Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson today announced the appointment of James J. Thomas, 29, a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, to head the Field Employment Assistance Office, at Cleveland, Ohio. He has been acting in that capacity since July of this year.
Thomas, born and reared on the Winnebago Indian Reservation, in Nebraska, recently completed the Indian Administrator Development Program of the Bureau.
Thomas joined the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1967. He headed the Bureau’s Youth Committee and served in an intern capacity at the Billings Area Office, Flathead Agency, and Cleveland Employment Assistance Office, all are BIA field offices. In November 1972 he was appointed Special Assistant to the former Commissioner of Indian Affairs Louis R. Bruce.
Part of his internship included a special eight-month assignment to the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, D.C., as an analyst for selected community action programs.
Thomas attended St. Augustine’s Indian Mission on the Winnebago Reservation, and was graduated from Heelan High School, Sioux City, Iowa, in 1963. He served three years in the National Guard and was on active duty at Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Polk, La. He has attended George Washington University, Washington, D.C.; Eastern Montana State University, Billings, Mont.; Griswold College, Cleveland, Ohio, and Northern Virginia Community College, Arlington, Va.
In announcing the appointment, the Commissioner said: “I am pleased we have a man of Thomas’ proven ability to undertake the duties of the Cleveland Employment Assistance Office.”
Thomas is married to the former Kathryn King.
