50 Years Ago

Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald made his first public speech since being elected to office 50 years ago this week, as the guest speaker at the annual banquet for the McKinley County Chamber of Commerce, and he decided to use it to tackle one of the main issues of the day — the distance that existed between the tribe and the towns that bordered the reservation.

It turns out one of the problems the new chairman will have to look into is the tribe’s mineral leases with outside companies.

It didn’t take Peter MacDonald long to start making changes to the Navajo government that would make him the most powerful leader the tribe has ever had. In January 1971, the power in the government rested within the Navajo Tribal Council, which made all decisions.

Just two days after the new year, the “man in the turquoise necklace,” as the AP called him, was sworn in as the new chairman for the Navajo Tribe during festive ceremonies in Window Rock.

The tribe’s newly elected chairman, Peter MacDonald, and his family had been making a tour of the chapters attending Christmas parties, mostly in Arizona while his running mate, Wilson Skeet, and his family had been doing the same thing with New Mexico chapters.