Presidents, governors, members of Congress and local community servants are among the thousands of young men who learned the way the U.S. government works by participating in American Legion Boys Nation. Boys Nation participants are selected from Boys State programs across the country. Each delegate represents his state as a senator. An intense week of training and education in the legislative process also includes tours of Washington monuments and memorials, along with an occasional visit from the president. Boys Nation began in 1946 at American University in Washington. Boys State began in 1935 in Illinois as an effort to counter fascist youth camps springing up around the country at the time. At Boys State, high-school juniors learn the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of a franchised citizen.