A member of the Northern Cheyenne, Ben Nighthorse Campbell overcame childhood adversity to become a man of many accomplishments. He competed in the 1964 Olympics, succeeded as a jewelry designer, and served his country in both houses of Congress. Among his accomplishments as senator was sponsoring the National Museum of the American Indian.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell’s Early Life
In 1933, Ben Campbell was born in Auburn, California, to Albert Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne, and Mary Vierra Campbell, a Portuguese immigrant. The family struggled with problems. Albert was an alcoholic who was frequently unemployed and absent for long periods. Mary developed tuberculosis, so she was often hospitalized. Because their parents could not care for them, Ben and his older sister Alberta lived in an orphanage for several periods during childhood.
The turmoil took its toll. In high school, Ben often got in trouble by drinking, fighting, and stealing cars. At the age of 17, he dropped out of school and went to work in logging camps. Then in the late 1940s, he found something that turned his life around. While working in a fruit packing plant, he got into a fight with a Japanese coworker, who defeated him by using judo. This inspired Campbell to learn judo himself, which helped him acquire self-discipline. He settled down, continued working, and concentrated on improving his judo skills.
Campbell joined the Air Force in 1951 and served in Korea until 1954. When he left the service, he enrolled in San Jose State University where he earned a degree in physical education and fine arts.
Beginning in 1960, he lived in Japan for four years where he took advanced training in judo. He won a gold medal at the Pan-American games in 1963. He also became the captain of the U.S. judo team that went to the 1964 Olympics—the first year that judo was an Olympic sport. An injury during a match prevented him from earning a medal.
Northern Cheyenne Council of 44 Chiefs
After the games, Campbell began to teach judo, and during one of his classes, he met Linda Price. She became his third wife in 1966. Linda and Ben had two children—a son and a daughter. In 1979, the Campbells moved to a ranch in Colorado, Linda’s home state. Campbell earned a living by raising horses and making Native American jewelry, a craft his father had taught him.
In 1980, Campbell enrolled as a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe and also added Nighthorse to his name. The name honors Ruben Black Horse, an ancestor who fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In 1985, Ben Nighthorse Campbell was elected to the Northern Cheyenne’s Council of 44 Chiefs.
Campbell’s Early Political Career
In 1982, Campbell impulsively agreed to run as the Democratic candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives. To everyone’s surprise, he won the election. He served as a state representative for four years.
Then Colorado voters elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was the only Native American in Congress. Wearing a ponytail, a bolo tie, and cowboy boots, he was a colorful figure who was difficult to miss. As a congressman, Campbell opposed a plan to close the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He also sponsored a bill to have the name of the Custer Battlefield in Montana changed to the Little Bighorn National Monument.
Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Campbell was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. His opinions didn’t totally match either political party. Like the Democrats he represented, he was liberal on many social issues such as abortion. However, like Republicans, he was conservative on economic issues and strongly supported the ranching, mining, and timber interests that were so dominant in the West. As time went on, he grew increasingly convinced that the government was spending too much money. In 1995, he switched to the Republican Party.
In 1996, he became the first American Indian to serve as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. One of his acts was to sponsor the bill to create a National Museum of the American Indian.
Despite his political switch, Campbell was reelected to the U. S. Senate in 1998. Toward the end of term, he was treated for prostate cancer, so he decided not to run for office again. Since then, he has concentrated on his jewelry making.
Sources
Carroll, Vincent, “Horse Race,” National Review, Vol. 49, October 27, 1997
Ellis, David and Vickie Bane, “Rites of Victory,” People Weekly (New York: Time, Nov. 30, 1992)
Fixico, Donald L., “Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne,” The New Warriors: Native American Leaders Since 1900, edited by R. David Edmunds, Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2001
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