Statement by the President Making Public a Report on the Needs of the Navajo Indians.
RECENTLY I requested the Secretary of the Interior to report to me on the emergency situation facing the Navajo Indians in Arizona and New Mexico this winter. Secretary Krug has submitted the attached report, which describes the reasons why the Navajos are threatened with hunger and cold this winter and the steps which have been taken by the Federal Government, under the leadership of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, to prevent suffering.
In addition to the funds for relief regularly appropriated by the Congress last summer, substantial amounts of surplus food, clothing, and equipment have been made available to the Navajos by the Government. At Secretary Krug's suggestion I have asked the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the War Assets Administrator to continue the steps they are taking to alleviate suffering and to forestall a serious collapse in the Navajo community life. It is fortunate that the Government has available these resources which can help meet the immediate problem. The tribe itself has also made available a substantial amount of its limited funds for relief of its members. It seems, nevertheless, that additional relief appropriations by the Congress will prove necessary later in the winter.
The Secretary's report makes clear that the problems of the Navajos will not be solved merely by providing relief for them this winter. Long-range problems of health, education, and productive employment must be earnestly considered by the Federal Government, the States concerned, and the Indians themselves. I expect to submit to the next regular session of the Congress my recommendations for the Federal Government's part in a long-range program of rehabilitation for the Navajos.
Our basic purpose is to assist the Navajos--and other Indians--to become healthy, enlightened, and self-supporting citizens, able to enjoy the full fruits of our democracy and to contribute their share to the prosperity of our country. We must give our full support to the achievement of this goal. Only by so doing can we meet the obligation of our democracy to this group of our citizens.
Note: The "Report to the President on Conditions of the Navajo Indians," released with the President's statement, is dated December 2, 1947 (mimeographed, 8 pp.).
The report noted that the critical conditions facing the Navajo Tribe resulted from a combination of long- and short-term factors--the failure to develop a resource base capable of keeping up with the 600 percent increase in the population during the preceding 80 years; the livestock reduction program initiated to prevent the overgrazing of range lands; the loss of income from dependency allotments and war workers' wages; and the severe drought of the summer of 1947. The report also noted that there was, in addition, a serious shortage of most of the public services commonly enjoyed by other American citizens, such as health facilities, education, welfare, agricultural assistance and credit, soil conservation, domestic and institutional water supply, and road construction.
"It is my belief," the Secretary of the Interior reported, "that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government, the States concerned, and the Indians, working together, to develop those new sources of livelihood that will assure an American standard of living to this group of American citizens."
On December 19 the President approved a bill authorizing an appropriation for the immediate relief of the Navajo and Hopi Indians (61 Stat. 940).
Harry S Truman, Statement by the President Making Public a Report on the Needs of the Navajo Indians. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232559