Ben Nighthorse Campbell

Ben Nighthorse Campbell
United States Senator from Colorado
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Tim Wirth
Succeeded by	Ken Salazar
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 3rd district
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Michael Strang
Succeeded by	Scott McInnis
Personal details
Born	(1933-04-13) April 13, 1933 Auburn, California
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic 1982–1995 Republican 1995–present
Spouse	Linda Price
Children	Colin Campbell Shanan (Campbell) Wells
Alma mater	San Jose State University Meiji University
Awards	Korean Service Medal Air Medal
Military service
Branch/service	United States Air Force
Years of service	1951-1954
Rank	Airman Second Class
Battles/wars	Korean War

Benjamin Nighthorse Campbell (born April 13, 1933) is an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1993 until 2005 and was during his tenure the only American Indian serving in the U.S. Congress. Campbell was a three term U.S. Representative from 1987 to 1993, when he was sworn into office as a Senator following his election on November 3, 1992. Campbell also serves as one of forty-four members of the Council of Chiefs of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe.

Originally a member of the Democratic Party, Campbell switched to the Republican Party on March 3, 1995. Reelected in 1998, Campbell announced in March 2004 that he would not run for reelection to a third term in November of that year. He expressed interest in running for Governor of Colorado in 2006. However, on January 4, 2006, he announced that he would not enter the race. His Senate seat was won by Democrat Ken Salazar in the November 2004 election.

Early Life, Military Service, Education, Olympic Games, Post-Olympic Vocations, and Jewelry Career.

Campbell speaks at the commissioning of the USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19)

Campbell was born in Auburn, California. His mother, Mary Vierra (Vieira), was a Portuguese immigrant who had come with her mother to the U.S. at age six through Ellis Island, (according to Campbell, his maternal grandfather had entered the United States some time before.) There Vierra's family settled in the large Portuguese community near Sacramento. When Mary Vierra contracted tuberculosis in her youth, she was forced to convalesce at a nearby hospital, often for months at a time during treatment. It was there that she met an American Indian patient Albert Campbell, who was at the hospital for alcoholism treatment. Albert Campbell was of predominantly Northern Cheyenne descent, but according to Nighthorse Campbell biographer, Herman Viola, Albert Campbell spent much of his youth in Crow Agency boarding school and may have had some Pueblo Indian and Apache Indian blood in his background as well. The couple married in 1929, and Campbell was born in 1933.

During Campbell's childhood, his father continued to have problems with alcoholism, often leaving the family for weeks and months at a time. His mother continued to have health problems, with tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease that limited the contact she could have with her children and continued to force her into the hospital for long periods of time. These problems led to Ben and his older sister Alberta (who died in an apparent suicide at age 44) spending much of their early lives in nearby Catholic orphanages. As a young man, Campbell was introduced to the Japanese martial art of judo by Japanese immigrant families he met while working in local agricultural fields.

Campbell attended Placer High School, dropping out in 1951 to join the U.S. Air Force. He was stationed in Korea during the Korean War as an air policeman; he left the Air Force in 1953 with the rank of Airman Second Class, as well as the Korean Service Medal and the Air Medal. While in the Air Force. Campbell obtained his GED and, following his discharge, used his G.I. Bill to attend San Jose State University, where he graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education and Fine Arts. While in college, Ben was a member of the San Jose State judo team, coached by future USA Olympic coach, Yosh Uchida.

While training for the Olympic Games, Campbell attended Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan as a special research student from 1960-1964. The Meiji team was world renowned and Campbell credited the preparation and discipline taught at Meiji for his 1961, 1962, and 1963 U.S. National titles and his gold medal in the 1963 Pan-American Games.

In 1964, Campbell competed in judo at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He suffered an injury and did not medal. He is listed as Ben M. Campbell in his college records and records of his Olympic competition, but was given the name "Nighthorse" when he returned to the Northern Cheyenne reservation for his name-giving ceremony, as a member of his father's family, Blackhorse.

In the years after returning from the Olympic Games, Campbell worked as a deputy sheriff in Sacramento County, CA, coached the U.S. National Judo Team, operated his own dojo in Sacramento, and taught high school (physical education and art classes). He and his wife also raised quarterhorses, including a Supreme Champion and AQHA Champion, "Sailors Night". They bought a ranch near Ignacio, CO on the Southern Ute reservation in 1978.

In the book "Ben Nighthorse Campbell: An American Warrior", by Herman Viola, Campbell tells of learning to make jewelry from his father and flattening silver dollars on train tracks for the materials. He also used techniques learned from sword makers in Japan and other non-traditional techniques to win over 200 national and international awards for jewelry design under the name, "Ben Nighthorse" and was included in a feature article in the late 1970's in 'Arizona Highways' magazine about Native artists experimenting in the 'new look' of Indian jewelry.

Political Career and Post-Political Career

Campbell was elected to the Colorado State Legislature as a Democrat in November 1982, where he served two terms. Voted one of the 10 Best Legislators by his colleagues in a 1986 Denver Post - News Center 4 survey. Elected in 1986 to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated incumbent Congressman Mike Strang. He won two succeeding re-elections to this seat. In 1989, he authored the U.S. House of Representatives bill HR 2668 to establish the National Museum of the American Indian, which became PL 101-185. In 1992, following the announced retirement of Senator Tim Wirth, Campbell won a three-way Democratic primary with former three-term Governor Dick Lamm and Boulder County Commissioner Josie Heath, before defeating Republican State Senator Terry Considine for a seat in the U.S. Senate. In 1995, he switched parties from Democrat to Republican. In 1998, he won re-election by what was then the largest margin in Colorado history for a state-wide race. In the 106th Congress, Senator Campbell passed more public laws than any individual member of Congress. During his tenure, Senator Campbell also became the first American Indian to chair the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He retired from office in Janury 2005.

Today, Senator Campbell is a Senior Policy Advisor at the firm of Holland and Knight, LLP in Washington, DC. He also continues to design and craft his Ben Nighthorse line of American Indian jewelry.

Personal

In 1966, Campbell married the former Linda Price, a public school teacher who was a native of Colorado. The couple have two married children, Colin (Karen) Campbell and Shanan (John) Wells. They have four grandchildren. The Campbell's still reside in Colorado.

External links

Media related to Ben Nighthorse Campbell at Wikimedia Commons

• United States Congress. "Ben Nighthorse Campbell (id: C000077)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.