Ben Reifel

Ben Reifel
Wíyaka Waŋžíla
Interim Commissioner of Indian Affairs
In office 1976–1977
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	Morris Thompson
Succeeded by	Forrest Gerard (as Asst. Sec. of the Interior for Indian Affairs)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's 1st district
In office January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1971
Preceded by	George McGovern
Succeeded by	Frank E. Denholm
Personal details
Born	Benjamin Reifel (1906-09-19)September 19, 1906 Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.
Died	January 2, 1990(1990-01-02) (aged 83) Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S.
Nationality	Rosebud Lakota United States
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Alice Janet Johnson ​ ​ (m. 1933; died 1972)​ Frances Colby ​ (m. 1972)​ [1]
Children	Loyce Nadine Reifel
Alma mater	South Dakota State College (BA) Harvard University (MPA, PhD) [1]
Profession	Federal civil service

Benjamin Reifel (September 19, 1906 – January 2, 1990), also known as Lone Feather (Lakota: Wíyaka Waŋžíla), was a Lakota Sioux public administrator and politician. He had a career with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, retiring as area administrator. He ran for the US Congress from the East River region of South Dakota, and was elected as the first Lakota to serve in the House of Representatives. He served five terms as a Republican United States Congressman from the (now obsolete) First District.

Born on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Reifel graduated from South Dakota State University. During World War II he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He worked for the Department of the Interior beginning in 1933, retiring as the Aberdeen, South Dakota area administrator of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in March 1960. Awarded a mid-career fellowship in public administration to Harvard University for a master's degree, he went on to earn his PhD in 1952. Elected to the Eighty-seventh Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1971), Reifel chose not to run in 1970. ^{[citation needed]}