President Richard Nixon Speaking to Attendees at Signing Ceremony for the Blue Lake Bill
12/15/1970
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This photograph shows President Richard Nixon Speaking to Attendees at Signing Ceremony for the Blue Lake Bill, HR 471, which Deeded Lands to Taos and Pueblo Indians.
On December 15, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed a bill returning the Taos Pueblo's sacred Blue Lake in the State Dining Room surrounded by 67 politicians, government officials, citizens, and members of the press. The most important attendees were Governor Quirino Romero, Cacique Juan de Jesus Romero, Council Secretary Paul Bernal, and Councilman James Miraba--members of the Taos Pueblo.
As President Nixon signed into law H.R. 471, which transferred legal ownership of the lake and surrounding mountain land to the Taos Pueblo, he quickly dashed any comparison of the act, given the holiday month, to a gift.
On December 15, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed a bill returning the Taos Pueblo's sacred Blue Lake in the State Dining Room surrounded by 67 politicians, government officials, citizens, and members of the press. The most important attendees were Governor Quirino Romero, Cacique Juan de Jesus Romero, Council Secretary Paul Bernal, and Councilman James Miraba--members of the Taos Pueblo.
As President Nixon signed into law H.R. 471, which transferred legal ownership of the lake and surrounding mountain land to the Taos Pueblo, he quickly dashed any comparison of the act, given the holiday month, to a gift.
"This is a bill that represents justice, because in 1906 an injustice was done in which land involved in this bill, 48,000 acres, was taken from the Indians involved, the Taos Pueblo Indians. And now, after all those years, the Congress of the United States returns that land to whom it belongs.For more information about this law, read Righting a Wrong: The Return of Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo from Text Message, the Blog of the Textual Records Division at the National Archives.
This bill also involves respect for religion. Those of us who know something about the background of the first Americans realize that long before any organized religion came to the United States, for 700 years the Taos Pueblo Indians worshiped in this place. We restore this place of worship to them for all the years to come.”
This primary source comes from the Collection RN-WHPO: White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon Administration).
National Archives Identifier: 66394205
Full Citation: President Richard Nixon Speaking to Attendees at Signing Ceremony for the Blue Lake Bill, HR 471, which Deeded Lands to Taos and Pueblo Indians; 12/15/1970; Nixon White House Photographs, 1/20/1969 - 8/9/1974; Collection RN-WHPO: White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon Administration); Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, CA. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/president-nixon-speaking-blue-lake-bill, April 28, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.