meat forks
  • 13,000 serving spoons
If the tents were placed end to end, it would cover one square mile. The Boy Scouts of America were to return everything at the end of the Jamboree and would cover any damage to the equipment. The equipment was sourced from Army posts in a 100-mile radius of Washington, D.C. as well as from Columbus, Ohio, New York City and Philadelphia
To feed the scouts and their leaders, 25 kitchens were set up on the Jamboree grounds. From there, the 816 provisional troops would get their food and take them back to their troop dining tents in thermos cans. It was estimated that 250 tons of food would be consumed daily including 900 bushels of potatoes, 13,000 pounds of bread, 50,000 eggs and 1,200 gallons of canned vegetables would be used at each meal. 25,000 quarts of milk would be drunk while 4,000 pounds of butter would be consumed daily. According to an advertisement by Melvin Ice Cream in the local newspaper, 1,071 gallons of their ice cream were served at each meal, representing 30,000 service a day. In total, 100,000 meals were served every day served on paper plates. Each scout was responsible for bringing and cleaning their own silverware.
There were two shower houses with 18 enormous high-powered sprays for every group of 1,250 boys.
Five theater tents were set up for Scout talent shows. On the first day of the Jamboree, 25 campfires were set up.
75 doctors, 75 male hospital assistants, and 3 dentists volunteered their time for the Jamboree to men the 20 stations on-site to treat cuts, bruises, cases of sunburns and do a few teeth extractions. One hundred beds were reserved for the occasion at the Marine Hospital and two American Red Cross ambulances were on duty 24/7 in case of sickness or accident. The fear of polio that had led to the cancellation of the 1935 Jamboree was still present.

Personal communications

Telephones and two telegraphs were set up on the grounds so parents could easily reach their children.
The Washington Post Office handled thousands of extra pieces of mail a day from the Scouts and their parents. This was the most mail they had encountered for any convention. A Camp Post Office was set up with branches in every section of the camp. Several mail trucks were called every day. Valley Forge Council used three homing pigeon on three separate journeys to send messages from the Jamboree to Norristown, Pennsylvania, taking only 3 hours and each time the birds were returned to camp by train in the custody of a Pigeon fancier.

News coverage

The event was covered extensively by radio and newspapers. A press tent accommodated 526 news media reporters, photographers, and broadcasters. Sixty-four news releases were issued and the BSA assisted in the making of 11 newsreels and 53 magazine articles.
20 telephones and 2 telegraph services were set up in the tent to share the news with the nation and the world. A Mimeograph allowed handouts to be printed handouts which would be sent to the National Press Club, 1,950 daily newspapers and 12,000 country weeklies. Special writers and their photographers were present for various magazines including The Saturday Evening Post, Time, Life and Fortune.
The three major U.S. radio networks of the time, NBC, CBS, and Mutual, had broadcasting studios near the jamboree headquarters to produce almost 19 hours of live, on-site jamboree coverage broadcast coast-to-coast. Celebrities also visited the jamboree, including well-known broadcaster Lowell Thomas and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While at the jamboree, Scouts also attended a three-game baseball series between the Washington Senators and the Boston Red Sox at Griffith Stadium, as well as toured nearby Mount Vernon.
On July 7, "Canning" started to take place. Short programs were recorded by foreign Scouts by the United States Recording Company to be sent home for rebroadcasting. Indeed, it had become impossible to handle all the live requests.
Hometown newspapers across the United States had "Boy Scout correspondents" at the Jamboree. Over 100 Scout journalists and some of the leaders had their travel expenses paid in exchange for daily stories sent by telegraph or air mail. These young journalists had official press credentials from the Jamboree public relations services.
The scouts had their own official Boy Scouts of America daily morning newspaper for the time of the event called the Jamboree Journal. It was to be a 16-page illustrated tabloid with a circulation of 50,000 copies with a circulation staff of older scouts distributing the edition to 20 sectional camps of 1,260 scouts and leaders each. The additional thousands of copies were to be mailed to subscribers and sold in Washington, D.C.