Secretary of the Interior Rogers C.B. Morton today announced the appointment of John O. Crow as Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Since 1966, Crow has served as Associate Director of Interior's Bureau of Land Management. Previously, he had lengthy and varied experience in the Indian Bureau.
Secretary Morton said: The appointment of John O. Crow will be a key factor in strengthening management of the Bureau and, most important, improving the lot of the American Indian."
The Secretary added that Crow will be directly responsible for running the internal operation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Indian Affairs is the largest Bureau in the Department of the Interior. It has 76 field agencies serving more than 250 tribal groups. They range from “Seminoles of the Florida Everglades to the Eskimo villages of Alaska.
Crow said he views his new appointment as an opportunity to help put into effect the directions and policies set forth in President Nixon's historic message on Indian Affairs to Congress in July 1970. The message urged a policy of self-determination without termination" for the First Americans, and recommended that BIA become a service-oriented Bureau that would encourage Indians to take a larger role in managing their own affairs.
Fifty-nine, Crow is one-fourth Cherokee, the youngest of eight children, and grew up in Commerce, a small mining town in Oklahoma. He attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and later played professional football with the Boston Redskins, now the Washington Redskins.
He holds the Career Service Award of the National Civil Service League and the Distinguished Service Award of the Department of the Interior.
Crow has served as Superintendent of a number of Indian reservations, and is also experienced in top management of the Indian Bureau --having served in several executive positions, including that of Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner during the early and mid-1960's.
Commissioner Louis Bruce said: "I feel fortunate that we have been able to get John Crow as my Deputy. He is knowledgeable, experienced, and dedicated, with proven ability."
