Levittown and other suburban communities like it, were, in the 1950s, the undisputed playgrounds of the Baby Boom generation. Never before - or since - have young people enjoyed the untroubled freedom to engage in wholesome activities and leisures as the Boomers. They knew not the hardships of their parent's Depression era childhoods nor the violence and vulgarity that intrudes on their children's innocence today. Still, the latter was dimly anticipated, as manifest in the 1950s preoccupation with antisocial behavior among youth. Indeed, a Boy Scouts of America recruiting poster of the time shows three Boy Scouts contrasted to a leather-jacketed youthful hooligan. "Which will it be?" the poster asks.

The scouting movement originated in England and predates Levittown. In fact, its growth in America is owed, in no small part, to its staunchest advocate and activist: Theodore Roosevelt. But with the building of Levittown and the rise of suburbia in the '50s, Scouting became a powerful force for good in the community; the antidote to a rising tide of youthful moral directionlessness. Recognizing this legacy, the Levittown Historical Society has just erected a history - and a salute - to scouting and the role of the Scouting movement in early Levittown. It can be seen at the Society's museum at the Levittown Memorial Education Center at Ranch and Abbey Lanes.

Uniforms, badges, books, and posters illustrate the power of this movement in building character, good citizens, and educated young people. Browsing through the literature of a generation ago, I am fascinated by the degree to which the movement introduced young Americans to the diversity of the world's cultures and history and outlined a number of Scouting activities from ethnic cooking to foreign sports to native dress. Native American Indian skills, folklore, and history are especially well represented. All of these things were part of the Scouting life without the pedantic screed and politically correct smugness of today.

Another issue of a Scouting magazine was dedicated to the activities, endeavors, and accomplishments of handicapped Boy Scouts and the movement's dedication to excluding no one in its effort to make them grow up to be healthy, well-adjusted citizens.

Scouting has changed since the 1950s. We still have Wolves, Brownies, Cubs, Weblos, Daisies, and Girl Scouts. But there is an upbeat, savvy, and contemporary flair to modern Scouting. Many Scouts don T-shirts and sweatshirts with Scouting logos and leave the uniforms to special occasions. What has not changed is the movement's original goal of fostering wholesome childhoods and young adulthoods - and that's something needed today as in no other time in American history.