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Dissertation Information for Jaakko H. Puisto

NAME:
- Jaakko H. Puisto

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- Arizona State University (USA) (2000)

ADVISORS:
- Peter Iverson

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Robert A. Trennert Jr.
- Kyle Longley

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: "This is my reservation, I belong here": The Salish Kootenai struggle against termination

Abstract: Assimilation of American Indians to the mainstream population has been a reoccurring theme in federal Indian policy. The so-called "Indian New Deal" during Franklin D. Roosevelt administration had taken a somewhat different approach in Indian affairs. In the emerging Cold War atmosphere of the late 1940s and 1950s, federal Indian policy took a turn back toward a renewed effort to assimilate American Indians. At the same time, Congress and the federal government combined their efforts to terminate Indian reservations. The rationale behind termination varied. It started as a two-pronged effort to cut federal expenses and to reduce restrictions on Indians' property during World War II. By the early 1950s termination had evolved to an attempt to release reservation trust lands to western development. In both cases the final goal was to end the existence of Indian reservations immediately and the existence of tribes as legal entities ultimately.

Reservations which contained valuable resources were primary targets for termination policy. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes occupied the Flathead Reservation in western Montana. Rich in timber and also containing potential sites for hydro-electric development, the Flathead Reservation was one of the targeted reservations. My dissertation argues that due to the unified opposition of the Salish-Kootenai tribal council termination of the Flathead Reservation failed. Council members argued that termination would result in the loss of land, destitution and poverty. They particularly emphasized that the policy threatened tribal rights set in treaty with the federal government in 1855. Despite a tribal faction, which favored termination and liquidation of tribal assets, the tribal leaders did not succumb to congressional demands or to the pressure from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Instead, they lobbied state officials and Montana's congressional delegation. This dissertation argues that the combined opposition from the Salish-Kootenai, the state officials and the majority of Montana congressmen defeated termination at Flathead.

This was in contrast with the Menominee, Klamath and Uintah-Ouray Reservations, all of which were at least partially terminated. The Menominee and Klamath Reservations were very similar to Flathead Reservation, but the tribal membership in these two reservations was too divided to launch a concerted effort to oppose termination policy. The Uintah-Ouray Reservation in Utah was situated in the state from where Senator Arthur Watkins, the primary termination advocate, came from.


MPACT Scores for Jaakko H. Puisto

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A+C = 0
T = 0
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TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-05-04 18:59:43

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Students under Jaakko H. Puisto

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None