Neal A. "Chief" McCaleb (born 1935) is an American civil engineer and Republican politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Chickasaw Nation,McCaleb served in several positions in the Oklahoma state government and then as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs under President George W. Bush.
Born in Oklahoma City,Oklahoma,McCaleb graduated from Putnam City High School in 1953 and received bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Oklahoma State University (then known as Oklahoma A&M College) in 1957. Prior to entering politics,McCaleb was a practicing civil engineer. In 1975,McCaleb was named the charter Chairman of the American Indian Council of Architects and Engineers.
McCaleb was elected as a Republican to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1974. He remained in the House until 1983. In 1978,McCaleb's colleagues elected him House Minority Leader. He remained in that position until his retirement from the Legislature.
Governor of Oklahoma Henry Bellmon appointed McCaleb to serve as the State's first Secretary of Transportation. The post was created following the passage of the Executive Branch Reform Act of 1986. In addition to his service as Secretary,Bellmon appointed him to serve concurrently as Director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. McCaleb served in both positions until the end of Bellmon's term in 1991.
Following the end of Bellmon's term,McCaleb became the President of the Oklahoma Good Roads and Transportation Association,a lobbying group dedicated to advocating safe,efficient and affordable state streets,roads and highways. He served as president until 1995.
In 1995,incumbent Governor of Oklahoma David Walters choose not to seek re-election as Governor. Republican Frank Keating was elected to succeed him in that position. Keating appointed McCaleb to serve as his Secretary of Transportation. Additionally,Keating appointed McCaleb as the head of both the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. [1]
McCaleb remained in all three positions until July 2001 when he resigned to take a federal government job. Keating appointed Herschal Crow of Tulsa to succeed him as Secretary.
As a member of the Chickasaw Nation,McCaleb was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001 to be the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior,reporting directly to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. As the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,McCaleb was charged with the administration and management of 56 million acres (230,000 km2) of land held in trust by the United States government for Native Americans,Native American tribes,and Alaska Natives.
McCaleb remained in that position until 2002,when he returned home to Oklahoma. [2]
After leaving federal government service,McCaleb began work as advisor to Bill Anoatubby,Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. McCaleb has been tasked by Governor Anoatubby with the development of long-term economic development plans and policy. Governor Anoatubby appointed McCaleb to the board of directors of Chickasaw Community Bank (formerly Bank 2), [3] a financial industry firm completely owned by the Chickasaw Nation. Governor Anoatubby also made McCaleb the chairman of the board for Chickasaw Nation Industries,a wholly owned subentity of the Nation responsible for promoting economic development for the tribe.
McCaleb is married to his wife Georgann and together they have four children and twelve grandchildren.
The Chickasaw are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands,United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi,northwestern and northern Alabama,western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classified as a member of the Muskogean language family. In the present day,they are organized as the federally recognized Chickasaw Nation.
The State of Sequoyah was a proposed state to be established from the Indian Territory in the eastern part of present-day Oklahoma. In 1905,with the end of tribal governments looming,Native Americans of the Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokee,Choctaw,Chickasaw,Creek (Muscogee),and Seminole—in Indian Territory proposed to create a state as a means to retain control of their lands. Their intention was to have a state under Native American constitution and governance. The proposed state was to be named in honor of Sequoyah,the Cherokee who created a writing system in 1825 for the Cherokee language.
David Daniel Boren is an American businessman and politician who is the Secretary of Commerce for the Chickasaw Nation,based in Oklahoma. He is a retired American politician,who served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district from 2005 to 2013. The district included most of the eastern part of the state outside of Tulsa. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He also served as a State Representative in the 28th district of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a Native American territory covering about 6,952,960 acres,occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area after the Navajo. As of 2011,the tribe has 223,279 enrolled members,of whom 84,670 live within the state of Oklahoma and 41,616 live within the Choctaw Nation's jurisdiction. A total of 233,126 people live within these boundaries,with its tribal jurisdictional area comprising 10.5 counties in the state,with the seat of government being located in Durant,Oklahoma. It shares borders with the reservations of the Chickasaw,Muscogee,and Cherokee,as well as the U.S. states of Texas and Arkansas. By area,the Choctaw Nation is larger than eight U.S. states.
William Wayne Keeler was an American engineer,oilman,and tribal chief. He was the last appointed and first elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 20th century. Educated as a chemical engineer,he worked for Phillips Petroleum Company,where he became chief executive officer at the end of a long career with the company. Throughout his life he also worked in the federal government for the advancement of Indians. President Truman appointed him as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 1949. He also served as chairman for the executive committee of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands from 1939 until 1972. In 1971,he became the Cherokees' first elected chief since 1903.
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe with headquarters in Ada,Oklahoma,in the United States. They are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands,originally from northern Mississippi,northwestern Alabama,southwestern Kentucky,and western Tennessee. Today,the Chickasaw Nation is the 13th largest tribe in the United States.
Billy Joe Anoatubby is the 30th Governor of the Chickasaw Nation,a position he has held since 1987. From 1979 to 1987,Anoatubby served two terms as Lieutenant Governor of the Chickasaw Nation in the administration of Governor Overton James,after being popularly elected to office. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
The Yowani were a historical group of Choctaw people who lived in Texas. Yowani was also the name of a preremoval Choctaw village.
Lisa Johnson Billy is a Chickasaw and American politician who has served in the legislatures of Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Nation. She has served as a tribal councillor for the Chickasaw Nation since 2016 and previously served on the council between 1996 and 2002. She represented Oklahoma House of Representatives district 42 from 2004 to 2016 and was appointed by President of the United States Donald Trump to the board of trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation in 2017.
The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention was an American Indian-led attempt to secure statehood for Indian Territory as an Indian-controlled jurisdiction,separate from the Oklahoma Territory. The proposed state was to be called the State of Sequoyah.
Gary Milo Ridley,PE was an American engineer and civil servant from the state of Oklahoma most notable for concurrently serving as the state's Secretary of Transportation,Director of the Department of Transportation,and the Director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority between 2009 and 2013.
Pamela M. Warren is an American civil servant who served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Administration under Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating. Warren served as secretary from January 1,1997,until her retirement from state service in January 2004. In addition to her service as secretary,Warren served as the director of the Oklahoma Department of Central Services during that same time period.
Carl Michael "Mike" Smith is an American businessman,energy expert,and politician from Oklahoma. Smith is currently serving as the executive director of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Smith has served in numerous energy policy positions for both the United States federal and Oklahoma state governments,including Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy under President George W. Bush (2002–2004) and Oklahoma Secretary of Energy under Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating (1995–2002).
Noma D. Gurich is an American attorney and jurist who is serving as an associate justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Gurich was appointed the State's highest court by Governor Brad Henry in 2010 and assumed office on February 15,2011. Gurich was appointed to the Court following the death of long-time Justice Marian P. Opala. Gurich is the third woman in state history after Alma Wilson and Yvonne Kauger to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
An Organic Act is a generic name for a statute used by the United States Congress to describe a territory,in anticipation of being admitted to the Union as a state. Because of Oklahoma's unique history an explanation of the Oklahoma Organic Act needs a historic perspective. In general,the Oklahoma Organic Act may be viewed as one of a series of legislative acts,from the time of Reconstruction,enacted by Congress in preparation for the creation of a united State of Oklahoma. The Organic Act created Oklahoma Territory,and Indian Territory that were Organized incorporated territories of the United States out of the old "unorganized" Indian Territory. The Oklahoma Organic Act was one of several acts whose intent was the assimilation of the tribes in Oklahoma and Indian Territories through the elimination of tribes' communal ownership of property.
On the eve of the American Civil War in 1861,a significant number of Indigenous peoples of the Americas had been relocated from the Southeastern United States to Indian Territory,west of the Mississippi. The inhabitants of the eastern part of the Indian Territory,the Five Civilized Tribes,were suzerain nations with established tribal governments,well established cultures,and legal systems that allowed for slavery. Before European Contact these tribes were generally matriarchial societies,with agriculture being the primary economic pursuit. The bulk of the tribes lived in towns with planned streets,residential and public areas. The people were ruled by complex hereditary chiefdoms of varying size and complexity with high levels of military organization.
Overton James was an educator and Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. After graduating from college,he taught school in Oklahoma. He was first appointed Governor in 1963 and served until 1971. He was then elected to that position and served until his last term ended in 1987. In 1985,he was alleged to have accepted illegal kickbacks for construction contracts within the Chickasaw Nation. He was indicted,pleaded guilty,and sentenced to a short prison term.
Charles W. Blackwell was an American lawyer,educator,activist,and diplomat,who served as the first Ambassador of the Chickasaw Nation to the United States of America,from 1995 until his death in 2013. Blackwell was the first Ambassador of any Native American tribal government to the government of the United States. From 1990 to 1995,he had served as the Chickasaw Nation delegate to the US Congress,while also working on issues of health,education,and economic development for tribal nations.
The 2022 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma was held on November 8,2022,to elect a member of the United States Senate for Oklahoma. The election took place concurrently with the regularly scheduled election for Oklahoma's other Senate seat. The candidate filing deadline was between April 13–15,2022.
Bill Lance is a Chickasaw Nation politician who has served as the Chickasaw Nation Secretary of State since 2022. He previously served as the Chickasaw Nation Secretary of Commerce from 2009 to 2022.
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