1 CHAPTER 1: AMERICAN INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND ...

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over Indian Country as paternalistic and as a cause of Indian segregation and poverty. The Commissioner's solution involved providing federal assistance to improve the Indians' economic and social status and then abrogating the trust relationship. 39 To this end, by January 1952, Myer's bureau had drafted proposed legislation to terminate Indian groups in Oregon and California. 40 While Myer emphasized that bureau policy called for consultation with the tribes, he nevertheless asserted that, in some cases, termination should be imposed regardless of Native American desires. 41 The push for termination accelerated during the administration of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953-1961. Myer's successor was Glenn L. Emmons, a New Mexico banker active in state Republican party politics. The Interior Department, 1933-1953" (Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas, 1974), 220. 39 Myer to Anderson, 20 April 1951, "Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Watch Dog Committee--S. 1407," Reel 19, Clinton P. Anderson Papers, CSWR; Dillon S. Myer, "The Needs of the American Indian," 12 December 1951, 2-3, "Myer, Dillon S.," Box 27, Helen Peterson Papers, National Anthropological Archives (NAA), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 40 "Statement by Dillon S. Myer, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs," 21 January 1952, 12, "Myer, Dillon S.," Box 27, Peterson Papers, NAA. 41 Myer to Watkins, n.d., "Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Watch Dog Committee--S. 1407," reel 19, Anderson Papers, CSWR; Myer to All Bureau Officials, 5 August 1952, in United States Congress, House, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House Report 2503, 82d Cong., 2d sess., 15 December 1952, 3. 20
new Commissioner favored the eventual abolition of federal trusteeship and maintained that such abolition could occur without tribal consent. 42 Congress concurred, and it passed two key termination measures in August 1953. The first, House Concurrent Resolution 108 (HCR 108), expressed the legislative branch's view that Native Americans "should be freed from Federal supervision" as soon as possible. 43 Public Law 280 (PL 280), the second measure, allowed California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin to assume criminal jurisdiction over all or most of the reservations within those states and allowed other states to assume jurisdiction if they so desired. 44 With this legal structure in place, members of Congress- -particularly Republican Senator Arthur V. Watkins of Utah-- began pushing legislation to terminate specific Indian 42 "Address to be Delivered by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Glenn L. Emmons at Meetings with Indian Tribal Groups," September 1953, 10, Fd. 12, Box 2, Reel 3, Glenn L. Emmons Papers, CSWR. 43 House Concurrent Resolution 108, Statues at Large, vol. 67 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1953), B132. 44 Public Law 280, Statutes at Large, vol. 67 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1953), 588-590. Eventually, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Washington became PL 280 states. Several states assumed jurisdiction over reservations prior to PL 280's passage: North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and New York. T.J. Reardon Jr. to Frank Lorenz, 4 June 1962, "IN/S," box 380, WHCF, Subject Files, JFKL; untitled document, n.d., "Jurisdiction over Indian Lands (PL 280) - General," box 3, Bradley H. Patterson Files, Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 21
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Page 3 and 4: Anthropologists Sol Tax and Nancy L
Page 5 and 6: Nevertheless, the Declaration ident
Page 7 and 8: Such sovereignty was often recogniz
Page 9 and 10: While tribes possessed an inherent
Page 11 and 12: in exchange for Indians ceding thei
Page 13 and 14: fashion. Instead of working with In
Page 15 and 16: cultures was necessary for tribal g
Page 17 and 18: produced intratribal conflict. Neve
Page 19: communities on trust lands were not
Page 23 and 24: By the late 1950s and during the 19
Page 25 and 26: activist protests in the 1960s and
Page 27 and 28: Indian nations to administer progra
Page 29 and 30: constituted an important part of Pr
Page 31 and 32: esponsibility to open up opportunit
Page 33 and 34: chance to participate in the econom
Page 35 and 36: the economic and social conditions
Page 37 and 38: address by Hubert H. Humphrey, a De
Page 39 and 40: through states to access funds and
Page 41 and 42: fight against termination in the 19
Page 43 and 44: Access to and control over such fun
Page 45: y moving the government in the dire

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