You don’t have to be a Scout to lead a country but it helps…

Seen today at Nick's Ramblings

You don’t have to be a Scout to lead a country but it helps…

Today, Barak Obama becomes the latest in a long list of world leaders who gained their first taste of leadership at an early age as Scouts. The first US President to have been a Scout was JFK and since then eight Presidents have been either Scouts or Scout leaders.

President Obama’s Scouting began when his family moved from his birthplace of Hawaii to Indonesia, where he joined Gerakan Pramuka; The Indonesian Scout Association. Rully Dasaad, a childhood friend of Obama’s, picks up the story, ‘He was a good hearted kid. We played together every day during that time. We joined the Scouts together, [there] we learned how to use rope for building a camp tent, went climbing and did many other things…’

The story is the same across the political world with Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, John Major, Harold Wilson, Vaclav Havel (Czech Republic), Horst Kohler (German President) all cutting their leadership skills in the Scouts.

President Gerald Ford said: ‘I can say without hesitation, because of Scouting principles, I know I was a better athlete, I was a better Congressman, and I was a better prepared President.’