_{[ out of howls. ] I’d just like to make a reference to the amazing work that Kennedy has done for Native Indians in his time. Unfortunately, his death caused a cease in operation, for all attempts at augmenting these efforts–but during his time as president, he did so much for the very first people of the United States–those that should have been sovereign.} 

_{“The leadership of the American Legion has not had a constructive thought for the benefit of this country since 1918.” (Spring, 1949, during House debate on housing bill to provide federal funds for slum clearance and low income public housing.  –James MacGregor Burns, John F. Kennedy: A Political Profile (Harcourt, Brace: New York, 1960), p. 75}

_{This is an excerpt from the letter on Indian Affairs from Senator John F. Kennedy to Mr. Oliver La Farge, President, Association of American Indian Affairs – October 28, 1960}

_{DEAR MR. LA FARGE: I have received a number of inquiries from readers of the publication, Indian Affairs, concerning my position on Federal policies toward American Indians. As my staff has informed your office, I am pleased to set forth my views, as heretofore expressed in the Democratic platform, and in public statements by me.}

_{At the outset, let me say that I wholeheartedly support the Democratic platform pledge to American Indians. To me, this pledge, as any other pledge, is not hackneyed political phraseology. It is a specific promise of a positive program to improve the life of a neglected and disadvantaged group of our population.}

_{As stated in the platform, my administration would see to it that the Government of the United States discharges its moral obligation to our first Americans by inaugurating a comprehensive program for the improvement of their health, education, and economic well-being. There would be no change in treaty or contractual relationships without the consent of the tribes concerned. No steps would be taken by the Federal Government to impair the cultural heritage of any group. There would be protection of the Indian land base, credit assistance, and encouragement of tribal planning for economic development.}

_{John F. Kennedy supplemented schools, new opportunities for erudition and career-learning experiences for tribes all across the United States, and did well to make things just a bit better for tribes and reservations. He devoted his life to the cultures he’d encountered–all of which–were dfferent in their own way, and he knew this.} 

• _{He Spoke to Delegates from the American Indian Chicago Conference.}

_{On August 15, 1962, Kennedy spoke to delegates from some 90 tribes on the South Lawn at the White House. He told them: “I hope that this visit here, which is more than ceremonial, will be a reminder to all Americans of the number of Indians whose housing is inadequate, whose education is inadequate, whose employment is inadequate, whose health is inadequate, whose security and old age is inadequate—a very useful reminder that there is still a good deal of unfinished business.”}

• _{He Started Public Housing on Reservations.}

_{In an effort to provide “for the housing needs of all segments of our population” a loan of $30,000 was made to the Oglala Sioux in September 1961 from the Public Housing Administration to build 150 low-rent homes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. “I am disappointed and surprised that the public housing program was not adapted to the housing needs of Indian communities… until the Kennedy Administration took office,” said PHA Commissioner Marie McGuire in a press release. “Many reservation Indians are living under appalling conditions of utter privation.”}

• _{He Knew Natives Were Misunderstood.}

_{Kennedy wrote the introduction for theThe American Heritage Book of Indians(American Heritage Publishing, 1961). In it he said: “For a subject worked and reworked so often in novels, motion pictures, and television, American Indians remain probably the least understood and most misunderstood Americans of us all.”}