United States Youth Council
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The United States Youth Council (USYC) was a nonprofit coalition of organizations which served youth and young adults in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It was founded in 1945 by the National Social Welfare Assembly as that organization's youth division, but became independent in the early 1960s. In 1967, ''
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'' revealed that the USYC had received more than 90 percent of its funds from the
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, leading many of the organization's largest members to quit. USYC continued to receive funding from the United States government before disbanding in 1986.


Founding

The USYC was founded in 1945 by the National Social Welfare Assembly, a coalition of social service agencies. Originally named the "Young Adult Council of the NSWA" (YAC), the organization had 16 members, including American Youth Hostels,
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,
4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times i ...
, American Unitarian Youth, National Catholic Welfare Conference, National Students Assembly,
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
and
YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
.Maunders, "Controlling Youth for Democracy: The United States Youth Council and the World Assembly of Youth", ''Commonwealth Youth and Development,'' 2003. YAC's structure was staff-driven. It was led by an executive director who was a full-time staff members of NSWA, and most of its funding came from the NSWA as well. International travel was often funded by outside sources, such as the Rockefeller Foundation. YAC nevertheless maintained a chairman who, under the organization's bylaws, was required to be under the age of 30. The organization also maintained council of representatives from each participating member. As late as 1967, 60 percent of WAY's budget was financed by contributions from the foundation.


History

In 1948, the
World Assembly of Youth The World Assembly of Youth (WAY); French: ''Assemblée Mondiale de la Jeunesse'', Spanish: ''Asamblea Mundial de la Juventud'' is the international coordinating body of national youth councils and national youth organisations. The full members ...
(WAY) was formed as a non- communist alternative to the
World Federation of Democratic Youth The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organization, and has historically characterized itself as left-wing and anti-imperialist. WFDY was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, ...
. WAY's inaugural convention was in August 1948. Prior to the meeting, the Young Adult Council ejected most of its members with ties to political parties or
trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
. The YAC played a significant role in drafting the WAY constitution and electing its first leaders, and became the U.S. affiliate of WAY. WAY struggled financially in its early years. YAC provided most of WAY's funding through a grant from the Foundation for Youth and Student Affairs, a front organization established and funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). YAC provided $301,000 to WAY from the foundation. Although WAY was troubled by its dependence on the Americans (and one American donor), the organization had no choice but to accept the money. YAC's executive director, Bernice Bridges, knew that the source of the funds was the U.S. government. But this fact did not appear to concern her or her superiors in NSWA. In 1963, YAC changed its name to the United States Youth Council. USYC, too, continued its reliance on CIA money. At the height of its strength in the middle to late 1960s, the U.S. Youth Council had 37 member organizations, including the
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, Collegiate Council for the United Nations, National Federation of Catholic Youth,
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,
Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...
,
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
,
Young Christian Workers The Young Christian Workers (YCW; french: Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne) is an international organization founded by Rev. Joseph Cardijn in Belgium as the Young Trade Unionists; the organization adopted its present name in 1924. Its French acronym ...
,
Young Democrats of America The Young Democrats of America (YDA) is the youth wing of the Democratic Party of the United States. YDA operates as a separate organization from the Democratic National Committee; following the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, i ...
,
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, and the Youth Division of the NAACP.Reed, "Youth Council to Investigate Charge of C.I.A. Link", ''The New York Times'', March 6, 1967. At various times, it worked closely with the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), whose members were employed in the women's clothing industry, was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membe ...
, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. In 1967, ''The New York Times'' revealed that the CIA had supplied 90 percent of the organization's funds, and was surreptitiously controlling its agenda. Presidents and vice-presidents of USYC were aware of the source of the funds: They were given a top-secret security clearance by the CIA and required to sign a 20-year confidentiality agreement to keep the intelligence agency's involvement a secret. The revelations caused a number of the U.S. Youth Council's largest members to withdraw. USYC's council conducted an investigation which was largely inconclusive. The study found that some officers had clearly signed secrecy agreements, but the council was unable to prove that all presidents and vice-presidents had done so. The National Student Association and the University Christian Movement claimed the study was a whitewash, and withdrew from the USYC. In response, the USYC resolved not to accept any more funding from the Foundation for Youth and Student Affairs. The loss of government financing nearly bankrupted the USYC. In December 1967, the
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stepped in to provide funding to keep the organization afloat. In time, financing was shifted to the
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(USIA), which continued to fund its work openly.Gailey and Weaver, "Switch on Youth Year", ''The New York Times'', August 12, 1982. The ongoing revelations of CIA funding led USYC and NSWA to sever their relationship in 1969. USYC withdrew from WAY in 1976 after several years of tension over policies, programs, funding and anti-American feeling by delegates from under-developed countries. USYC became increasingly conservative and isolated within the American and international youth movement for the remainder of the 1970s and through the 1980s. In some respects, this enabled the organization to continue to receive funding from the
Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
. In 1981, the
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announced that 1985 would be an
International Youth Year The year 1985 was proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Youth Year (IYY). It was held to focus attention on issues of concern to and relating to youth. The proclamation was signed on January 1, 1985, by United Nations Secretary Gen ...
(IYY). USYC attempted to take the lead in planning for U.S. participation in the IYY. Competition with a rival body, the U.S. Committee on International Youth Year, led to a congressional investigation. In 1985, Congress passed the Zorinsky amendment (U.S.C. 1461-1a), which barred programs funded by the USIA from operating domestically or conducting propaganda campaigns against domestic audiences. The law also required the IYY committees to be representative and open to all youth organizations. USYC refused to open the executive positions on its IYY committee to other groups, and American participation in the IYY collapsed. USIA withdrew its funding for the USYC in 1986, and the organization folded.


Notable leaders

* Jed Johnson, Jr. - president, 1962–1964 * Ronald E. Robinson - president, 1983-1985Gurvis, ''Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?'', 2006. * David Ridenour - executive director, 1970s? *Hunter R. Schone - Youth President 2009–Present


Notes


References

*Altbach, Philip G. "The International Student Movement." ''Comparative Education Review''. 8:2 (October 1964). *"First Group Here for Youth Session." ''The New York Times''. July 26, 1951. *Gailey, Phil and Weaver, Jr., Warren. "Switch on Youth Year." ''The New York Times''. August 12, 1982. *Gurvis, Sandra. ''Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?'' Oxford, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 2006. {{ISBN, 1-57806-314-0 *Maunders, David. "Controlling Youth for Democracy: The United States Youth Council and the World Assembly of Youth." ''Commonwealth Youth and Development''. 1:2 (2003). *Reed, Roy. "Youth Council to Investigate Charge of C.I.A. Link." ''The New York Times''. March 6, 1967. *Sheehan, Neil. "Foundations Linked to C.I.A. Are Found to Subsidize 4 Other Youth Organizations." ''The New York Times''. February 16, 1967. *"Student Group Cuts Ties With U.S. Youth Council." ''The New York Times''. February 22, 1967.


External links


United States Youth Council Records, 1950-1980. Social Welfare History Archives, Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota.
Youth organizations based in the United States 1945 establishments in the United States 1986 disestablishments in the United States