50 Years Ago: BIA worker takes over the Times

The headline on the front page of the Oct. 5 issue of the Navajo Times probably said it all: “Shiprock Fair Said Best in History.”

Remember back in 1967, there had been 43 Shiprock fairs in the past and, according to the Navajo Times, none of them held a candle to the one held the previous week.

OK, maybe this was a little exaggerated since the headline was based on a quote in the article from Charles J. Renk, described as a veteran fairgoer, who had a part in staging the 1967 event.

His quote was the 1967 fair was “outstanding — perhaps the best ever.”

He said during this year’s fair he met a couple from Colorado who looked at the produce entered into competition that year and remarked that they didn’t realize such “wonderful” produce was grown on the reservation.

In all, it seemed that everything went well at the fair but even if it didn’t, it wasn’t likely to be mentioned in the Times, which was being operated on a general policy of good news only.

The reason for this was that a new name was appearing over some of the articles in the paper over the past couple of weeks — Dick Hardwick.

Hardwick was the answer to Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai’s efforts to find a solution to the Navajo Times problem.

Ever since Chet MacRorie had stepped down as managing editor of the paper when the Navajo Tribal Council eliminated his position in July, members of his staff had been taking turns going over to the paper and running it.

Nakai at first loved this solution but he soon realized that it gave ammunition to those opposing his programs who said he was controlling the news, which, of course, was exactly what he was doing.

A month after MacRorie stepped down, Nakai told his staff he needed to find a permanent replacement but the Council had eliminated the position so his hands were tied until someone suggested having Hardwick take it over.

Nakai knew Hardwick and, if the rumors were true, he was one of the few non-Navajos he came in contact with that he generally liked and enjoyed talking to — although Hardwick would say in later years that it was generally a one-way street with Nakai doing the talking and Hardwick listening and occasionally nodding his head in agreement.

Hardwick worked for the BIA in tribal relations, a position that generally meant he would be a liaison between the BIA and the chairman’s office, helping to deal with any problems that came up.

He also had some background in newspapers and would be the type of editor who wouldn’t go out of his way to make the tribe or Nakai look bad.

And best of all, he wouldn’t cost the tribe any money.

The BIA had this program in place where federal employees could be assigned to work for the tribe if their expertise was needed and that person’s salary would continue to be paid by the BIA.

Usually the reassignment was for a short period of time — three or six months — but it could be extended, even indefinitely, if the BIA didn’t need the person’s skills and the person was willing.

The good thing about that for the Times was that they had Hardwick and his salary wasn’t coming out of the Times budget so this helped the paper in its efforts not to lose money — or rather not to lose too much money because even with Hardwick not collecting a tribal salary, the paper was still a long way from breaking even.

This was mainly because the paper’s cost to the public was 15 cents an issue when it should have been at least 25 cents but the tribal administration kept the price as low as possible because they felt that few Navajos could afford to buy the paper if it cost too much.

When Hardwick came on, he made the decision to keep as low a profile as possible, partly because of his BIA background and he didn’t want to make it appear that the BIA was controlling the paper.

So while he took a byline on many of the stories he wrote for the paper, his name was not listed on page two with the advertising and circulation manager so it would appear to many readers that the paper still had no managing editor.

Hardwick’s first few months on the job were uneventful. Nakai was even praising the paper. But this would not last because just a couple of years away was the election of 1970 and the official arrival of Peter MacDonald and the Navajo Times would never be the same.

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