3 - A New and Old Deal for Navajos

Summary

The modern Navajo Nation government was founded in large part so that oil leases on the reservation could be approved. But as Chapter 3 shows, the Navajo Nation government did not act as mere rubber stamp for non-Indian interests. Though it did permit oil leasing, the tribe went on to reject the signature piece of New Deal policy directed at Indians, the Indian Reorganization Act. After presenting this foundational period of the Navajo Nation government, the chapter then presents one of the most tragic events in the collective memory of the Navajo people, federally-imposed livestock reduction, which continues to shape tribal land use patterns as well as federal-tribal relations.