Benjamin Rene Jordan. Modern Manhood and the of America: Citizenship, Race, and the Environment, 1910-1930. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Illustrations. 306 pp. $29.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-4696-2765-6.

Reviewed by Ryan Anderson

Published on H-SHGAPE (March, 2017)

Commissioned by Jay W. Driskell

By sheer coincidence, I watched the Board‐ gang goolie, goolie, goolie, goolie, watcha” over‐ walk Empire episode titled “Ging Gang Goolie” af‐ whelms his stifed sobs.[1] ter reading Benjamin Renè Jordan’s Modern Man‐ The scene struck me: adults fervently and au‐ hood and the . In one scene, thentically espousing organizational ideas every US Attorney General Harry Daugherty regales a person in the room understood diferently; boys group of Boy Scouts, troop leaders, and Boys singing a British marching song; and confict Scouts of America (BSA) executives with a story overwhelmed (or overshadowed) by moving for‐ about an “honest injun” with a forthright nature. ward together. It underscores Jordan’s argument As Daugherty sits after fnishing, a BSA ofcial in Modern Manhood and the Boy Scouts of Ameri‐ thanks him and tells the assemblage that he can ca that was popular during the 1910s see they are “the moral fber of America”; they and 1920s because it ofered economic, civic, so‐ are destined for leadership; and when they suc‐ cial, and cultural privileges aforded white men ceed as men—there might be a future Babe Ruth by methods both universal and local. Living as a or even a Warren G. Harding in the room—they meant practicing and embodying a manli‐ will remember they won their laurels as Scouts ness representing the acme of American civiliza‐ because, “it’s all there in the , isn’t it?” tion. The ofcial reads the Scout Oath out loud and Modern Manhood and the Boy Scouts of Daugherty’s colleague and partner-in-crime Jesse America is a splendid reinterpretation of the Smith, who is sitting next to him, breaks down. BSA’s early years and growth. Jordan emphasizes Seeing the scrubbed faces of the collective Scout‐ the organization’s place within the larger transat‐ ing community and hearing what makes a man lantic Scouting movement, which refected corpo‐ worthy of civil leadership and respect is unbear‐ rate society’s emergence and normalization dur‐ able. Smith cries and moans to Daugherty, regard‐ ing the Progressive Era. Central to the BSA’s suc‐ ing Teapot Dome, “We stole Harry, we stole!” At cess were the opportunities it created for early this point, Troop 14 from Laurel, Maryland, takes twentieth-century boys and men, who blended over, singing a “campfre favorite.” Smith is quick‐ traditional and modern ideas about gender by ly ushered out of the room as the refrain of “Ging creating a particular Scouting manliness. By bal‐ ancing top-down and bottom-up perspectives, this H-Net Reviews book explains how the BSA defned what an found in a major metropolitan area. Second, American boy looked like and did outdoors for a Scouting depended on Twelve Laws and the Scout surprisingly broad swath of Americans. The peo‐ Oath, which blended Victorian modesty and self- ple Jordan describes and analyzes are not anxious control with the modern faith in efciency, man‐ about America’s transition from industrial capital‐ agement skills, and corporate hierarchy. A frst ism to corporate capitalism. They are engaged group of laws demanded that members worked with sorting out their assumptions about what is cheerfully, spent thriftily, and demonstrated their right and true in a new way so that they could de‐ trustworthiness, obedience, and loyalty. Such velop qualities their parents and grandparents re‐ qualities made Scouts into good company men spected while anticipating new virtues they need‐ and represented a shift from self-made manhood ed to get ahead in modern corporate America. to self-supportive manhood. A second grouping of These are “doers.” Given a set of tools they fgure laws included being friendly, helpful, reverent, out what they will make of themselves while bal‐ brave, clean, courteous, and kind and defned ancing the imperatives that come from member‐ how Scouts interacted with people of color by po‐ ship in a nationally based organization and a de‐ sitioning them in a dichotomy. In that way, a Scout sire for individualism and local authority. Scout‐ became known as white, male, and capable of ing was—as Jordan aptly describes it—an appren‐ leading their inferiors. Members practiced all ticeship in manliness at a time when American these tenets on outdoor adventures within a tight‐ capitalism’s transformation radically reordered ly knit troop of peers under the eye of their troop‐ what it meant to be a boy, a man, and an adult. It master. Third, Scouts assumed civic roles by prac‐ let men help boys demonstrate their civic ftness ticing patriotism and citizenship. The BSA had and potential for success. Scouts encourage voting in their towns as a way This book’s frst and more substantive part of practicing democracy in a nonpartisan fashion. examines four core elements of the BSA as they Their Good Turn initiative built relations with lo‐ developed together during the teens and twenties. cal politicians for whom Scouting was an asset First, by balancing democratic volunteerism and and appealed to Scouts because it was seen as corporate professionalism, the BSA out-recruited leadership training that came with the benefts and overwhelmed competing organizations be‐ and privileges of recognition from local, state, and tween 1910 and the start of World War I before national political and moral leaders. Fourth, the expanding its reach and control of Scouting dur‐ nature activities the BSA sponsored further indi‐ ing the twenties. With an array of powerful men cated its successful blending of traditional and behind the organization, lawyer and child welfare modern values. Nature study, hiking, camping, activist James West standardized what Scouting and conservation all gave boys manly pursuits out was and did for its participants. The middle-class of doors and appeased adults worried about the men who stafed troop leadership and local coun‐ negative impacts of child labor laws and compul‐ cils decided how Scouting’s principles played out sory schooling on job preparation. locally. They were, after all, the ones who generat‐ Part 1 makes a convincing argument for how ed the dues income that funded the BSA’s work. the BSA’s apprenticeship in manliness functioned. Scouting attracted boys who wanted a way of Jordan aptly targets an important transition in making themselves manly away from home, at a each of his frst four chapters: American Scout‐ stage in life when they needed the help of a re‐ ing’s shift from confederacy of like-minded people spected organization, living in parts of the United to well-functioning corporation; the metamorpho‐ States where that opportunity was limited by the sis of Lord Baden-Powell’s blend of militaristic, lack of economic and social opportunities one classist, and primitive morals into a blend of Vic‐

2 H-Net Reviews torian and modern values; the assumption that BSA did not simply absorb the Girl Scouts, espe‐ the BSA could and should assume responsibility of cially since some Boy Scout troops had been ac‐ civic education rather than families and schools; cepting girls as members as early as 1908. and the reimagining of nature as an environment In part 2 of Modern Manhood and the Boy that could no longer be romanticized, but now Scouts of America, Jordan shows how Scouting should be seen as a national resource. Taken to‐ principles let BSA ofcials model a society that in‐ gether, these changes explain why boys and men cluded and sorted boys who were not WASPs put their faith in Scouting as a way of adapting to (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants). Prior to World the modern socioeconomic environment—it de‐ War I, the BSA focused on growing membership fned progress according to Scouting’s “classless and overwhelming its competitors, including the standard” (p. 43). Scouting’s mechanism for creat‐ Salvation Army Scouts, Polish National Alliance ing opportunity looked fair. But it privileged Scouts, Peace Scouts, and even Young Men’s Chris‐ whiteness and maleness by, frst, letting leaders tian Association (YMCA) scouting programs. Fur‐ decide who could and could not join their particu‐ thermore, since troop formation followed local lar troops on an individual basis and, second, ex‐ initiative, BSA policy allowed for troops that were pecting what was for people outside the middle exclusively Catholic or Jewish, or that identifed class a cost-prohibitive commitment to uniforms, with a particular ethnic identity. Sometimes, gear, and time. Jordan might have employed bio‐ troops in urban areas included members from a graphic elements at strategic points in this sec‐ cross section of these identities. Since troops tion. For instance, I found myself curious about could operate in accordance with their particular people like West and other BSA leaders like beliefs and sometimes languages, the BSA won the William D. Boyce, Edgar Robinson, George DuPont support of ethnic leaders and labor organizers. Pratt, Lee Hamer, and John Alexander. Outside of Despite this ethnic and religious diversity, ft‐ the knowledge that these men were philan‐ ting into the BSA’s ideas about manliness meant thropists and child-savers, I wondered what moti‐ accepting that membership was only for those vations drove their work. As is, they come across who could fnancially aford to abide by Scout as passionless bureaucrats. Law. This is especially evident in the relationship Additionally, the role of the Girl Scouts of between the BSA and both rural and African America (GSA) in this history remains underex‐ American boys. Part of the BSA’s blending of tradi‐ amined in this account. Jordan notes that the un‐ tional and modern values meant positing that ru‐ easy relationship between the two groups grew ral boys were notft for inclusion into the BSA be‐ sharper and more distinct during the teens and cause country living and traditional farm work twenties as the BSA attempted to run the GSA out could no longer lead a boy to respectable man‐ of business. However, this attempt failed due to hood. The BSA overestimated its appeal, assuming changing attitudes regarding what was appropri‐ rural boys would either accept a more modern ate for girls and the opposition of the GSA’s pow‐ version of manhood or not participate in any like erful political allies, such as First Lady Lou Henry activities. The strange career of the of Hoover. Though persuasive, this explanation for America (LSA), which privileged boyish autonomy the GSA’s survival would have been bolstered and ft rural boys’ values, cost the BSA hundreds with a more thorough exploration of the internal of thousands of members. Even though the BSA policies and culture of the GSA. Not only would often portrayed African American boys as lacking this have ofered a nice counterpoint to the devel‐ the qualities possessed by a good white Scout, it opment of modern manhood that Jordan explores, embraced the Rockefeller-funded “Louisville but it also would have better explained how the

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Plan” by the early twenties, creating segregated whiteness, and institutional histories of Scouting. troops in the Southeast. Although as many as fve As for primary sources, readers will fnd a range thousand black youths participated by that point of period publications at work along with BSA in other parts of the United States, segregated archival materials, ofcial publications, memoirs, troops increased black membership and created and deep readings of BSA-approved skits, camp some space for their advancement, even though lore, and teaching materials. There is some in‐ the practicalities of scouting in the segregated triguing cultural heavy lifting done here that is South prevented many of the boys from progress‐ well rooted in social, economic, and political his‐ ing—literally—past second-class status. tory. If you were a Scout, you will probably spend The second part of this work is what will like‐ some time plumbing the depths of your own ly draw the most interest as it is where Jordan de‐ Scouting or summer camp skit memories after‐ tails how new immigrants and African Americans ward. found ways to ft in within BSA schemata and Importantly, Jordan illustrates how the rise of claim varying degrees of respect from other institutional power did not necessarily subsume Scouts. The BSA allowed black and ethnic partici‐ individual power. Because he follows boys away pation because it showed that the organization from schools and homes, this is not a history of could encourage some of these boys’ adoption of how young people’s autonomy declined because the life that many people thought made a boy of the period’s growing acceptance of adult exper‐ manly and proved that Scout Law had broad ap‐ tise (a perspective often generated by histories peal and rewarded the right sorts. What made the that explore intersections of labor, political be‐ BSA more inclusive had less to do with the organi‐ havior, schooling, and young people). Rather, he zation’s humanitarianism than its trust that the shows how youthful freedoms were expressed in mechanism of Scouting allowed only the right sort ways that dovetailed with what adults wanted of minority boys and men into the fold. Conse‐ from young people. In particular, his examples of quently, the BSA felt no sense of hypocrisy regard‐ how civic-minded Scouts demonstrated the exer‐ ing the natural limits that its methods imposed on cise of political rights during a period of party re‐ its inclusive membership policies. Still, minorities confguration and new voter behavior do this liked Scouting because its apprenticeship was so quite well. The BSA’s adaption of Scouting to the widely respected that to live up to its tenets meant American scene refects the progressives’ protec‐ one could at least establish a way of asking for re‐ tion of certain American traditions—like meritoc‐ spect from mainstream Americans. Yet becoming racy and individualism—that they hoped would a Scout also meant accepting the qualifcations aford as many Americans as possible the chance membership demanded—accepting second-class at success. The relationship between the individu‐ status within the Scouts. The BSA instructed area al and group identity put to work in Modern Man‐ councils to create advisory councils stafed with hood and the Boy Scouts of America speaks to the trained black troop leaders, but decisions about work done by another historian of American how black troops related to white troops was left manliness, Nicholas L. Syrett, whose work on fra‐ up to white council members. In this way, the ternities (The Company He Keeps: A History of racial homogeneity and privilege that came with White College Fraternities [2011] takes on a much Scouting’s version of manliness became normal. wider chronological span. The Boy Scouts, like Jordan deftly weaves together a variety of Greek organizations in Syrett’s book, show how sources. He employs classic and recent secondary defnitions of manliness could seem inclusive and sources on gender, youth, education, citizenship, yet, in practice, function as an exclusive identity. It would be interesting to read Jordan alongside

4 H-Net Reviews my own book on Frank Merriwell set in the 1890s plex relationships between everyday people and and 1900s (Frank Merriwell and the Fiction of All- the period’s institutions. American Boyhood: The Progressive Era Creation Even so, Jordan’s depiction of the BSA as an of All-American Boyhood [2015]) and Melissa organization and the power it commanded is so Bingmann’s book about ranch schools for the sons tightly knit that at times the BSA looks like a veri‐ of the elite set in the 1920s and 1930s (Prep School table leviathan of manliness. As a result, readers Cowboys: Ranch Schools in the American West see Scouts embrace and use Scouting, but do not [2015]). That trio of works covers a period where‐ see the bad seeds, rejects, and dropouts. There is a in one can see the negotiation of manliness and glimpse of this in his section on the LSA as a rural how it came to seem so democratic, yet function alternative to the BSA and its members’ rejection as a way of cordoning of the deserving from un‐ of the latter’s consolidation of the former. But derserving. Jordan’s efort, then, contributes to a where is the street tough or even the middle-class much larger conversation regarding how nation‐ mollycoddle who cannot hack a summer at Scout ally based relationships in Progressive Era Ameri‐ Camp and still gets to vote, run for ofce, or man‐ ca changed how everyday people defned cultural age other men as an adult? I wondered if Scouting ideas like boyhood and manliness. His contribu‐ was as all-consuming as Jordan depicts—this was, tion provides a clearer understanding of how after all, a period of great growth in youth sports Americans did not replace, so much as refne, al‐ and extracurricular activities. Did the BSA really ready accepted ideas and identities. achieve what it set out to achieve by becoming On a topical level, Modern Manhood and the “the” standard for making men, or does Jordan Boy Scouts of America is in conversation with create an echo chamber of sorts on the matter? David Macleod’s classic work, Building Character Highlighting people who did not adjust to new in the American Boy: The Boy Scouts, YMCA, and types of manliness or adjusted in another way Their Forerunners, 1870-1920 (1983). Both authors might have provided context that made the BSA’s look at the early years of Scouting, though success all the more impressive. Returning to the Macleod’s focus is a touch broader. But where Boardwalk Empire scene I opened with, where Macleod portrays the BSA as nostalgic and es‐ are the Jesse Smiths so moved by their own difer‐ capist in its use of Indian lore, Jordan’s reach into ences from Scouting’s values that they cannot the twenties lets him show how Scouting’s rejec‐ hold the company line? tion—or at least de-emphasis of—Indian lore sign‐ Still, I must acknowledge the plucky members posted its progressive qualities by highlighting of Troop 18 singing “Ging Gang Goolie” as Smith how it became uniquely American and modern. exited. That grit is what fascinates Jordan, who Also, Macleod famously emphasized Scouting as a aptly captures the quality in this work. His conclu‐ form of social control, whereas Jordan demon‐ sion makes the powerful argument that the BSA’s strates the ways in which scouting forwarded a recent acceptance of gay men and boys should not negotiated autonomy. The major diference be‐ be understood as an anomaly. Underscoring this tween these two histories of the BSA is in each au‐ is the organization’s recent decision to allow thor’s depiction of the people involved. That is, transgender members because doing so was in Macleod’s Scouts are conficted about their place line with what many troop leaders, Scouts, and in society while Jordan’s are not. Jordan helps his‐ parents believed was right. Powerful bureaucra‐ torians understand the BSA’s popularity in light of cies do not have the power to make people behave more recent scholarship that nuances the com‐ as they wish. Moreover, Jordan reminds us that people who participate in such organizations ne‐

5 H-Net Reviews gotiate what membership means and make orga‐ nizations adapt as needed. Note [1]. “Ging Gang Goolie,” Season 3, Episode 6, Boardwalk Empire, dir. Edward Bianchi, written by Steve Komacki, HBO, October 21, 2012.

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Citation: Ryan Anderson. Review of Jordan, Benjamin Rene. Modern Manhood and the Boy Scouts of America: Citizenship, Race, and the Environment, 1910-1930. H-SHGAPE, H-Net Reviews. March, 2017.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=47607

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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