The American Youth Congress (AYC) was an early

youth voice Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, ident ...

organization composed of youth from all across the country to discuss the problems facing youth as a whole in the 1930s. It met several years in a row - one year it notably met on the lawn of the White House. The delegates are known to have caused a disturbance when they attempted to access the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

. They focused on the

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

, which was taking youths at age 18 off to war. At the time in the United States one was not legally an adult in any way until the age of 21. They also focused on the economic exploitation of youth. The formation of the AYC is also widely seen as a precursor to the establishment of the

National Youth Administration The National Youth Administration (NYA) was a New Deal agency sponsored by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his presidency. It focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. It operated from June 26, 1935 to ...

. Both the AYC and the NYA are notable for the support which First Lady

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four t ...

lent to them.

History

The American Youth Congress, or AYC, was formed in 1935 to advocate for

youth rights The youth rights movement (also known as youth liberation) seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion o ...

in U.S. politics, and was responsible for introducing the ''American Youth Bill of Rights'' to the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a woman seen to be at the ...

's relationship with the AYC eventually led to the formation of the

. Speaking of the National Youth Administration in the 1930s, Eleanor Roosevelt expressed her concern about ageism, stating that "I live in real terror when I think we may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary." On July 4, 1936, the AYC issued a ''Declaration of the Rights of American Youth'', which addressed several issues, mainly inalienable rights issues that affected youth, and the economic issues. Its Chairman in 1937 was William W. Hinckley, a member of the CP controlled Psychologists League. By 1939 the movement claimed 4,697,915 members in 513 affiliated organizations nationwide. In 1939 the

Dies Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

subpoenaed leaders of the AYC, who, in addition to serving the AYC, also were members of the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YC ...

. Eleanor Roosevelt was in attendance at the hearings and afterward invited the subpoenaed witnesses to board at the White House during their stay in Washington D.C. That year

Joseph P. Lash Joseph Paul Lash (December 2, 1909 – August 22, 1987) was an American radical political activist, journalist, and writer. A close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Lash won both the Pulitzer Prize for BiographyTrude Lash, described his 1937 defection from the Socialist Party in the Communist weekly, ''

New Masses ''New Masses'' (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA. It succeeded both '' The Masses'' (1912–1917) and ''The Liberator''. ''New Masses'' was later merged into '' Masses & Mainstream'' (1 ...

''. He was one of First Lady Roosevelt's boarders at the White House during the hearings. Another officer, Abbott Simon, slept for two weeks in Lincoln's bed during the hearings. In addition to his role in the AYC, Simon was a staff member of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

publication, ''Champion''. On February 10, 1940, members of the AYC, as guests of First Lady Roosevelt, attended a picnic on the White House lawn where they were addressed by President Roosevelt from the South Portico. The President admonished them to condemn not merely the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

regime In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan J ...

but all

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...

s. The President was reportedly booed by the group. Afterwards, many of the same youth picketed the White House as representatives of the

American Peace Mobilization The American Peace Mobilization (APM) was a peace group established in 1940 to oppose American aid to the Allies in World War II before the United States entered the war. It was officially cited in 1947 by United States Attorney General Tom C. Cl ...

. Among them was Joseph Cadden, one of the overnight guests. Later in 1940, despite Eleanor Roosevelt's publication of reasons called "Why I still believe in the Youth Congress," the American Youth Congress was disbanded.

References

* California Legislature, Joint Fact Finding Committee, Fourth Report, Un-American Activities in California, 1948: Communist Front Organizations; (Sacramento, CA, 1948) p. 180. * John T. Flynn, ''The Roosevelt Myth'', (New York: Devin-Adair, 1948)

External articles

* Eleanor Roosevelt,
Why I Still Believe in the Youth Congress
'

Joseph P. Lash, Interview. {{Authority control Youth organizations established in 1935 Organizations disestablished in 1940 Communism in the United States Political history of the United States Youth rights organizations based in the United States History of youth 1935 establishments in the United States 1940 disestablishments in the United States

History

See also

References

External articles