Chronology of American Indian History

tribe. Over the next week, more than 100,000

people will visit the new museum, which includes

display space for more than 8,000 objects—approx-

imately 1 percent of the institution’s holdings.

September 29

Senate committee begins hearings on

lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s ties to tribal

governments.

After a seven-month-long investigation, the Sen-

ate Indian Affairs Committee concludes that

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partner,

Michael Scanlon, charged six tribes $66 million

over the course of four years, providing little to the

tribes while pocketing $21 million of their fees and

funneling millions more into Republican political

organizations. Subpoenaed documents also sug-

gest that they manipulated the tribal elections of

the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and

the Saginaw Chippewa. Emails between Abramoff

and Scanlon read before the committee underscore

the lobbyists’ contempt for their clients, whom they

refer to as “monkeys,” “idiots,” and “troglodytes.”

Scanlon refuses to appear before the committee.

Abramoff makes an appearance during the hear-

ings, but refuses to answer questions, citing his

Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

(See also entry for JANUARY 3, 2006.)

October

The National Congress of American Indians

(NCAI) begins a campaign for an Indian

embassy.

At its winter meeting, the National Congress of

American Indians (see entry for NOVEMBER 1944)

initiates the Capital Campaign with the aim of rais-

ing $12 million in three years. The money will be

used to buy a building in Washington, D.C., which

will house the NCAI and other organizations de-

voted to championing tribal rights. The building

will be called the Embassy of Tribal Nations. By

referring to the facility as an embassy, the NCAI

hopes to reinforce to lawmakers that tribal gov-

ernments should be accorded the same respect as

foreign governments.

October 26

Court confirms the land rights of “loyal

Mdewakanton” descendants.

Judge Charles Lettow finds that the federal gov-

ernment breached its trust responsibilities to the

descendants of the “loyal Mdewakanton”—the Da-

kota who stayed out of the tribe’s 1862 conflict with

Minnesota settlers (see entry for AUGUST 18 TO

SEPTEMBER 23, 1862). In 1980, the government al-

lowed lands specifically set aside for them and their

descendants to be absorbed into the tribe’s property.

The new ruling will allow about 1,200 descendants

Museum Director W. Richard West, Jr., speaks before
a crowd of thousands at the opening of the National
Museum of the American Indian in Washington,
D.C. (Courtesy, National Museum of the American In-
dian, Smithsonian Institution. Photo by John Harrington.)