United States Junior Chamber
 | |
| Motto | Leadership Training Through Community Service |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 21, 1920 |
| Founder | Henry Giessenbier |
| Type | NGO |
| Location | |
| Fields | Individual, Community, International, Business |
Members | 15,500 |
Key people |
President: Heather Vardell Executive Director: Joel Harper |
| Website | www.usjaycees.org |
The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees or JCs, is a leadership training and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40.[1] It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI).[2] Areas of emphasis are business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections.[3] The U.S. Junior Chamber is a not-for-profit corporation/organization as described under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(4).
Established as the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce on January 21, 1920, it provided opportunities for young men to develop personal and leadership skills through service to others. The Jaycees later expanded to include women after the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1984 case Roberts v. United States Jaycees that Minnesota could prohibit sex discrimination in private organizations. 1995 marked the final year of the U.S. Jaycee Women (also known as Jayceettes or Jayceens), an organization that lasted 10 years and at its convention in 1994 in Atlanta boasted 59,000 members.
At its membership peak in 1976, the U.S. Jaycees boasted a membership total of 356,000 men between the ages of 18 and 35. Rules were later changed to allow members to stay active until age 40.
Notable U.S. Jaycees
- Larry Bird – Boston Celtics
- Warren E. Burger – Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
- Bill Clinton – President of the United States
- Ken Coon – Little Rock psychologist, former Arkansas Republican state chairman, former Arkansas state Jaycee president
- Gerald Ford – President of the United States
- Wendell Ford – US Senator, Governor of Kentucky, also served as US Jaycees President
- Bill Gates – Chairman of Microsoft
- John Wayne Gacy – Serial killer
- Al Gore – Vice President of the United States
- Larry Holmes – Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion
- Rogers Hornsby – Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player
- Howard Hughes – Industrialist
- Hubert Humphrey – Vice President of the United States
- Bradley Joseph – Composer/recording artist
- Charles Lindbergh – Aviator
- Tom Monaghan – Founder of Domino's Pizza
- Walter Mondale – Vice President of the United States
- Richard Nixon – President of the United States
- Lani Rae Rafko-Wilson – Miss America 1988
- Ronald Reagan – President of the United States, Actor
- Edmund Kemper – Serial killer
- John Jacob Rhodes - US Congressman, Arizona
References
- ↑ "The Jaycees". United States Junior Chamber. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
- ↑ "Welcome to JCI". Junior Chamber International. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
- ↑ John Clark (1995). A Legacy of Leadership: The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. p. 224. ISBN 0964545608.