the first paid executive director of NCAI. He was replaced by Bronson in 1951, who resigned in 1952. Frank George, a Nez Perce from the Colville Indian Reservation, briefly held the post before Helen Peterson (Cheyenne-Lakota) took over the post as the executive director of the organization in 1953. That same year, W. W. Short replaced Johnson as president of NCAI. In 1954, Short was replaced by Joseph Garry (Coeur d'Alene), a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. Garry significantly enlarged the organizational direction away from its focus on issues of Native Americans in the Great Plains and the Southwest, making it more inclusive of tribes in the Midwest and Northwest. In 1966, the NCAI mustered nearly 80 tribal leaders from 62 tribes to protest their exclusion from a US-Congress sponsored conference on reorganizing the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). The Congressional event was organized by Morris Udall, chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to discuss the reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Udall eventually allowed the NCAI representatives to attend. He confirmed that a group composed of tribe members, called the Tribal Advisory Commission, would be created to advise him. During the late 20th century, NCAI contributed to gaining legislation to protect and preserve Indian culture, including NAGPRA. They worked with the tribes to assert their sovereignty in dealing with the federal government. In the early 21st century, key goals of the NCAI are: Enforce for Indians all rights under the Constitution and laws in the United States; Expand and improve educational opportunities provided for Indians; Improve methods for finding productive employment and developing tribal and individual resources; Increase number and quality of health facilities; Settle Indian claims equitably; and Preserve Indian cultural values. In 2013, the NCAI passed a resolution to establish a National American Indian Holocaust Museum space inside a museum of the Smithsonian Institution. However, the Smithsonian has been uncooperative. In 2017, the NCAI took over the assets of the Indian Country Media Network, which were donated by the Oneida Nation of New York. In March 2021, the publication became independent from the NCAI. “This is an exciting time for Indian Country Today to become fiscally independent and to continue its tradition of an autonomous free press," NCAI President Fawn Sharp said in a press release regarding the change. “This is a new day for ICT, which