page_title: 1989 Navajo Nation Council reforms
section_title: Peter MacDonald
hierarchical_section_title: 1989 Navajo Nation Council reforms / Background / Peter MacDonald
caption_attribution_description: English: Peter MacDonald speaking at the Navajo Nation Council Chambers about the Navajo-Hopi Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Act in Window Rock, AZ
context_page_description: The 1989 Navajo Nation Council Reforms, also known as the Title II Amendments were a series of Constitutional changes to the government structure of the Navajo Nation. Following 1985 reforms to the Judicial Branch, the reforms were meant to separate the powers of the Tribal Council the President and the Supreme Court with a checks and balances system similar to that of the U.S. Constitution. The resolutions were adopted by the Council on December 15, 1989 and became law on April 11, 1990.
context_section_description: The executive of the Navajo Nation was previously the Tribal Chairman, and they possessed a lot of power. Peter MacDonald was the 7th Tribal Chairman, and he had an interest in wielding his expansive political power. He was a member of Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President. He had a strained relationship with the Senator from Arizona Barry Goldwater. He delivered 90% of Navajo votes to elect a Democrat Governor of Arizona, and Goldwater retaliated by supporting the Hopi in a land dispute, causing Navajo citizens to lose their homes. He was often referred to as "the most powerful Indian in the USA".
  MacDonald faced accusations of corruption involving kickback schemes, such as selling a ranch to the Navajo Nation at a $7.2 million profit. These actions resulted in the Tribal Council putting him on administrative leave. MacDonald however refused to step down, and after a five-month standoff, an interim Chairman was appointed. The situation grew confusing as there were at times up to three men claiming the title of Tribal Chairman. On July 20, 1989, rioters from competing group clashed outside an administrative building, resulting in the deaths of two MacDonald supporters. His supporters claimed that the Navajo Police Department was brutalizing them as an attempt to remove MacDonald from power. A group of Tribal Councilmen managed to gather enough political support to remove MacDonald, and he was arrested and put on trial with some of his supporters. Chairman MacDonald served 8 years of his 14-year sentence in federal prison, having his sentence commuted by Bill Clinton on his last day in office. Out of 32 men originally indicted, only 10 (including MacDonald) were sentenced.
caption: Peter MacDonald speaking in 2012
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