TAHLEQUAH — During the decade Ross Swimmer served as principal chief, the Cherokee Nation took many steps toward becoming the major entity it is today, a student of Swimmer’s work said Thursday.

Dr. Jody Sunday Kehle spoke about Swimmer’s leadership during the State of Sequoyah Conference at Northeastern State University, which has become one of the traditional kickoffs to the Cherokee National Holiday. Principal Chief Chad Smith said the conference is designed to explore issues affecting the past, present and future of the Cherokees.

Kehle spoke not only from three years of research, but from personal experience. Her father, Clarence Sunday, served on the Cherokee Tribal Council during the 1980s. She also interviewed people who had been active with the tribe during the period, including supporters of Swimmer, opponents, and those who were neutral.

Swimmer had planned to attend the presentation, but was in Washington, D.C., on Cherokee trust business. His wife, Margaret, attended.

Swimmer served as chief between 1975 and 1985, when he resigned to accept an appointment as undersecretary of Indian Affairs. Wilma Mankiller, who succeeded him, became the Cherokees’ first female principal chief.

Kehle said she spent four years in an effort to present a balanced picture of Swimmer’s legacy.

“One person agreed to participate only if Ross Swimmer’s name was never mentioned during the interview,” she said.

Swimmer took office at a critical time. W.W. Keeler, who had served as a government-appointed chief at the end of a series of virtual figureheads, had just completed four years as the first modern elected Cherokee Nation chief. Keeler had spotted Swimmer, a quarter-blood Cherokee who grew up in Oklahoma City, and groomed him for tribal leadership.

At the time there was no large tribal office complex, no Cherokee ownership of the historic downtown buildings, no Cherokee medical system, no housing system – and definitely no casinos. Although Swimmer’s administration set in place many of the benefits tribal citizens enjoy today, gaming was definitely not a part of his plan. During his last meeting as chief, he vetoed gaming.

“I didn’t see it as a wave of the future. Apparently I was wrong,” he told Kehle during one of her interviews.

Kehle said for decades, between statehood and 1970, there was essentially a period of silence for the Cherokees.

“One of the purposes of this study was to intentionally begin filling in the gaps on modern Cherokee leadership,” she said.

Today, the Cherokee Nation employs more than 8,000 people – about the size as Tahlequah’s population when Swimmer became chief. Swimmer embraced Keeler’s goals of reunifying the Cherokee people, reorganizing the Cherokee Nation and bringing the Cherokee Nation into modern times.

“This extraordinary growth found its footing under the term of service of the modern-day Chief Ross Swimmer,” Kehle said.

To accomplish this, a firm decision maker and strong leader was needed. Kehle believes Swimmer fulfilled this role in many ways, although he was criticized as an outsider because he had not grown up within Cherokee culture.

One of Swimmer’s first objectives was to enable the tribe to receive federal funding. At the time, most BIA funds were going to western tribes for the agency was under the impression the Oklahoma tribes had been terminated, or ceased operations, at statehood.

Kehle said without the initial work of Keeler, Swimmer probably would not have become chief and the Cherokee Nation would not have become the entity it is today. She pointed out that Swimmer, in turn, recognized and cultivated young leaders – two of the principal being Mankiller and Smith.

Swimmer served his tribe as a door opener, and was someone who felt comfortable frequently spending the night at the White House. He could work in the halls of government, yet also sat and spoke with people in small Cherokee communities, perform functions such as speaking to the kindergarten graduates in Kenwood.

Several myths surround Swimmer’s service, Kehle said. One involved his relationship with First National Bank of Tahlequah. She said the bank never financed his campaign for chief, and he did not spend time at the bank in place of doing his work for the tribe.

She also said that the qualifying age for chief had not been reduced from 35 to 30, to enable him to make the race at age 32. This age requirement had been placed in the constitution without Keeler’s knowledge, and Keeler made sure it was reduced to 30 when he became aware of it, Kehle said.

Kehle said Swimmer served as a leader not only through his knowledge but by example.

“Ross Swimmer was not sent to any special programs to study leadership or learn how to be principal chief of a tribe,” she said.

She credited Swimmer with creating a vision of what the Cherokee Nation could accomplish through health care, education and jobs. He helped put a new constitution into place so this could be realized.

One of the controversies surrounding Swimmer’s tenure was whether he brought corporate culture to a traditional society.

Kehle called him a modern, as opposed to a traditional, leader. She cites characteristics of his government as visionary, authoritative, top-down, delegating, goal-oriented, and communicative.

He also exemplified some characteristics traditionally considered Cherokee, she said, including being stoic and not expressing emotion. He had an intellectual sense of humor but was a poor storyteller.

She said Swimmer frequently asked for advice from traditional leaders but also frequently did not use that advice in his decision making.

“Swimmer did not wither under criticism. He seemed to study an issue, gather information and make a decision,” she said.

Many Cherokees express dual emotions about Swimmer’s decade of leadership, she said. They praise his accomplishments, but express some resentment and criticism.

Kehle listed his accomplishments as centralizing tribal operations, creating jobs, instilling pride and self sufficiency. One of the main criticisms was that he was aloof and perhaps not as sensitive to traditionalists and culture as he could have been.

She concluded that Swimmer’s leadership benefited not only the Cherokee Nation, but Northeastern Oklahoma as a region.

“We had only been in existence piecemeal for a little over three years,” she said of the time when Swimmer assumed leadership. “Swimmer was operating within the framework of a particular situation.”