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. 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, The New York Times revealed that the USYC had received more than 90 percent of its funds from the Central Intelligence Agency, leading many of the organization's largest members to quit. USYC continued to receive funding from the United States government before disbanding in 1986.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.

<i>The New York Times</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper based in New York City

The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 127 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. The Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency National intelligence agency of the United States

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States.

Contents

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, Camp Fire Girls, 4-H, American Unitarian Youth, National Catholic Welfare Conference, National Students Assembly, YMCA and YWCA. [1]

4-H Nonprofit organization

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 in the organization's original motto ‘head, heart, hands, and health’ which was later incorporated into the fuller pledge officially adopted in 1927. In the United States, the organization is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 4-H Canada is an independent non-profit organization overseeing the operation of branches throughout Canada. There are 4-H organizations in over 50 countries; the organization and administration varies from country to country. Each of these programs operates independently but cooperatively through international exchanges, global education programs, and communications.

YMCA Worldwide organization founded in 1844 on principles of muscular Christianity

YMCA [pronounced Y-M-C-A], sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries from 120 national associations. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by Sir George Williams in London, originally as the Young Men's Christian Association and aims to put Christian principles into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit".

The World Young Women's Christian Association is a movement working for the empowerment, leadership and rights of women, young women and girls in more than 120 countries. The members and supporters include women from many different faiths, ages, backgrounds, beliefs and cultures. Their common goal is that

[B]y 2035, 100 million young women and girls will transform power structures to create justice, gender equality and a world without violence and war; leading a sustainable YWCA movement, inclusive of all women.

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. [1]

The Rockefeller Foundation is a private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. It was established by the six-generation Rockefeller family. The Foundation was started by Standard Oil owner John D. Rockefeller ("Senior"), along with his son John D. Rockefeller Jr. ("Junior"), and Senior's principal oil and gas business and philanthropic advisor, Frederick Taylor Gates, in New York State on May 14, 1913, when its charter was formally accepted by the New York State Legislature.

History

In 1948, the World Assembly of Youth (WAY) was formed as a non-communist alternative to the World Federation of Democratic Youth. [2] 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. The YAC played a significant role in drafting the WAY constitution and electing its first leaders, and became the U.S. affiliate of WAY. [1]

World Assembly of Youth organization

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 of WAY are national youth councils. WAY currently has 140 member organisations from all continents. As the international coordinating body of national youth councils, WAY has consultative status 1 with the United Nations, the highest status possible for a non-governmental organization. WAY co-operates with the UN and many of its special agencies, particularly with UNAIDS, UNEP, ILO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, and WHO.

Communism socialist political movement and ideology

In political and social sciences, communism is the philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society, which is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state.

World Federation of Democratic Youth youth organization

The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organization, recognized by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organization, and has historically characterized itself as anti-imperialist and left-wing. WFDY was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, organized in the context of the end of World War II with the aim of uniting youth from the Allies behind an anti-fascist platform that was broadly pro-peace, anti-nuclear war, expressing friendship between youth of the capitalist and socialist nations. The WFDY Headquarters are in Budapest, Hungary. The main event of WFDY is the World Festival of Youth and Students. The last festival was held in Sochi, Russia, in October 2017. It was one of the first organizations granted general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

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. [1]

A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group thereby allowing them to hide from public view.

In 1963, YAC changed its name to the United States Youth Council. [1]

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 College Democrats of America, Collegiate Council for the United Nations, National Federation of Catholic Youth, National Student Association, Students for a Democratic Society, YMCA, Young Christian Workers, Young Democrats of America, Young Republicans, and the Youth Division of the NAACP. [3] At various times, it worked closely with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 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. [3] [4] 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. [1] The revelations caused a number of the U.S. Youth Council's largest members to withdraw. [5]

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. [1]

The loss of government financing nearly bankrupted the USYC. In December 1967, the United States Department of State stepped in to provide funding to keep the organization afloat. In time, financing was shifted to the United States Information Agency (USIA), which continued to fund its work openly. [6]

The ongoing revelations of CIA funding led USYC and NSWA to sever their relationship in 1969. [1]

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. [1]

In 1981, the United Nations announced that 1985 would be an International Youth Year (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. [1] [6]

USIA withdrew its funding for the USYC in 1986, and the organization folded. [1]

Notable leaders

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Maunders, "Controlling Youth for Democracy: The United States Youth Council and the World Assembly of Youth", Commonwealth Youth and Development, 2003.
  2. ↑ Altbach, "The International Student Movement", Comparative Education Review, October 1964; "First Group Here for Youth Session", The New York Times, July 26, 1951.
  3. 1 2 Reed, "Youth Council to Investigate Charge of C.I.A. Link", The New York Times, March 6, 1967.
  4. ↑ Sheehan, "Foundations Linked to C.I.A. Are Found to Subsidize 4 Other Youth Organizations", The New York Times, February 16, 1967.
  5. ↑ "Student Group Cuts Ties With U.S. Youth Council", The New York Times, February 22, 1967.
  6. 1 2 Gailey and Weaver, "Switch on Youth Year", The New York Times, August 12, 1982.
  7. ↑ Gurvis, Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?, 2006.

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