The complicated legacy of Charles Curtis, first and only Native American vice president

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• John Yang:

  When Kamala Harris became vice president, many said she was the first person of color in that position, but many Native Americans are quick to say she's actually the second. In 1929 Charles Curtis and a roll member of the Kaw Nation became Herbert Hoover's vice president.

  Deb Goodrich is writing a biography of Curtis called "From The Reservation to Washington: The Rise of Charles Curtis," and Ken Bellmard is a tribal attorney, a member of the Kaw Nation, and a distant cousin of Charles Curtis, thank you both for joining us.

  Deb, I'd like to start with you. I know you're writing a book about Charles Curtis. But can you give us sort of the thumbnail biography about how he was raised where he grew up.

• Deb Goodrich, Biographer:

  Charlie Curtis, and he did encourage Charlie the familiar was born on the north bank of the Kaw River named for the Kaw Nation just north of Topeka, in 1860. Kansas will become a state a year later, there is no more divided, no more contentious place on earth at that moment than the Kansas-Missouri border in the midst of Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War. And then later the Plains Indian Wars. And he comes of age and all of these times of turmoil.

  His father is a pioneer. His mother is French Kaw and he loses his mother so is effectively an orphan at the age of three. She dies and his dad goes off to join the Union army. And he pretty much is raised by his grandmother's his white grandmother in Topeka. And then his French Kaw grandmother on the reservation at Council Grove, Kansas.

  His French and Kaw grandmother is the one that tells Charlie to go back to Topeka to stay with his white family and get an education. So he will amount to something. And he said later everything he became he owed to her. And it's very sad because I think society at that time forced him to choose. And he said it was at that moment I chose the white man's world. But he would be forever known as the Indian.

• John Yang:

  Ken, given that fact, given that he grew up really came of age and white culture, how was he viewed by members of the Kaw Nation?

• Ken Bellmard, Kaw Nation Member:

  Declination takes a mixed view of Charles Curtis. I think those of us that are related to him, we appreciate the fact that he was a man of accomplishment. However, others in the tribe, because of the fact that the Curtis Act, which was very detrimental to tribal governments bears his name. I think that causes a lot of people to have some mixed emotions about him and maybe not think of him in an overly positive way.

• John Yang:

  You mentioned the Curtis Act that abolished tribal courts and put the residents of tribal lands under federal law. That was a big blow to tribal sovereignty.

• Ken Bellmard:

  Yeah, well, that's correct. I believe that Charles Curtis probably made a conscious thought that because of the pressures that were happening, that the only way for tribes and tribal people to succeed in any way was to assimilate.

• John Yang:

  Deb given that he was a great advocate of assimilation, when he went into politics. And by the way, he wasn't just vice president. He was Senate Majority Leader at one point, he came close to winning the Republican presidential nomination at another point. Did he use his identity as a Native American in politics when he ran?

• Deb Goodrich:

  Other people used his identity. I think he was somebody who was very practical and I think even with the Curtis Act, he truly saw this and I believe he was sincere that he was protecting those nations and his kinsmen.

  You know, John, Indians couldn't vote. They weren't citizens, for, you know, most of Charlie's life. And for him, I think that was the most important thing. They had to be citizens. They had to be part of the government and making the government work. And that was their only way to survive. So I don't think he used it.

• John Yang:

  What do you think is his political legacy is?

• Deb Goodrich:

  He was certainly a man of compromise. He built relationships with people on both sides of the aisle. He knew what every man wanted. He knew their wives, their kids their dog's names, and he truly went across the aisle to get things done.

  He was a champion of women's rights. He introduces the Equal Rights Amendment. And he didn't just Mao that. He practiced it. His half-sister is the second female secretary for a congressman to go to Washington. And he trusted her to speak for him on stage.

  And I do think that part of that understanding of women's rights and appreciation from it does come from that call ancestry, where the women are so revered, and I definitely think that is one area where his car heritage plays a part.

• John Yang:

  Ken as we said you are related to Charles Curtis, what did you hear growing up any stories from older relatives about Curtis?

• Ken Bellmard:

  One of my uncle's Mose Bellmard who was a World War I veteran, was a very good friend of Charles Curtis. And they actually campaigned together with Mose being an advanced man for him. So, he was seen and, and at least in our family, as someone that was to be looked up to and revered, but at the same time, you know, there was the understanding, he was a man of his times, and he did what he believed was best for, for himself and for his family and, and for his political party.

• John Yang:

  Ken Bellmard and Deb Goodrich, thank you very much. Thank you.

• Deb Goodrich:

  Thank you.

• Ken Bellmard:

  Thank you.