Ronald Reagan's contribution to federal Indian policy proved mixed. Remarks by members of his administration recalled the heyday of termination, and Reagan's budget cuts fell hard on Native Americans. Reagan also played to non-Indian backlash by supporting legislation that restricted tribal rights to file claims on land disputes. Still, the administration continued the policy of tribal self-determination, begun under Richard M. Nixon. Reagan signed legislation to restore the Klamaths to federal trust responsibility, to help tribes ““contract out”” to run many federal services themselves, and to recognize and regulate gaming on Indian reservations. Most importantly, Reagan affirmed ““government to government”” relationships between the federal government, states, and tribes. Federal Indian policy mirrored other aspects of U.S. politics in the 1980s, including reductions in domestic spending, white reaction against minority civil rights gains, and the extolling of entrepreneurship. But the administration's ability, and even its willingness, to reverse the trend toward tribal self-determination proved limited.

The period from 1969 to 1977 saw both unprecedented civil disobedience by Native American activists and breakthrough initiatives to advance Indian rights. This article argues that grass-roots protest helped push the executive branch to respond sympathetically to Native American concerns, replacing the policy of termination with one of tribal self-determination. After the seizure of Alcatraz Island (1969), Nixon's aides began work on a presidential statement repudiating termination and legislation to advance self-determination for Native Americans. Following the standoff at Wounded Knee (1973), Congress began to pass the President's agenda. Continuing Native American unrest kept Ford's White House on the course charted by Nixon. Whatever their shortcomings, both Presidents deserve high marks for redirecting Indian policy and for avoiding bloodshed during their many standoffs with American Indians.