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

Indian nations to administer programs currently run by the
federal government. The president stressed that the transfer
of control to tribes was voluntary and could only occur if a
tribe desired it. 59
This statement had special significance because it
served as the basis for a series of bills--passed by
Democratic Congresses and signed by Nixon--that wrote the
ideas of self-determination into the lawbooks. The
legislation included laws to recognize certain land rights of
the Taos Pueblo and Alaska Natives, to provide greater
federal aid to Indian education, to allow Native Americans
greater say over education policy, and to reverse the
termination of the Menominee people of Wisconsin. Perhaps
most significant was the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Act of 1975. Signed by Nixon's successor,
Republican President Gerald R. Ford, the act provided for
tribes to take over the administration of federal programs--
as Nixon had called for in his 1970 message. Granted, some
critics argued that federal authorities still exercised
significant power over Indians and that the act contained so
many regulations that tribes had a difficult time utilizing
the act. It nevertheless seemed clear that self-
determination had triumphed over termination. 60
59 Public Papers, 1970, 567-569.
60 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act,
S. 1017, 93d Cong., 4 January 1975, "Indian Rights," box 10,
Richard D. Parsons Files, Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor,
Michigan; Statement by the President, 4 January 1975, "Self-
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