Administrative Issues Quotes
Referring to the administrative procedures required of the Navajos by the Bureau of Indian Affairs:
Root was serving as Secretary of War at the time. The army of the United States was in sad shape. Congress did not want to appropriate much money for the military as there was no one to fight any longer. Indians had been subdued, relations with Canada were excellent. Mexico was too weak to be a threat, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans protected against invasion by large forces. The navy was in much better shape and could protect against invasion from abroad anyway. The Republicans then were in control of government and were generally very isolationist. And there was the traditional American animus to a standing Army. See {601390} and {592824} for examples of that attitude. The army itself was a set of individual fiefdoms with nepotism and cronyism rampant with no general staff to have the big picture. Theodore Roosevelt and Root, unlike most other Republicans, wanted to reform and build up the army as well as strengthen the navy,
Gates was then a mid-level functionary at the CIA. His ability to tell the truth to powerful people got him promoted and he eventually became director himself as well as the Secretary of Defense. The Department of Agriculture at the time was generally known as a very bureaucratic organization.
