Lesson Plan: Indian Activism during the Cold War - Schaumburg ...

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fairness," asking critics to describe termination proposals as "'terminal' legislation rather than'liquidation legislation.'" 24Native American politicians also opposed termination bills by emphasizing that foreign 26nations paid attention to U.S. treatment of Native people. Attacking a piece of terminationlegislation in January 1954, the Council of the Isleta Pueblo noted: "We regret that we have tobecome aware of these [termination bills] when the eyes of the world are upon our nation,depending upon its integrity, its honor and its sense of intolerance [sic: tolerance?] and when wetoo seek friends among other peoples." In its Emergency Conference statement, "What DoesTermination of Federal Trusteeship Mean to the Indian Peoples?" the NCAI echoed theinternationalist perspective, asking the question at the heart of postwar Indian nationalism:"Shouldn't Indians have the same right of self-determination that our government has stated,often and officially, is the inalienable right of peoples in far parts of the world? Do we apply adifferent set of principles, of ethics, to the people within our own borders?" This perspective notonly drew on bedrock notions of American foreign policy first expressed by Woodrow Wilsonand Franklin Roosevelt and repeated in various guises as the Cold War evolved but also revealedan awareness of how people in other parts of the world evaluated the U.S. commitment to thoseideals. Situating the struggle of Native Americans in the larger international struggle for theliberation of colonized peoples, the NCAI claimed the ideological and moral high ground. 25Negotiating Cold War PressuresThe 1954 Emergency Conference represented a turning point in the most visible and visceral 27phase of the battle against termination, the congressional effort to eliminate tribal sovereigntythrough legislation passed without the consent of the people involved. Assisted by the legal staffof the Association on American Indian Affairs, a white reform group, the NCAI used theEmergency Conference to mobilize Indian and non-Indian groups and to publicize theantidemocratic nature of Congress's termination agenda. Media coverage of the EmergencyConference was extensive. Jim Hayes of the American Friends Service Committee estimated thatnearly four thousand newspapers, radio stations, and television stations covered the event. Hayesalso cited a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) "analytical news broadcast." That coveragemay also have found its way to European audiences that were inclined to support "the Indians"in their fight against coercive assimilation in part because of Europeans' fascination withAmerican frontier history and traditional Indian culture. 26Embracing international sympathy proved problematic for the NCAI. In January 1958 Hilda 28Cragun, the NCAI office manager, notified Charles D. Skippon of the Department of State'sDivision of Security that when the NCAI received correspondence "from individuals andorganizations which we question," it hesitated to respond in order to "be sure we are notinvolving the organization [NCAI] in any questionable activity or corresponding withquestionable organizations or individuals." Cragun forwarded a December 12, 1957, letter sent tothe NCAI by a pan-German group called Interressengemeinschaft DeutschsprechenderIndianerfreunde (advocacy group of German-speaking friends of the Indian), which listedmembers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Written in English, the letternoted Europeans' awareness of the "horrible wrong done to your people during centuries and weare ashamed of it.... we learn that the wrong is continued today by the intention of the AmericanGovernment to terminate the reservations.... Termination of the Reservations means, weunderstand, the extermination of your race, for when your lands are gone, your identity is lost,the Indian will be no more." In a similar letter to Congress, the group repeated this argument,
adding the sentiment: "We know that the Indians, living in one of the richest countries of theworld with the highest standard of life, are a neglected minority, the worst fed, the worst housed,the poorest of all Americans, as poverty stricken as the poor of Asia and Africa." The Russianscould not have said it better. Reflecting the NCAI's sensitivity to the Cold War propagandabattle, Cragun told Skippon, "We are merely concerned that there may be a group of individualsin Frankfurt/Main who could further hurt the U.S. internationally by stirring up the 'Indianquestion.' We felt this should be brought to the attention of 'responsible authorities.'" In closingCragun wrote, "Best wishes to you, Miriam, and the girls. Hope we can get together soon." Thispersonal tone underscored the extent of their relationship. 27Three years after the NCAI had stirred up the Indian question with the February 1954 29Emergency Conference, the NCAI was informing on groups supportive of Native Americanrights to the Department of State. Cragun's correspondence was not an isolated case. NCAIexecutive director Helen Peterson, a Cheyenne who had grown up with Oglala Sioux on the PineRidge Reservation, had a month earlier rebuffed an effort by the editor of Facts for Farmers tosecure a report on the 1957 NCAI annual convention because the journal, sponsored by FarmResearch, had been listed in the "Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications" publishedby the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). The editor of Facts for Farmers,Charles Coe, had expressed interest in "the efforts made by the Indians and their friends toprotect their rights." Peterson explained to Coe that "since our membership is justly very proudof its record of loyalty and our Constitution is specific in its emphasis on this aspect of ourpolicy and operation," the NCAI was "unable and unwilling" to provide materials; she asked himto remove the NCAI from its lists. What is especially interesting, other than that the NCAI couldnot abide the populist, pro–small farmer rhetoric of Facts for Farmers, is that Peterson sent copiesof the correspondence to HUAC, the National Republic, the American Legion, and Veterans ofForeign Wars. The same day, Peterson wrote Letitia Shankle of Tulsa, Oklahoma, to reassure herthat the NCAI did not get funds from the Robert Marshall Foundation, which was listed in the"Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications," but from the Robert Marshall CivilLiberties Trust Fund, which was not. Peterson explained to Shankle, "We have always beenscrupulously careful ... in trying to avoid involvement with questionable groups or persons,"noting that NCAI leaders routinely checked the "Guide to Subversive Organizations andPublications" as well as consulted with "three other groups in Washington which make it theirbusiness to keep track of un-American organizations and publications." 28By 1957, then, the NCAI made it its business to "keep track of un-American organizations 30and publications." The NCAI's association with hyperpatriotic groups, its apparently regularcontact with the Department of State and HUAC, and its rejection of international critiques offederal policy that were similar to its own speaks to its moderate nature and to the modus vivendiwith terminationist-minded federal officials that had resulted from its aggressive stand at the1954 Emergency Conference. The NCAI leadership also took this tack to preserve its autonomyand to avoid being labeled a "subversive organization" and thus made vulnerable to federalharassment from HUAC and loss of support from both moderate Native Americans andconcerned whites such as Letitia Shankle. Like their counterparts in the National Association forthe Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), such NCAI leaders as Peterson as well as otherNative American activists had to negotiate with institutions waging the Cold War such as theState Department and HUAC to preserve political efficacy. The NCAI remained active infighting for Native sovereignty, but in ways circumscribed by Cold War pressures. 29Cold War pressures also required tribal politicians to negotiate with local institutions of 31power. As the termination movement gathered steam in the late 1940s, the Colville Business
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Page 6: Yellowtail asserted his people's so
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Page 11 and 12: etween opposing conceptions of soci
Page 13 and 14: President Harry S. Truman supported
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Page 19 and 20: government supervision. But federal
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Page 25 and 26: January 20, 1949[Delivered in perso
Page 27 and 28: Almost a year ago, in company with
Page 29 and 30: countries expands as they progress
Page 31: Declaration of Indian Purpose“Wha

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