Naturism History
People began walking this earth nude some 100,000 years ago. They did not invent clothes until 60,000 years later. Yet many who lived in pleasant climates refused to give up their freedom. The Greeks proved that clothing is not required to achieve a high civilization.
Americans have been skinny-dipping for more than 10,000 years. In fact, swimsuits were not even invented until about 1870. The YMCA and many American high schools required nude swimming through the first two-thirds of the twentieth century.
Famous American skinny-dippers include Benjamin Franklin, President John Quincy Adams (who gave the first press conference while nude), Teddy Roosevelt (who skinny-dipped with foreign ambassadors), and President Lyndon Johnson (who swam nude in the White House pool with conservative Barry Goldwater and the Reverend Billy Graham). Ours is a long and proud tradition.
The idea of organizing nudists into clubs with outdoor recreation facilities started in Germany around the turn of the twentieth century. The idea spread to America in the 1930s. Those visionary pioneers banded together in what we now call the American Association for Nude Recreation.
When bulldozers and housing developments encroached on traditional old swimming holes, the generation of the 1960s established the free beach movement to save our natural heritage—a vigil carried on by The Naturist Society.
Today, both national nudist/naturist organizations work together to preserve our traditional family values and freedoms.