On February 1, 1993, Ratcliffe accepted the position of the Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In March 1998, he met in Japan with leaders of the Boy Scouts of Japan to start an exchange program with the BSA. While there, he presented Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto with the BSA's Silver World Award. Ratcliffe said Scouting, "is one of the few programs that still focuses on values, and values seem to be a quality many of our young people lack today".