Peter MacDonald (Navajo leader)
Encyclopedia
Peter MacDonald is a Native American
politician and the only four term Chairman of the Navajo Tribe
. He was born in Arizona
, U.S.A., served the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II
as a Navajo Code Talker, and was first elected Navajo tribal chairman in 1970.
In 1989 he was removed from office by a deeply divided Navajo Council, pending the results of federal criminal investigations instigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
. MacDonald was sent to federal prison in 1990 for violations of US law, not Navajo Nation laws. Within several years he was convicted of more U.S. federal crimes, including fraud, extortion, riot, bribery, and corruption.
, MacDonald entered the Marine Corps
as a Navajo language code talker
during World War II. The war ended soon after his training was complete and he deployed serving in post-war China guarding surrendered Japanese officers.
After the war, MacDonald earned an electrical engineering degree at the University of Oklahoma
. Upon graduation, his acumen landed him a job at the Hughes Aircraft Company, working on the Polaris
nuclear missile project. He returned to the Navajo reservation in 1963 and began a public life in tribal politics.
MacDonald served as Navajo Nation
tribal chairman for four terms (1970, 1974, 1978, 1986), stressing self-sufficiency and tribal enterprise. He worked to extend tribal control over education and over mineral leases. Toward the latter goal, he was a co-founder of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT)
in 1975. CERT favored accelerated development of energy resources on tribal lands. MacDonald is credited with starting the Navajo Nation Shopping Centers Enterprise, Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority, and many other Navajo-owned enterprises. MacDonald was critical of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and fought against federal encroachments on native sovereignty.
During the 1972 presidential campaign, MacDonald was referred to as "the most powerful Indian in the USA". He was a member of Richard Nixon
's Committee to Re-Elect the President
(CREEP), and was scheduled, at the urging of Senator Barry Goldwater
, to speak at the 1972 Republican National Convention.http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A43998
Concluding that Nixon's support for the Navajo position in a land dispute with the Hopi
was tepid, MacDonald met with Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern
, chair of a Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs. When McGovern pledged to back the Navajo position, MacDonald considered supporting McGovern's presidential bid. As tribal chairman, he could rally a solid block of votes across the reservation.
This displeased Goldwater. Two years later, Goldwater's displeasure increased, when MacDonald delivered 9,006 out of a total 10,274 Navajo votes to help elect Democrat Raul Castro
as governor of Arizona.
Goldwater supported the Hopi in the land dispute. In the end, thousands of Navajo families lost their homes, cementing the rift between Arizona's senior senator and the leader of Arizona's largest tribe.
In 1996, Congress passed a law that allowed extended families to stay on their lands for 75 more years. The Navajos agreed to a number of restrictions on economy. The so-called Bennett Freeze affecting thousands of MacDonald's Dine' was not lifted until 2009 when US President Barrack Obama repealed the "Freeze".
In 1990, the Navajo tribal judge of the time ordered Peter MacDonald Sr., after being suspended by the Navajo Council, to face three criminal trials instead of a single trial on 111 criminal counts.http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/rad-green/2001-August/000214.html
In the third case, MacDonald was charged with violating tribal election law by accepting illegal campaign contributions from non-Navajos. In this case, MacDonald stood trial with Johnny R. Thompson, the suspended Navajo vice-chairman.
Government prosecutors, in retrospect, have commented to the New York Times their misgivings of the charges and trial. "I've always wondered if we (prosecutors) were the dupes," one remarked.
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A43998, which is commonly known as the "Peter MacDonald Riot".
MacDonald was eventually convicted of defrauding the Navajo Nation in tribal court, but served only a few months of that sentence before being convicted in federal court of conspiracy to commit burglary and kidnapping charges connected to the Window Rock riot.
MacDonald was convicted on US Federal conspiracy charges for inciting the riot and for taking bribes and kickbacks. MacDonald also served a federal sentence for fraud and racketeering convictions.
In 1990, Peter MacDonald was sent to the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Texas. Within several years was convicted of more US federal crimes including fraud, extortion, riot, bribery, and corruption stemming from the Navajo purchase of the Big Boquillas Ranch in Northwestern Arizona. MacDonald was then moved from the general federal prison unit into a prison hospital after experiencing chest pains.
MacDonald had been imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
, since 1992.
.
left office in 2001, U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy
lobbied the White House to commute the sentence of the former leader.
President Clinton granted the request, along with dozens of other commutations and pardons
.
Since his return from federal prison, MacDonald has remained a public figure advocating for increased Navajo sovereignty away from federal domains on certain aspects. He speaks at conferences, meetings and education venues.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
politician and the only four term Chairman of the Navajo Tribe
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
. He was born in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, U.S.A., served the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a Navajo Code Talker, and was first elected Navajo tribal chairman in 1970.
In 1989 he was removed from office by a deeply divided Navajo Council, pending the results of federal criminal investigations instigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
. MacDonald was sent to federal prison in 1990 for violations of US law, not Navajo Nation laws. Within several years he was convicted of more U.S. federal crimes, including fraud, extortion, riot, bribery, and corruption.
Life and politics
Raised among traditional sheepherders, groomed as a medicine manMedicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
, MacDonald entered the Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
as a Navajo language code talker
Code talker
Code talkers was a term used to describe people who talk using a coded language. It is frequently used to describe 400 Native American Marines who served in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages...
during World War II. The war ended soon after his training was complete and he deployed serving in post-war China guarding surrendered Japanese officers.
After the war, MacDonald earned an electrical engineering degree at the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
. Upon graduation, his acumen landed him a job at the Hughes Aircraft Company, working on the Polaris
UGM-27 Polaris
The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation of California for the United States Navy....
nuclear missile project. He returned to the Navajo reservation in 1963 and began a public life in tribal politics.
MacDonald served as Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
tribal chairman for four terms (1970, 1974, 1978, 1986), stressing self-sufficiency and tribal enterprise. He worked to extend tribal control over education and over mineral leases. Toward the latter goal, he was a co-founder of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT)
Council of Energy Resource Tribes
The Council of Energy Resource Tribes is a consortium of Native American tribes in the United States established to increase tribal control over natural resources...
in 1975. CERT favored accelerated development of energy resources on tribal lands. MacDonald is credited with starting the Navajo Nation Shopping Centers Enterprise, Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority, and many other Navajo-owned enterprises. MacDonald was critical of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and fought against federal encroachments on native sovereignty.
During the 1972 presidential campaign, MacDonald was referred to as "the most powerful Indian in the USA". He was a member of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's Committee to Re-Elect the President
Committee to Re-elect the President
The Committee for the Re-Election of the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon's administration...
(CREEP), and was scheduled, at the urging of Senator Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, to speak at the 1972 Republican National Convention.http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A43998
Concluding that Nixon's support for the Navajo position in a land dispute with the Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
was tepid, MacDonald met with Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
, chair of a Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs. When McGovern pledged to back the Navajo position, MacDonald considered supporting McGovern's presidential bid. As tribal chairman, he could rally a solid block of votes across the reservation.
This displeased Goldwater. Two years later, Goldwater's displeasure increased, when MacDonald delivered 9,006 out of a total 10,274 Navajo votes to help elect Democrat Raul Castro
Raúl Héctor Castro
Raul Hector Castro is a Mexican-born American politician. He has served in both elected and non-elected public offices, including United States Ambassador and the 14th Governor of Arizona. He was the first Mexican American to be elected governor of Arizona...
as governor of Arizona.
Goldwater supported the Hopi in the land dispute. In the end, thousands of Navajo families lost their homes, cementing the rift between Arizona's senior senator and the leader of Arizona's largest tribe.
In 1996, Congress passed a law that allowed extended families to stay on their lands for 75 more years. The Navajos agreed to a number of restrictions on economy. The so-called Bennett Freeze affecting thousands of MacDonald's Dine' was not lifted until 2009 when US President Barrack Obama repealed the "Freeze".
Allegations and charges
On February 17, 1988, the factionalized Tribal Council placed MacDonald on administrative leave. Chairman MacDonald refused to step down, leading to a five-month stand-off. By March of that year, the council appointed an interim chairman. Remaining MacDonald supporters—hardcores known as "Peter's Patrol"—replied by occupying the leader's offices.In 1990, the Navajo tribal judge of the time ordered Peter MacDonald Sr., after being suspended by the Navajo Council, to face three criminal trials instead of a single trial on 111 criminal counts.http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/rad-green/2001-August/000214.html
- raising questions of double jeopardy.
In the third case, MacDonald was charged with violating tribal election law by accepting illegal campaign contributions from non-Navajos. In this case, MacDonald stood trial with Johnny R. Thompson, the suspended Navajo vice-chairman.
- Bud Brown, given immunity, testified against MacDonald, alleging that the chairman pressured him into the Big Boquillas deal. He was allowed to keep the $4 million dollars profit from the land sale and face no jail time.
Government prosecutors, in retrospect, have commented to the New York Times their misgivings of the charges and trial. "I've always wondered if we (prosecutors) were the dupes," one remarked.
Inciting riots and prison
The Navajo Nation Council suspended MacDonald in February, 1989. The council had suspected that MacDonald accepted kickbacks from contractors and corporations. Turmoil ensued, culminating in a riot in Window Rock five months later that led to the shooting deaths of two MacDonald supporters and the injury of two tribal police officers. They had stormed the tribal headquarters in an attempt to restore him to power, according to the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A43998, which is commonly known as the "Peter MacDonald Riot".
MacDonald was eventually convicted of defrauding the Navajo Nation in tribal court, but served only a few months of that sentence before being convicted in federal court of conspiracy to commit burglary and kidnapping charges connected to the Window Rock riot.
MacDonald was convicted on US Federal conspiracy charges for inciting the riot and for taking bribes and kickbacks. MacDonald also served a federal sentence for fraud and racketeering convictions.
In 1990, Peter MacDonald was sent to the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution Fort Worth, is a low security institution in Fort Worth, Texas housing male offenders.FCI Fort Worth is located in the southeastern corner of Fort Worth...
Texas. Within several years was convicted of more US federal crimes including fraud, extortion, riot, bribery, and corruption stemming from the Navajo purchase of the Big Boquillas Ranch in Northwestern Arizona. MacDonald was then moved from the general federal prison unit into a prison hospital after experiencing chest pains.
MacDonald had been imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution Fort Worth, is a low security institution in Fort Worth, Texas housing male offenders.FCI Fort Worth is located in the southeastern corner of Fort Worth...
, since 1992.
Commuted prison sentence
The Navajo Tribal Council pardoned MacDonald in 1995 as he was serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort WorthFederal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution Fort Worth, is a low security institution in Fort Worth, Texas housing male offenders.FCI Fort Worth is located in the southeastern corner of Fort Worth...
.
- noting in their pardon that certain allegations could not possibly have been true and re-establishing the Navajo concept of hozhonji, the Beauty Way, and the need to forgive and ask forgiveness.
Presidential
The day before President Bill ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
left office in 2001, U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy
Patrick J. Kennedy
Patrick Joseph Kennedy II is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1995 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes all of Bristol County and Newport County, and parts of Providence County. Kennedy did not seek re-election in 2010.A member of the Kennedy...
lobbied the White House to commute the sentence of the former leader.
President Clinton granted the request, along with dozens of other commutations and pardons
Bill Clinton pardons controversy
President Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his pardons and acts of executive clemency. While most presidents grant pardons on several days throughout their terms, Clinton chose to make most of them on January 20, 2001. Collectively, the controversy surrounding these actions has sometimes...
.
Return to Navajo land
"I sincerely believe that we will all be better off if we return to the traditional Navajo system in which the family was important and everyone fulfilled their roles and responsibility for preparing our children for life," said the former Navajo Nation Chairman.Since his return from federal prison, MacDonald has remained a public figure advocating for increased Navajo sovereignty away from federal domains on certain aspects. He speaks at conferences, meetings and education venues.
External links
Documentaries, topic pages and databases- The New York Times(1990):Ex-Navajo Leader Is Facing 3 Criminal Trials
- Peter MacDonald and the Navajo Nation
- NAVAJO CHAIRMAN SENTENCED TO 6 YEARS IN TRIBAL JAIL FOR BRIBERY, ETHICS VIOLATIONS
- The Price of Doing Business: After eight years in federal prison, former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald has returned to the reservation.
- Navajo Times endures shutdown, gains independence
- Undaunted muckraker
- MacDonald: Where are the Navajo millionaires?
- Former Navajo Nation chairman calls for a return to traditional Navajo family values
- Former Navajo chairman speaks on elder abuse-2006
- MacDonald applies for city job-Gallup Independent