Menominee Termination: Observations on the End of a Tribe

In recent yrs the US Gov has adopted a policy of urging certain US Indian tribes to accept termination of federal supervision over their reservations. This article describes the problems of one such tribe; the Menomini of Wis. Following a summary of the history of federal termination proceedings re the Menomini, the focus is on events in the summer of 1959 that led to the ultimate termination of the Menomini's status as wards of the gov. Several views are given of the decision making, factionalism, SE & acculturative stratification, values, unpreparedness, coercion & nativism that combined to produce acute socio-pol'al conflicts in this tribe during its transition from federal guardianship to the insecurity & responsibility of self-gov. A concluding section questions the wisdom of the federal gov's policy of `accelerated' termination when this program proceeds without the understanding & acceptance of at least a clear majority of the Indians involved. AA.