MacDonald, Peter (1937– )

US Navajo leader. A trained aerospace engineer, he served as tribal chairman in 1970, 1974, 1978, and 1986, stressing self-sufficiency and tribal enterprise. He worked to extend tribal control over education and mineral leases; toward the latter end he cofounded the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) in 1975, which favoured accelerated development of energy resources on the reservation. In 1989 he was removed from office pending the results of criminal investigations. He was sent to prison in 1990 and within several years was convicted of more crimes including fraud, extortion, riot, bribery, and corruption. MacDonald was born in Arizona.