Paul Moorehead: Going behind Nixon's 'radical' Indian policy

There are many theories about why Nixon felt it important to propose a radical change in federal Indian policy. Some chalk it up to the tutelage of Wallace “Chief” Newman, Nixon’s Whittier College football coach, who Nixon said had a more profound impact on him than anyone, save his own father. Others say it was because the new president needed to cultivate a better relationship with American minorities to soften his “law and order” image.

Still others claim it was not Nixon’s at all but the brainchild of John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s domestic policy advisor, and a group of White House counselors and consultants, including Garment and Patrick Moynihan.

Over the years and in various forums, Garment, Bobbie Kilberg, Brad Patterson and other White House staff instrumental in fashioning Nixon’s Indian policy have suggested that all of these factors were important in bringing about the resulting policy shift.

Eighteen months after taking office, Nixon issued his Special Message to Congress on Indian Affairs, making a sharp break with past policies of forced termination and assimilation and laying out a new Indian policy of self-determination that remains the foundation of federal-tribal relations.