The resignation of Louis R. Bruce as Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs was announced today President Nixon. The resignation is effective January 20,1973.
Bruce. 66 has served as Commissioner since August 1969. A member of the Ogala Sioux tribe of South Dakota, Bruce was born on the Onondaga Indian Reservation in New York and grew up on the State's St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.
In submitting his resignation to the president, Bruce said: "Since my appointment and confirmation, I have worked to carry out the self-determination policies as outlined in your Indian message of July, 1970.
"Some of these are: Aid to tribal governments; an aggressive National Tribal Chairman's Association; and Indian Bank; the Indian Action Teams; Tribal control of Indian Education and a strong Bill of Rights for BIA boarding school students; roads on the reservations; establishment of viable Indian economies; Indian preference and consultation -- spells self-determination as I have been trying to identify it in my efforts during the administration.
"This I have done in a time when American Indians have been more directly involved with the Federal Government than ever before in determining the shape and direction of the policies and programs that vitally affect their lives."
